This episode is inspired by the idea that the USA has the world’s most expensive yet least h care. At least this has been the type of conclusion drawn from many analyses that compare things like GDP, cost of health care, and individual health. The idea is that we have come a long way, but we don’t necessarily have a lot to show for it.
Or, maybe it’s about making all of this so-called ‘progress’, yet having a lot of co-occurring problems.
Yes, we have lower infant mortality. We were living longer for a while (yet now at least U.S. life expectancy is going down). We have more ‘stuff’ (but is that a good thing?). Many people claim we are ‘better off’ than we were in the past. But is that accurate?
Here are a few things we have improved upon:
— We stopped polluting with DDT and the bald eagles came back.
— The hole in the ozone layer seems to have disappeared (or at least the media isn’t talking about it being deadly any longer).
— Surgeons wash their hands before digging around in our bodies so fewer of us die from bacterial infections.
— Many diseases have disappeared or nearly so.
—We have medicine to extend our lives (but see above).
But what about the bad things? The downfall?
What is the COST of all of this progress? I really don’t even want to list these things but how about three:
— Water scarcity and flooding. Too much or not enough water globally.
— Air, water, and land pollution. We are drowning in our own filth.
— Income inequality.
I could go on but I don’t want to focus on the immensity of the problems. Let’s just say I believe we have more ‘problems’ in the world today than we ever have. And I think you could adjust this for the population increase and compare today to any other point in human history.
All of our ‘progress’ has had a terrible cost. Yet, for some reason, we EXCUSE the costs because . . . ummm. I guess we feel so strongly about all the ‘progress’?
The past 50 years have been fairly good to many (white people) global citizens. But the price of that ‘progress’ is millions of years of fossil sunlight that was burned through in a FRACTION of the time required to replenish it.
In other words, we have spent nearly ALL of the fossil fuels on this tiny period of ‘progress’.
Progress, I argue, is not even close to being a ‘good value’ in terms of the number of ‘progress items’ compared to the amount of resources required to build them.
Do you see what I mean? We spent nearly ALL our inheritance in less than 50 years. Though we gained some very important and valuable things, I think we created more problems than we had to begin with.
The next challenge, if we choose to accept it, is to acknowledge this terrible deal and abandon the ways and means that allow us to get into the mess in the first place.
And it ain’t gonna be easy. We are going to have to make massive sacrifices. To start over. To RETHINK all of it. From what we value to how we measure it to how we interact with one another.
Or, we can double and triple down and ride it out. Personally, I’d rather admit I have a problem and try to get ahead of it.
Next week I’ll suggest a few things that I, and others, think we can do to get ahead.