Zoologist Konrad Lorenz calls “the rushed existence into which industrialized, commercialized man has precipitated himself” and all its attendant afflictions—ulcers, hypertension, neuroses, etc.—an “inexpedient development,” or evolutionary maladaptation, brought on by our ferocious intraspecies competition. He likens us to birds whose alluringly long plumage has rendered them flightless, easy prey.
