1: Our belief that progress happens gradually over time is all wrong.
Nowhere is this fact more accurate than medicine, Dr. Peter Attia writes in his book Outlive: The Science and Art of Longevity.
The notion of continual progress over time from ancient times to today is “a complete fiction,” he writes.
“It seems to me that there have been two distinct eras in medical history.”
The exciting … continue reading
How to connect our work to a higher purpose
1: In the first chapter of the Bible, God tells us: “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground” (Genesis 1:28).
This command is often called the “cultural mandate,” writes Timothy Keller asks in E… continue reading
1: This week we’ve been exploring the incredible medical advances against infectious diseases and the incredible increase in human health. Yesterday we looked at diseases which have been eradicated or are on the verge of eradication, including small pox, rinderpest, polio, elephantiasis, river blindness, and blinding trachoma.
But there’s more good news.
“Even diseases that are not obliterated are being decimated,” writes Steven Pinker in Enlightenment Now. “Between 2000 … continue reading
1: Many people believe we live in the “worst of times.” The data shows otherwise.
Today we continue our exploration of the many and momentous ways life has improved over the past 200 years by looking at our health.
“For most of human history, the strongest force of death was infectious disease, the nasty feature of evolution in which small, rapidly reproducing organisms make their living at our expense and hitch … continue reading
1: Consider this fact: Well into the 19th century, in Sweden, one of the world’s wealthiest countries, between a quarter and a third of all children died before their fifth birthday. And, in some years the death toll was close to 40%, Steven Pinker shares in his powerful book Enlightenment Now.
This week we are continuing our review of the incredible progress human beings have made following the Industrial … continue reading
