A more interesting thing to consider is the results of a systematic health
care system. For instance, what does consistently saving babies that would
other-wise have died do to the continuning ability of the species to
propagate?
How about eye-glasses? The longer we use them, the more of the population
*needs* to use them!
These and other issues make me wonder about the long term (ten of thousands
of years and up) viability of this thing we call "civilization". Are we
breeding people who cannot survive without it? If so, how long until even
our bests efforts will not be able to "cure" the debased gene's of the
culture?
Maybe genetic engineering is not a only likely but a *necessary* step for a
galactic civilization!
ERiC