Automatics disengage the driveshaft to save wear on engine parts. It's an active decision, not being "too dumb". Wearing out brakes is cheaper to fix than wearing out your brakes, and people like longer lasting, cheaper to fix, cars.
And in fact some systems are only usable because of their security. A bank that gives all accounts the same password could hardly be considered usable, neither could many websites if they did the same.
Originally the "Society for Equitable Assurances on Lives and Survivorships", but obviously that wasn't hip enough to survive past the 19th century.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Equitable_Life_Assurance_S...