if you were being beaten how would you protect your "face"? You couldn't. It's good to have eyes- but it's even better to have them where they are, and where they can be protected.
Well, I neither agree nor disagree with that. It is conjecture. How do you protect yourself when a mugger puts a gun against the back of your head, or simply silently drives a knife into your spine?
Is it better to see everything for 1/2 mile around you, and never be surprised (I don't say "fooled"), or is it better to be able to protect your eyes--if someone (or something) is stupid (or gallant) enough, to attempt to kill you face to face--when they had a safer alternative?? Ideally, eyes everywhere--coupled with the backward kick of a moose--would be nice. In any case, assuming one knows the enemy, it is difficult to consider a better defense than a 5 minute headstart! I say this because of the experience of hunters, and their prey (including the human hunter).
If they are truly prey--many of them survive by evasion. If they could survive by defending their eyes or their jugular, or their ankles...they would probably not be prey (although, admittedly, many do use these defenses as a back-up to evasion). The fact that evasion is almost alweays the first choice (other things being equal) is, I think, important. It is a huge survival mechanism which is emulated by humans, that avoid confrontation and risky situations, and that have a policy of getting along
I don't think we know enough to give a dependable answer to these alternatives... |
