But any 'monastic' solution has to survive by making itself politically indispensible. The Church did this by making everyone believe a fairy story about salvation. Protection was still patchy - every so often a thug would turn up and burn something down - but as camouflage it worked surprisingly well.

If we're going to be sliding back towards barbarism and superstition we might as well repeat what worked before with a new version of that narrative.

Buying some buildings and hoping to be ignored won't be enough.