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I've seen an estimate that it was only about 1920 that Western medical intervention had a positive effect on average. In other words, you would generally end up

I've seen an estimate that it was only about 1920 that Western medical intervention had a positive effect on average. In other words, you would generally end up worse off by visiting the doctor before then. And yet medical treatment clearly carried on as a continuous tradition throughout all of history.

nemo44x 2y ago
Besides being dirty I imagine how people thought of “healthcare” was very different. In that most people didn’t see a doctor until things were bad so they’re naturally worse afterwards. “Preventative medicine” is a recent idea.
- rsynnott 2y ago
  Eh. Predecessors to toothpaste have been around for _7000 years_. At _least_. > Since 5000 BC, the Egyptians made a tooth powder, which consisted of powdered ashes of ox hooves, myrrh, powdered and burnt eggshells, and pumice. (Obviously, there have been improvements since.) But seriously, preventative medicine, in _some_ form, has been around for a while. It mostly didn't work very well or at all, but the idea of doing stuff to avoid becoming sick/getting sicker isn't new.
  - nemo44x 2y ago
    Yeah but it was all bullshit as you admitted. The idea of actually preventing things via actual medicine and hence “preventative medicine” is new. Whatever you’re describing is not that. Your entire comment is essentially “people used to pray and have rituals to stop bad things from happening” and you equaled it to preventative medicine. Do you understand how retarded you sound?
    - rsynnott 2y ago
      Old forms of toothpaste and tooth powder and similar did actually work, to some extent. See the one described above; it’s basically an abrasive. Of course it worked. Toothpaste only _really_ advanced far past that in the 1950s with fluoridation. Various other things worked to some extent. The key difference is that no-one was really trying to _demonstrate_ that they worked; that really only came with evidence-based medicine in the late 19th century.

nemo44x 2y ago

Besides being dirty I imagine how people thought of “healthcare” was very different. In that most people didn’t see a doctor until things were bad so they’re naturally worse afterwards. “Preventative medicine” is a recent idea.

rsynnott 2y ago
Eh. Predecessors to toothpaste have been around for _7000 years_. At _least_. > Since 5000 BC, the Egyptians made a tooth powder, which consisted of powdered ashes of ox hooves, myrrh, powdered and burnt eggshells, and pumice. (Obviously, there have been improvements since.) But seriously, preventative medicine, in _some_ form, has been around for a while. It mostly didn't work very well or at all, but the idea of doing stuff to avoid becoming sick/getting sicker isn't new.
- nemo44x 2y ago
  Yeah but it was all bullshit as you admitted. The idea of actually preventing things via actual medicine and hence “preventative medicine” is new. Whatever you’re describing is not that. Your entire comment is essentially “people used to pray and have rituals to stop bad things from happening” and you equaled it to preventative medicine. Do you understand how retarded you sound?
  - rsynnott 2y ago
    Old forms of toothpaste and tooth powder and similar did actually work, to some extent. See the one described above; it’s basically an abrasive. Of course it worked. Toothpaste only _really_ advanced far past that in the 1950s with fluoridation. Various other things worked to some extent. The key difference is that no-one was really trying to _demonstrate_ that they worked; that really only came with evidence-based medicine in the late 19th century.