If evolution and the survival of the fittest be true at all, the destruction of prey and of human rivals must have been among the most important. . . . It is just because human bloodthirstiness is such a primitive part of us that it is so hard to eradicate, especially when a fight or a hunt is promised as part of the fun.

It's survival of the hang-in-there's, or the made-the-cuts, or the just good-enoughs.

I could see the unimaginable destruction, and then I saw those comforting hands.

When faced with a radical crisis, when the old way of being in the world, of interacting with each other and with the realm of nature doesn't work anymore, when survival is threatened by seemingly insurmountable problems, an individual life-form -- or a species -- will either die or become extinct or rise above the limitations of its condition through an evolutionary leap.

It's survival of the funniest -- it's like Darwinian evolution on the comics page,

Animals’ primal fear remains linked to survival. As man overcomes his fear of physical danger, he develops other phobias; fear of the unknown, fear of God, fear of oppression, fear of loss, to name but a few..