Both societies and living creatures grow in complexity until they collapse. I found my friend Ogg sitting in front of his cave, staring vacantly into space. When I asked if there was something wrong he sighed and said…

 

It’s just all this complexity

Compounded by perplexity

And I confess that I don’t have a clue

The sun comes up too early

And my neighbor’s getting surly

And to top it all my woman’s overdue

As a family we were happy

And though most times things were crappy

We at least had food to eat and clothes to wear

But our families got together

And became a clan to weather

All the storms and strife we could no longer bear

After that we went to tribal

And although that made us liable

To the strains that growing large would put us through

For a time things were just great and

We became a city state and

Did I say my woman says she’s overdue

There was never a vacation

We became a big time nation

And we conquered those around us to survive

And of course you know the story

It was Empire and glory

It was conquer or we’d cease to be alive

When collapse came it came quickly

And my woman got quite prickly

I was Emperor of all that was in view

But now here I sit in sorrow

Broke, in debt, with no tomorrow

And my woman, friend, is three weeks overdue