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The same three problems preoccupied the people of twentieth-century China, of medieval India and of ancient Egypt. Famine, plague and war were always at the top of the list.
During the last hundred years, technological, economic and political developments have created an increasingly robust safety net separating humankind from the biological poverty line.
(Incidentally cancer and heart disease are of course not new illnesses – they go back to antiquity. In previous eras, however, relatively few people lived long enough to die from them.)
Damn
The most common reaction of the human mind to achievement is not satisfaction, but craving for more.
In truth, so far modern medicine hasn’t extended our natural life span by a single year. Its great achievement has been to save us from premature death,
When you take into account our belief in the sanctity of human life, add the dynamics of the scientific establishment, and top it all with the needs of the capitalist economy, a relentless war against death seems to be inevitable.
how humanism – the worship of humankind – has conquered the world.
People are usually afraid of change because they fear the unknown. But the single greatest constant of history is that everything changes.
With regard to other animals, humans have long since become gods. We don’t like to reflect on this too deeply, because we have not been particularly just or merciful gods.
iconic way to say this
