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0 pointsTeMPOraL8y ago0 comments

Path dependence is a real phenomenon, yes, but then again, so is doing things that can be done, as opposed to those that can't.

How much effort do you think it would take to force the adult population into "healthy lifestyle" (as defined by the usual good diet and lots of exercise, etc.)? How would one even do that? I can't imagine anything over a) upending the industrial revolution and getting us all back to the farmer's life, b) just forcing everyone by arbitrary government restrictions on everything, or c) doing massive brainwashing of everyone. All of those strategies are infeasible, and could have bad side effects.

OTOH money spent on biomedical research can lead to figuring out one cause of one disease, and a subsequent cure. Then another. Then another. A lot of those could allow us to sidestep the lifestyle requirements, which I believe to be a good outcome. It expands options. (This - using medicine to not change lifestyle being good - is where I think our beliefs strongly differ.)

> I am some nutter who "lives in a bubble" for preferring to limit my exposure to germs as effective prevention rather than live on prophylactic antibiotics all the time,

What? Who on Earth does "prophylactic antibiotics"? I thought this was restricted to surgery and some other very special cases...

> Limiting my exposure to other people and their germs is not viewed as a reasonable choice for avoiding that outcome.

This is a very reasonable strategy and is often used, but has lifestyle costs, so people avoid doing it anyway... No blame to be put on doctors for that one.

> When I was growing up, anyone getting vaccinated was a success. People who didn't weren't all that uncommon. Now we are shooting for 100% of the population being vaccinated and you need to justify not getting it.

When you were growing up, polio was a thing. Now, it isn't. There's not just a correlation there, there's actual causation. We're shooting for 100% vaccination for some of the things, because vaccines work, and happen to work superlinearly - the more people are vaccinated, the more likely it is those who are not vaccinated will not get infected either. And some people can't be vaccinated for health reasons, so they rely on that so-called "herd immunity".

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DoreenMichele8y ago

My dream job was to become an urban planner. Historically, city planners considered health effects of the design decisions that were made. This is basically no longer done.

Yet one thing harming health in the US is that most people find that long commutes are not an option. They are a necessity. The time spent behind the wheel is not only bad for your health, it robs you of time to do things like go to the gym or cook from scratch.

Most Americans don't want to spend that time behind the wheel. But there are huge obstacles to arranging to avoid it. Many Americans wish they had other options. If those options were made available, you would not need to force people to take them.

Though I wish you had just dropped it and walked away like you indicated you would do.

TeMPOraLOP8y ago

FWIW, I'm totally with you on what you just wrote about commute and urban planning. Seeing my city (in Europe) destroyed by developers is deeply saddening. We've opened up cities to the free market, and now everyone treats building as investments, putting residential and commercial structures where it makes zero sense, only further congesting the city. TBH, I don't feel like anyone is doing any actual urban planning anymore.

> Though I wish you had just dropped it and walked away like you indicated you would do.

Yeah, I should have. Couldn't stop myself. But I'm going to now. No more comments on the health stuff.

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