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Old 05-11-2011, 01:35 PM   #323 (permalink)
jamesqf
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Arragonis View Post
I think I need to see some examples of where "most of them have peaked and are heading downwards", but agreed anyone's choices will be subjective and different from anyone else's - mine are not the same as yours probably.
OK, here's an example that I think is about as non-subjective and non-political as possible: health. Up until about the '60s or so, overall public health was on an upward curve. A lot of really serious diseases had been eliminated by vaccinations (I'm old enough to remember a couple of older kids in my school who'd had polio, and walked with crutches & leg braces) and improved diet & sanitation.

Nowadays the curve has flattened, if not actually started downwards. The health care system seems barely able to keep up with the current level of lifestyle diseases, and that only by offloading a great part of the cost on to the healthy. A few minutes observing bodies at e.g. the local WalMart suggests that there's going to be a major increase in these diseases in the next few decades. On the plus side, the only major advance in the past few decades has been anti-smoking campaigns.
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