Tag: Middle Ages
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History of health care to now: 8 million dead each year
People believe modern health care is expensive because it is advanced. But the real reason is much simpler: because someone wants profit. From the earliest times to today, paying for your own survival has been a consistent injustice, not a new one. And it continues even though we live in an age where trillion-dollar fortunes…
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The fight to possess anything – it’s turned against us
Throughout history, people have struggled to possess something of their own. Not out of greed, but because without ownership, there was no dignity, no safety, no independence. To own even a patch of land, a cow, or a tool was to escape the total control of kings, lords, or masters. However, what began as a…
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How religion thwarts scientific, economic and societal progress
Iran has been involved in nuclear development for nearly 70 years. Its suspected efforts toward a weapon have been ongoing for about 30 to 40 years. Do you think religion thwarts scientific progress? It would take the Czech Republic approximately 1 to 5 years to develop a nuclear weapon, depending on access to materials and…
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Was it better in prehistory? Extermination camps, gulags, systematic oppression, global wars
While there is no doubt life is better now than in prehistory (generally), modern-day history offers a lot of cruel modern-day novelties non-existential in prehistory. One journalist has rebutted that the Middle Ages may not have been so bad by saying: “What about Gulags?” Homo sapiens are species enormously prone to wars. And while a…
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Were hunter-gathering groups more equal than nowadays capitalism?
Some right-winger gladly points out the inequality was greater in the Middle Ages. Not only it is not the truth but we live in ages with unprecedented inequality (arguably with 19th-century capitalism). Yes, there is scientific and technological progress that has helped billions of people out of poverty and heightened their life expectancy. The Westerners…