Given that this is a laptop we're talking about, OP is definitely over selling it. Bring a backpack, unpack the laptop box into your backpack (assuming the box is too big to fit in the backpack itself). Something bigger like a TV would be more problematic.
The main worry is that being seen with new-in-box fancy electronics makes you look like "guy with money". It's not so much that someone's gonna steal your TV on the subway, but if you can afford a new TV your wallet probably has good stuff in it. Then it's just a question of "how bad is the crime actually on this commute?". Most places it'd be fine but some rough parts of some cities I'd be worried.
Evolution - at a species level or a societal level - has no "guiding hand". It throws shit at a wall to see what sticks, and the best-adapted variants tend to propagate.
Selfish behavior is very powerful in a large and strong society where most people are producing more value than they're consuming. There's so much wealth to be found that if you don't care about the enemies you make, you can just jump from victim to victim as you amass power faster tab the people you leave behind. The problem is, this drives the society towards no longer being one of such surplus.
In a smaller society where people are largely just surviving, selfish behavior will cripple your own ability to survive. If everybody has only a modest surplus, they only want to share it with people they can trust to return the favor when they're the one in need. If you make enemies with everyone in a small community, you're going to have a hard time finding community support.