Have you ever watched "Forbidden Planet"? If not, you should. It addresses the topic of this blog entry.
But that's not what I'm here to discuss.
I'm here to discuss evolution. The more we help women during child birth, the easier we make it to birth larger babies. Is allows larger babies to ultimately reproduce, which leads to still larger babies.
Actually, that's only marginally what im here to discuss.
It's a parent's job to care for their child, but if they are too overprotective, the child will not learn valuable lessons, which ultimately doesn't help the child and could even be seen as a type of neglect. Similarly, it's the job of a society to care for the members of that society. (One could even say, the measure of a society is how it cares for those less fortunate.). But, might it also be the case that overprotectiveness in a society may be ultimately unhelpful to the members and even lead toward an evolutionary trend which is also unhelpful to the society?
If we continue to protect all members of our society, such as labeling a hot cup of coffee as "Hot! Be Careful", are we not tending toward overprotectiveness? Ultimately, this allows those with less "common sense", or those who were not taught appropriate life lessons by their parents, to reproduce. In the same way as ever larger babies, might this lead toward the society evolving into a place where those who tend to think less, or make bad decisions, could thrive and reproduce?
In earlier times, people needed to be careful or they would be hurt, get eaten, possibly die. There was a strong need to learn as much as you could, in order to protect yourself. As we gradually remove this need, we are pushing our society toward a time when most people are cared for and are incapable of caring foe themselves. If that level of care should suddenly disappear, so would he people who need it to survive.
Maybe, just maybe this is what ultimately happens to advanced alien civilization. Maybe it cares for all members to such an extent that any small interruption in that care spells disaster for the whole society. In short, they care too much, they become dependent upon it, and thus can't survive without it. They evolve themselves in a culture which is so dependent upon care, such that when the care is removed, they become extinct.
Just a thought.
