And the downfall was the invention of the automobile. Before the auto, man drank his beer and his horse pulled the wagon with his drunken butt sleeping in it, home to the fire.
Stoned dude, crawled into a warm cabin and slept it off. No three car pile ups with 6 dead folks.
No phones to call the sheriff, and he didn't care anyway.
Progress, meh!
Excellent analyses;)
You are so right; we keep inventing stuff that kills us.
It was probably women, not girly men who domesticated cats. It helped to have cats hanging around the cave to eat rats and mice and play with the children. It was usually dumb conservative men in power who ordered killing of cats and dogs when the plague was active, thus giving rats and their fleas greater opportunity.