So, it is smart that the tech these corporations funded would have been as cheap as attainable to cut down on overheads. Incidentally, this also explains why the technology in Prometheus is a lot more advanced, despite being many years before the first movie. The titular ship is a top-of-the-line analysis vessel funded completely by an eccentric billionaire. It’s the space equivalent of a yacht, therefore the up-to-date tech and the extra snug appearance of the ship itself.
Additionally, youngsters might contribute labor to the raising of crops more readily than they could to the hunter-gatherer economy. Other technological advances …