Well, the world is overpopulated. Just imagine the idea that there's just 40 million people living the city of Lahor <sp?> Pakistan, alone. Just think of the huge amounts of people in China and India! Nonetheless, the sheer amount of people does put pressure on the planet. . .and the solution to a lot of problems would probably be family planning. . .
But I never really thought of "rugged individualism" being as much about getting attention as simply not needing anyone else for survival (beyond a wife, of course, who does all the support work around the house and so forth, so you don't have to have all your time taken up by silly little chores).
Eh, you're right, rugged individualism isn't the term... more the idea of how we're indoctrinated with the idea of how unique and amazing we all are.
Try holding your wrists under the faucet running not cold but cool water. You'll be shivering in no time.
Yeah? Are you saying the cool makes you paradoxically colder than the cold would, or just that it doesn't even have to be that cold?
How about "sense of entitlement"?
It's mindboggling when you start to consider the number of people involved in the support web which allows people to simply put food in their mouths. However, I suspect that once you reach a certain population level an increasing percentage of people end up working on things which are really non-essential. (Hmm... reminds me of Civilization. Once the population of a city hits a certain level, any more population becomes entertainers.)