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The evolution of the horse was certainly a most tortuous process. None of your seven day nonsense! Seven days' labour wouldn't evolve one primitive earthworm. There are interesting parallels between the structuring of multicellular organisms and societies. We see the same elements of aggregation, communication, commitment and differentiation, and although some regret the decline of the protean ideal, specialization was a minor penalty to pay for the development of modern society. After all, more people have flown in aeroplanes than ever held a pilot's licence, and more have enjoyed the benefits of surgery than ever wielded a scalpel. And how many of us would be meat eaters if we had to do our own butchering? There are even similarities in the way societies and multicellular organisms subordinate the individual to the point of dispensability. A nation survives the death of any citizen, however prominent, and a mature organism hardly seems to notice replacement of its individual cells. Moreover, it now appears that the collective structure has a vested interest in the mortality of its members; the multicellular organism follows a policy of programmed death, and a steady turnover increases the chance of a favourable mutation. This too might have its social counterpart; what happens to individual members after they have procreated is of minor importance, and old worn-out citizens are replaced by fresh young individuals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]