RE: Plague: An Ancient and Present Peril
I've finally had two cups of coffee and so can begin to operate on Steemit. All fuses are nonfunctional before coffee.
Your comment is likely intended to be provocative, but as I grow older I'm not so easily surprised or provoked. What I will offer in response is a couple of thoughts:
War and plague are unpredictable agents of those who employ them. They can be indiscriminate in operation, and turn upon those who unleash them (see: Russian nobility and WWI).
Both agents of death, however, do have in common one consequence: they generally fall most heavily on the poor, who have less resources to escape or resist them. This is true of the present plague epidemics. As epidemiologists look for risk factors, they cite low socioeconomic status. And, as we know, wars are often fought by those with limited political and economic resources (see: Vietnam in the US).
I think if we are looking to control population growth, we might try raising living standards. It seems that the more secure people feel, the less children they have. The theory to explain this is that more than one or two offspring are not essential for gene survival (see: birth rates in Norway).
You see, coffee works. Perhaps the mind is not working effectively, but it is working :)
Not provocative intentionally at all. As you say, raising living standards is the big solution to many of our issues. As I also said.
I am not saying I would celebrate a plague, and yes, I realise it impacts heavilly on the poorer people. However, for as long as we behave like a plague on the planet, something must control the numbers. Same is true of every species. We do not really have any dedicated predators, except each other, so disease becomes the only other viable natural balancer, That or intentional culling, which would impact only the poor.
Yes we do prey upon each other. Your comment comes on the heals of research I did on Famine in India. Social Darwinism, popular at the time, led some of those responsible (British colonial administrators) for mitigating the effects of famine to just let the strongest survive. Of course, the famine was accompanied by disease, which contributed significantly to the death toll. If you're interested, this is the blog I wrote: The Great Indian Famine of 1876-78: Land Use and Social Policy in Colonial India
As you point out, it is hard to see the full scope. Famine and plague go hand in hand as food producers get sick, food production and availability reduces, people are susceptible to disease, they get sick, more services fall off, sanitation drops, food becomes scarce, drinking water scarce and plague prevales.
I think the behavior of the colonial administrators falls in the category of people preying on people that you referred to in your earlier comment. Appreciate the comment.
A good read. Thank you.