Are we 'reaching a point where sickness and disease are all conquerable’,
apparently according to a 2005 book? A notion grounded in reality or
one that exists in the fantasy landscape inhabited by those in positions
of enormous wealth and influence? I'm particularly stuck by the
yawning, obscene contrast between the techno-utopia implied by
this question and manifest reality. Some absurd propositions just beg to
be introduced violently to the reality on planet Earth.
The example of Remote Area Medical - Wikipedia
(RAM) helps puncture the brazenly clueless notion that human sickness
and disease are anywhere close to being 'conquered'. Started by Stan Brock (philanthropist) - Wikipedia in 1985, RAM provides a variety of healthcare services to needy people in remote parts of the world.
Needy
people in remote parts. Maybe people in earthquake-hit parts of
so-called Third World countries like Haiti? Rather, the bulk of RAM's
services are provided in the US. Not remote parts of the US mind unless
somehow places like Inglewood, CA, Seattle, WA, Knoxville and Memphis,
both in TN, and Las Vegas, NV, (see examples below) are remote in which
case the word's patently become meaningless.
So,
in the year 2017, affordable healthcare is still so much out of reach
for so many millions in the US that thousands of Americans wait for
hours, even overnight, to get really free medical, dental and vision
care at huge RAM clinics organized in enormous stadiums to accommodate
the huge numbers in need (see below from remote area medical Archives - Insurance Thought Leadership and The Atlantic, Olga Khazan, January 22, 2015. Life in the Sickest Town in America).
If
so many people in arguably the most powerful and wealthiest country in
the world, in fact its sole current superpower, can't even access basic
healthcare, how likely is it that we are even remotely close to a time when sickness and disease are all conquerable?
To
conquer sickness and disease, shouldn't their diagnosis be a given in
any and all circumstance in the first place, and if even that's not
guaranteed in the US of all places, what chances it's universally available and affordable
elsewhere? And of course, these are times when guarantee of life itself
doesn't even exist in conflict-ridden places like Syria, Iraq,
Democratic Republic of Congo and so many other places, a time when
unprecedented numbers of people have recently joined the ranks of
refugees. Let's park this techno-utopia where it truly belongs, in the realm of fantasy...unless we accept as reality the future depicted by sci-fi movies like Elysium (film) - Wikipedia.
Sources for further reading:
The Atlantic, Olga Khazan, January 22, 2015. Life in the Sickest Town in America
The Guardian, Amy Woolard, November 23, 2016. The enormous pop-up clinic trying to bridge America’s health divide | Amy Woolard
The Guardian, Jessika Bohon, June 12, 2017. Rural Appalachia is facing a healthcare crisis. I fear it's going to get much worse | Jessika Bohon
Ray Kurzweil, 2005. The Singularity Is Near - Wikipedia
https://www.quora.com/How-true-is-it-that-according-to-Ray-Kurzweil-we-are-reaching-a-point-where-sickness-disease-are-all-conquerable/answer/Tirumalai-Kamala
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