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When You Have A Nice Shiny Pharmacological Hammer
Why every problem now looks like a nail
In the West, life expectancy rose dramatically over the period 1800 CE to 2000 CE, more than doubling. Since then, minor gains have been seen in some OECD nations but in recent years in most countries the line has either flattened or begun to decline due to our increasingly unhealthy way of life. Our gain in life expectancy, prior to our current trend of reversing it, came from just a few important changes.
Firstly, public sanitation improved dramatically. After the fall of the Roman Empire, public sanitation essentially vanished in the West and in consequence disease ran rampant. People forgot even the most basic elements of hygiene such as washing their hands before touching food. In consequence, infant mortality rose along with greater probability of death for those just beyond what back then was middle age.
Secondly, about a century later, the first fruits of empiricism became available. With the advent of antibiotics a wide range of bacterial diseases could be treated. Hospital operations no longer led to fatal infections, and minor cuts no longer threatened death from tetanus.
Thirdly, the nutritional content of people’s diets improved. Where hitherto only the wealthy were immune from deficiency diseases…
