"Destroying society" was itself a win-win in a lot of cases, given how many pre-industrial societies in Europe were literally feudalism before and who replaced

"Destroying society" was itself a win-win in a lot of cases, given how many pre-industrial societies in Europe were literally feudalism before and who replaced it with democracy and liberty. I think the total elimination of smallpox was pretty one-sided, too; this remains the case even despite people who look at vaccines skeptically, because such skepticism isn't the fault of vaccines.