Taleb on "smoothness" and fragility as quoted in @clmarohn's book "Strong Towns", and let me add some more examples: we can cut them down to build fish farms and oil refineries or beaches for tourists but without mangrove forests our coasts get wiped out by hurricanes.... 
...we invented modernism and the International Style to have smooth boxlike structures with flat roofs and now we have alienating homes that are un-maintainable, with dirty streaked walls, leaky roofs and rotting insulation instead of cornices and eaves to protect and charm.
...we invented individualism and divorce to not have to deal with messy human relationships and obligations, so now we have an epidemic of suicides, and of drugs and opioids and a welfare state that can't cope with the mess it created and children growing up in broken families.
...we invented sophisticated financial instruments to smooth out economic cycles and build infrastructure in giant ponzi-schemes that are now falling apart nationwide because no city can afford to maintain their part...
...instead of building and maintaining what has been known to work, what we can be sure to love enough to want to maintain and useful enough to generate the income needed for its repair, we invented a cult of the new, to smooth over the old and chipped and maybe a little worn.
