Science and tecnology together have created massive changes and brought the world to the place it is now at. Although many of these changes have made life safer and easier for many of the population, there has also been a downside which is revealed now through the awareness of pollution, species extinction, global warming and the capabilities of chemical, biological and nuclear weapons.
In terms of health care and the prevention of diseases, medical science and technological advances have one much to improve sanitation, treat disease and clean up impure water supplies. Individual lives have been saved by antibiotics, antiseptics and chemical waterpurifiers. Much has been done to eradicate waterborn parasites and epidemics such as cholera and typhoid. At the same time it has introduced pesticides and herbicides into drinking water, dumped pollutive chemicals into the rivers and seas and messed up the atmosphere. What has been gained on the roundabout has been lost on the swings. Although the African village poulation may now be aware of the origins of guinea worm and how to minimise the risks of becoming infected with this nasty parasite, they now have a greater threat to conted with, AIDS.
Science and technology are arrogant. Together they believe they can eradicate threats to human life from the natural world. They work constantly to prevent aging and disease and prolong life. They have a vision of immortality. Understandably, because no-one relishes the thought of the inevitable end to life.
It is a fools mission, because every living thing on this planet lives and, ultimately dies. It has to be. Death has to be. Nature has ways in which death is facilitated and one of these is disease. Diseases are capable of spreading in a variety of ways. Some are airborn, some passed through touch, some are in food and some are in water.
Unpleasant as it is to acknowledge, disease has a role to play in maintaining the continuance of life on this planet. And “life will find a way” as is remarked so wisely in the film Jurassic Park. Disease is neccessary because organisms need to die. The planet cannot keep every thing alive, forever.
However much science has strived to rid the world of disease, nature has come up with something better, another efficient way of ensuring poulation conrtrol and selection. This will continue because it has to. Whether disease is spread by water. air, touch or foodstuff it will always be there.
See the big picture? We cannot avoid disease and death. Strangely, as our life expectancy increases, more people seek euthanasia. Science and technology strive for immortality constantly and have certainly succeeded in eradicating some forms of disease only to see it replaced by another. It is an endless game with no conclusion. At the same time, science and technology have created a scenario which is damaging not only to the individual but to the whole planet. Waterborn disease will continue, as will other forms of contagion. To imagine otherwse is to deny the workings of nature, which have been in place since a time long before the creation of the microscope and which will go on for a long time after, if science and technology, in their quest for life without death have not managed to destroy everything the diseases need to survive, including us.
Related posts:
Why we Fear Death those who do not Fear Death why some are Afraid of Dying Social Science
Will Science and Technology Conquer Water Related Diseases – Yes
Will Science and Technology Conquor Water Related Diseases a Desperate Statement – No
Why we Fear Death Scared to Death Fear of Death if Death is Feared Death as Part of Life Dying