Think about it for a little. What is the likely human product of a society with a surplus wealth of goods and time and a pre-occupation with making life ever safer and safer?
Robert Heinlein (through his character, Lazarus Long) famously said,
“Stupidity cannot be cured with money, or through education, or by legislation. Stupidity is not a sin, the victim can’t help being stupid. But stupidity is the only universal capital crime; the sentence is death, there is no appeal, and execution is carried out automatically and without pity.”
Well, the first two sentences are obvious. But in a society with huge surpluses of worldly goods and services and a nanny state approach to imposing safety, the last sentence does not necessarily follow the first two. In fact, it seems that such a society breeds and maintains (and encourages) and protects stupidity.
We are that society… the question is: Who benefits (besides the really stupid)?