Forestalling the plague

With regard to human health and evolution, our species has placed itself in a strange moral predicament. By seeking a cure for every human ailment, and by prolonging the lives of those who are sick, we have disrupted the evolution of our species.

We're all familiar with the principle of survival of the fittest. The Darwinian notion of evolution suggests that the least fit members of any creature usually die off due to disease, fail to compete for adequate food or reproductive success, or get killed by predators. It's the classic television image of lions choosing the feeblest looking wildebeest, stalking it and taking it down. Only the strongest individuals survive, passing their genetic material to the next generation.

Though the real nature of things is somewhat more complex (and sometimes whimsical) than that, the principle does indeed affect all natural systems. Songbirds, for example, have a life expectancy of more than 10 years in captivity, but in the wild they seldom die of old age or disease. Most are killed by severe weather or fall victim to hawks and other predators. They rarely live more than three years. Only the very strongest, quickest, cleverest and luckiest individuals will ever raise a new generation of young.

In a world without modern medicine, death taking its course would cause a rapid decline in population. Diseases would spread quickly through our densely populated cities. Just like 200 years ago, measles would kill many children. Open wounds would often become infected and lead to death or the loss of a limb. Tropical maladies like malaria would claim many more lives than they already do. People with diabetes and kidney disease would die. We would not be able to treat cancer.

Disease and injury are a fact of nature. Individuals of every species die from them every day. But for humans the situation has changed drastically. Our concept of individual rights dictates that every human being should be able to live as long and as comfortably as possible, and society should take whatever steps necessary to ensure that.

At certain places and times society has strayed from this perspective, with horrifying results. Adolf Hitler and the Nazis attempted to create an ideal Aryan race by eliminating people they considered degenerate. Not only did they remove millions of Jews from society, but also the disabled, gay men, and others who didn't fit their ideals of human fitness. The slaughter was not only barbaric but contrary to the ways of nature, which destroys with an unseeing and indifferent eye.

Go To Page: 1 2 3