There are many different plants - onions, lettuces, cabbages, kales, etc. - that will bolt or "go to seed" upon being stressed. In other words, they will transfer energy away from their growth and development, and put it towards seed production and transmission.
So these plants have evolved with the instinct, upon being stressed within a current period of time, to give up on their present selves and transmit their seeds, their future selves, hopefully to survive the time of stress and begin a new life cycle elsewhere.
It isn't exactly the same, but it is striking how much time, energy, and thought we are putting into our cultural production - our media, games, and storytelling - and all of the infrastructure that sustains and transmits it. And perhaps this overlaps with futurist technologies and conceptions as well...all those things that are bound up with ideals that are supposed to outlast material generations, and reproduce those later generations in their image, and establish a sort of continuity with the past, present, and future.
To add a note of ominousness to this - a specialty of mine - the smart weeder knows that the thistle in particular is especially vulnerable when it is flowering. All of the energy is going away from its root system and towards its seed production and flowering. They pull right up much easier if you wait a bit.
