Endemic
Why Civilization Is Protracted Violence
Every era casts illness in its own image. Society, like the ultimate psychosomatic patient, matches its medical afflictions to its psychological crises; when a disease touches such a visceral chord, it is often because that chord is already resonating — Siddhartha Mukherjee, The Emperor of All Maladies
Red Queen to Alice: My dear, here we must run as fast as we can, just to stay in place. And if you wish to go anywhere you must run twice as fast as that — Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland
Think about one big issue that humanity has solved completely. I mean eradicated off the face of the earth. Polio is one condition we have succeeded at taming. However, maladies evolve with the evolving human condition. Graver illnesses particularly illnesses of the human mind take over. The truth is every human action, much like Newton’s third law, has an equal and opposite reaction. Technology widens inequality and creates a different set of problems. This article looks at the cyclical nature of the…