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> We have the technology to solve so much but people no longer have the education and thinking process to use it. To me it's rather our blind reliance on techn

> We have the technology to solve so much but people no longer have the education and thinking process to use it. To me it's rather our blind reliance on technology that is the problem. People have become dependent on pills and drugs (and vaccines) of all sorts, treating the symptoms rather than the cause more often than not. Chronic diseases are arguably more prevalent now than at other point in time: obesity, diabetes, cancer, coronary, circulatory etc. The COVID-19 crisis, which exposed the vulnerability of a large part of the population, is a case in point. Governments have spent all that effort and money to develop and administer vaccines on an unprecedented scale, but zero effort was made to make us more resilient, to ameliorate the environment in which we live (pollution kills ~9M humans per year [1]) or the food that we eat and out eating habits (~40% of the world adult population is overweight, ~15% obese [2]). While COVID-19 may be gone (for now at least), the root causes of why so many millions of people succumbed to it are not. Technology might prove to be a good short term solution, but I believe the required changes are rather political, societal and even moral/spiritual. [1] https://www.trtworld.com/life/pollution-causing-more-deaths-globally-than-covid-54767 https://www.trtworld.com/life/pollution-causing-more-deaths-... [2] https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/obesity-and-overweight https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/obesity-and...

cudgy 5y ago
Imagine the impact on the GDP of the US if obesity was largely eliminated and diet and exercise incentives were included as part of health plans (eg free membership to fitness clubs and access to certified personal trainers with a 20$ copay). That’s a big reason why it hasn’t happened; instead the focus is on doctors and hospitals treating acute issues instead of preventing them.
- rincebrain 5y ago
  Such "Wellness Programs" do exist for health plans in the US, where you get incentivized (e.g. discounts/waived fees/increased coverage) for following whatever behavioral constraints they asked for (e.g. going to a gym, exercising regularly, and so on). They're not universal, but they are a thing in some cases.
- astura 5y ago
  Personal trainers don't cost much more than the equivalent of a $20 copay a session - when I had one it was $250/month (that's equal to $58/week) and I think I got three sessions a week. That's slightly less than $20 a session.
  - cudgy 5y ago
    Most personal trainers that I’ve hired cost a minimum $100 per hour. You are getting quite a great deal. That rate is equivalent to the cost of a group session in my area, which does not include individual attention.
consp 5y ago
> more prevalent now than at other point in time I would not rule out detection bias: you can't be diagnosed with those if you can't find it before you are dead. And death used to come s lot sooner for most in the past.
- m0llusk 5y ago
  That is an oversimplification. Just to point out one important aspect of this, Vitamin D levels are strongly related to human health and immune system function and have been dropping for decades.
  - mschuster91 5y ago
    Given that vitamin D is created in our skins by sunlight exposure (or rather, by exposure to UV-B radiation), this corresponds with the employment distribution shifting from agricultural and other outdoor labor work towards office, cubicle-farm jobs. Additionally, making this worse, modern glass is highly impermissible for UV-B radiation [1], meaning that even if you do sit in a well-lit place you won't get enough to create enough vitamin D. [1]: https://hps.org/publicinformation/ate/q12082.html https://hps.org/publicinformation/ate/q12082.html

cudgy 5y ago

Imagine the impact on the GDP of the US if obesity was largely eliminated and diet and exercise incentives were included as part of health plans (eg free membership to fitness clubs and access to certified personal trainers with a 20$ copay). That’s a big reason why it hasn’t happened; instead the focus is on doctors and hospitals treating acute issues instead of preventing them.

rincebrain 5y ago
Such "Wellness Programs" do exist for health plans in the US, where you get incentivized (e.g. discounts/waived fees/increased coverage) for following whatever behavioral constraints they asked for (e.g. going to a gym, exercising regularly, and so on). They're not universal, but they are a thing in some cases.
astura 5y ago
Personal trainers don't cost much more than the equivalent of a $20 copay a session - when I had one it was $250/month (that's equal to $58/week) and I think I got three sessions a week. That's slightly less than $20 a session.
- cudgy 5y ago
  Most personal trainers that I’ve hired cost a minimum $100 per hour. You are getting quite a great deal. That rate is equivalent to the cost of a group session in my area, which does not include individual attention.

consp 5y ago

> more prevalent now than at other point in time I would not rule out detection bias: you can't be diagnosed with those if you can't find it before you are dead. And death used to come s lot sooner for most in the past.

m0llusk 5y ago
That is an oversimplification. Just to point out one important aspect of this, Vitamin D levels are strongly related to human health and immune system function and have been dropping for decades.
- mschuster91 5y ago
  Given that vitamin D is created in our skins by sunlight exposure (or rather, by exposure to UV-B radiation), this corresponds with the employment distribution shifting from agricultural and other outdoor labor work towards office, cubicle-farm jobs. Additionally, making this worse, modern glass is highly impermissible for UV-B radiation [1], meaning that even if you do sit in a well-lit place you won't get enough to create enough vitamin D. [1]: https://hps.org/publicinformation/ate/q12082.html https://hps.org/publicinformation/ate/q12082.html