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Both firefighters and doctors are a relatively recent “invention”, I’d say 100-150 years old (with the medical profession being re-invented after a first stint

Both firefighters and doctors are a relatively recent “invention”, I’d say 100-150 years old (with the medical profession being re-invented after a first stint back in Antiquity). As such there’s nothing “essential” about them, you could say that bakers, fishermen or even sex-workers are more essential than doctors and fire-fighters.

reaperducer 6y ago
Both firefighters and doctors are a relatively recent “invention” So what? What does that have to do with anything? you could say that... even sex-workers are more essential than doctors and fire-fighters. You can say that, but you'd be wrong. That's the great thing about the internet. Anyone can say anything no matter how false it is, and they get to be on an equal footing with people who know what they are talking about.
TheCoelacanth 6y ago
And people died because of them lack of them. It's a pretty twisted definition of "essential" to include only the things that are definitely going to kill you if you go without and not to include the things that just might kill you.
- paganel 6y ago
  I was only saying that we managed just well enough without firefighters and medics for thousands of years, had they been really “essential” we would have kept/invented those trades well before we actually did. Were you to have asked my peasant grandmother what she reguarded as more essential between a doctor and a priest she would have totally chosen the priest, reason being that she knew she was going to die anyway (we all will) but the priest was one of the only persons who could take care of her soul. Again, doctors and firefighters might look “essential” for a secular and technological society like ours (one where we’re afraid of death and where we value physical stuff that could burn) but that hasn’t always been the case. It still isn’t in many parts of the world.
  - Chris2048 6y ago
    > ad they been really “essential” we would have kept/invented those trades well before we actually did Unless things change over time, as such requiring new facilities. We didn't have nuclear power station inspectors (or regulations) thousands of years ago, so are they also non-essential? > It still isn’t in many parts of the world There are "many" places in the world were death is not feared and people are happy to see their stuff burn? Barring nomadic jungle tribes with no persistent possessions or home locations in the first place, which societies are you describing? The fact that our ancestors commonly died of tuberculosis doesn't mean they where happy to do so.
  - WoahNoun 6y ago
    100 years ago if you cut yourself shaving, you might die and no doctor could help. We have since upgraded our expectations in medical outcomes.
    - paganel 6y ago
      > yourself shaving, you might die and no doctor could help In my parts of the world (Eastern Europe) often times the barber was also the doctor and the dentist (was called "felcer).

reaperducer 6y ago

Both firefighters and doctors are a relatively recent “invention” So what? What does that have to do with anything? you could say that... even sex-workers are more essential than doctors and fire-fighters. You can say that, but you'd be wrong. That's the great thing about the internet. Anyone can say anything no matter how false it is, and they get to be on an equal footing with people who know what they are talking about.

TheCoelacanth 6y ago

And people died because of them lack of them. It's a pretty twisted definition of "essential" to include only the things that are definitely going to kill you if you go without and not to include the things that just might kill you.

paganel 6y ago
I was only saying that we managed just well enough without firefighters and medics for thousands of years, had they been really “essential” we would have kept/invented those trades well before we actually did. Were you to have asked my peasant grandmother what she reguarded as more essential between a doctor and a priest she would have totally chosen the priest, reason being that she knew she was going to die anyway (we all will) but the priest was one of the only persons who could take care of her soul. Again, doctors and firefighters might look “essential” for a secular and technological society like ours (one where we’re afraid of death and where we value physical stuff that could burn) but that hasn’t always been the case. It still isn’t in many parts of the world.
- Chris2048 6y ago
  > ad they been really “essential” we would have kept/invented those trades well before we actually did Unless things change over time, as such requiring new facilities. We didn't have nuclear power station inspectors (or regulations) thousands of years ago, so are they also non-essential? > It still isn’t in many parts of the world There are "many" places in the world were death is not feared and people are happy to see their stuff burn? Barring nomadic jungle tribes with no persistent possessions or home locations in the first place, which societies are you describing? The fact that our ancestors commonly died of tuberculosis doesn't mean they where happy to do so.
- WoahNoun 6y ago
  100 years ago if you cut yourself shaving, you might die and no doctor could help. We have since upgraded our expectations in medical outcomes.
  - paganel 6y ago
    > yourself shaving, you might die and no doctor could help In my parts of the world (Eastern Europe) often times the barber was also the doctor and the dentist (was called "felcer).