Quote:
Originally Posted by LadyMischief
Bravo. Those diseases are just a TINY MINISCULE minority of the diseases that are out there today. Again as I say, for every disease we "cure" how many more come out of the woodwork that we can do nothing but stand by and watch? AIDS is a good example of this, doesn't matter how much money you have, AIDS is a good equalizer. As rain forests are razes, the far reaches of the world are explored, more and more vicious illnesses are introduced (or re-introduced) into the gene pool. I'm not saying medical research and the progress we've made is not a good thing, but getting rid of those illnesses did not suddenly cure humanity, and a constant effort is needed (and is only really happening in the countries that can afford it) to stave them off. We haven't "won" the war, simply came out on top of a few skirmishes, and even then, the "victory" is fleeting. If the whole system breaks down tomorrow and vaccinations stop worldwide, there is NOTHING stopping those illnesses from becoming a part of the equation once again.
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Those diseases are also only just a small selection of the ones we can now treat successfully.
On the other hand, they used to be absolutely rampant. Smallpox alone killed more people in the 20th century than Hitler, Stalin and Mao combined did - several times more, at that.
The fact that life expectancy keeps creeping up in western countries is not a coincidence. Most people in rich countries these days have a good chance of dying from old age, accidents or their own stupidity. That used to be quite a bit different.