But if the society has not had lean times recently, isn't it the same thing as never having had lean times?

Many people can still relate to the Great Depression of the early 1930's from having heard so many stories about that time from people they know.

However, those stories, and the lessons and morals they inspired, are slowly fading away but it does take several generations to get past the effect. I am not likely to relate as many of those stories to my kids, though some they have heard from their grandparents.

I don't think so.

Without the removal of 'bad' genes at each generation, 'bad' genes will increase in frequency during the subsequent generation. IIRC it follows an exponential curve for a 2 allele classical genetic model (the wrinkled pea/smooth pea Mendelian genetics). So if good times = small generations, then good times gene freq will approx equal bad gene freq. However, as the number of generations increase then the divergence between the gene frequencies in a population undergoing selection and a population not undergoing selection will diverge. The number of generations necessary to shift the gene frequency of a large, randomly mating population* from some unbalanced frequency to a balanced frequency can be pretty large, depending on the initial frequency.

There are many deleterious or disadvantageous genes in the human population. Because these genes affect fitness they also affect reproduction. If they are selected against the frequency will decrease so long as each generation has some proportion removed before it successfully reproduces at a replacement rate. But if there is no selection then the gene frequencies will shift toward 50%.

*However, human populations are not randomly mating, so there is a conditional probability factor. For example there is a geographical component, the chances of my offspring exchanging genes with a Mauri are pretty slim but nearly a certainty with somebody of European ancestry. Another factor is social isolation in which taboos restrict outcrossing. Tay-Sachs disease (www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/taysachs/taysachs.htm) is more common among Jewish people than among the general population. Since Jews tend to marry Jews rather than out-crossing, the increase in Tay-Sachs among the general population is much lower while the increase within the Jewish population will considerably be higher.

... and that is exactly what's happening today. Our throw away mentality and rampant consumerism doesn't help.

If we haven't had lean times for a while, won't we just get complacent and start picking up the slack for those that cannot or will not? And when times are hard, it will be every man for himself and so those that cannot make it will not survive as well. Now, if we haven't had lean times before, we don't know what to do. If lean times were 4 or 5 generations ago, won't we have forgotten what it was like then and just assume that the society can carry everyone whether they care fit to survive or not?

I'm curious -- did you ever get the case notes from your previous experience?

FWIW, most folk that I know of who have anger issues, blame their family and friends whom they regularly abuse. I guess someone gets to be a target…

No, I was 10 yo so I didn't care about it.

No, my issues are my own. Nothing to do with the wife, dogs, parents, hooker on the corner of 5th and main. All I am saying is that I don't believe in them. It would be as tho my wife told me that she was cursed and needed to see a voodoo doctor to remove the evil sprits. I'd tell her the same thing as someone who told me they needed those mindfux to sort out their issues. "If you are that gone, you might as well off yourself." If she could not survive without the help of the voodoo doctor then she doesn't need to survive. She is too far gone. Same thing as if she said she needed a mindfux to diagnose her mental illnesses so she can be better. She would be too far gone and cannot be saved. I could maybe see it if she had a chemical imbalance where she has say too much Seritonin and needs meds to fix it but not just because she has a bad childhood and needs someone to talk her thru the issues. If the latter were the case, a 22 cal from Remmington would fix any of those issues.