 There seems to be more of an inclination to attribute causation in cases of early preemptive prevention than in cases of late preemptive prevention. As McDermott (1995) puts it: in case (2), many are initially inclined to deny that Bond prevented the compound’s destruction; but, when they are asked “Of Bond and the missile defense system, which prevented the compound’s destruction?”, it feels very natural to answer with “Bond”. (As Collins 2000 notes, things begin to feel different if we suppose that the anti-missile defense system is less than perfectly reliable.)