Agreed. On one of the first classes I had in college, a teacher said we should favor "knowledge" (that is, concepts) over "technics" (that is, knowing a specific way to apply knowledge), and never confuse one with the other. That stuck with me and, in retrospect, was one of the best advises I've had in my career.
Also, poverty is not the only explanation in Brazil. Many middle class young adults become criminals, and many of the poor ones that do too end up expending on drugs, cars, etc.
Edit: thought i do think poverty does help greatly on taking destructive life choices.
True. In many job interviews, people ask for your CPF (which is akin to a Social Security Number on the US, I guess) and even your parent's name. They probably check your (and your parents'?) criminal and debit history or shomething like that, but still, there goes all our data.
According to Wikipedia, "an octopus has a highly complex nervous system, only part of which is localized in its brain. Two-thirds of an octopus's neurons are found in the nerve cords of its arms, which have limited functional autonomy".
This and the link makes me think that octopuses are one of nature's best distributed systems.