For the majority of the human race’s time on planet Earth, we have been essentially apes. Living as hunter-gatherers and fighting each other over precious resources has been engraved into our instincts and DNA for over 200,000 years, not to mention the millions of years before we evolved into homosapiens. Only recently in this grand timeline have humans had the opportunity to become civilized.
While opinions vary, most scientists agree that the first civilization emerged around 4000 to 3000 B.C. in Mesopotamia. But just because they had become more civilized than the rest, their natural drive for resources ultimately led them to the first recorded war in history. This ancient war took place in c. 2700 B.C. between the nations of Sumer and Elam. Even though in modern times we look down upon our ancestors for being uncivilized and pride ourselves on how far we have come since then, we are still secretly ruled by the same instincts that helped us survive years ago.
The human race has come incredibly far. The industrial and agricultural revolutions have made it possible for billions of people to survive, and great advances in medicine have kept people alive. However, for all our advances, would it make any sense that around 1.2 million people every year still die of a disease that has been curable for more than 80 years and has had a vaccine for more than 100? A disease that is in the top 10 deadliest diseases and can also cause the 3rd deadliest. No, it doesn’t make sense, but it is true.
This mystery disease is Tuberculosis, or TB, and is the 9th deadliest disease in the world. TB used to be a huge problem in the late 1800s to early 1900s, but medicine and vaccines helped to tamp it down. In most first-world countries, TB cases are low, but in places like Southern Asia and Africa, the disease is still rampant. TB also isn’t going to leave on its own. According to an article by Patrick Shepherd, “Drug-resistant tuberculosis poses a persistent and deadly threat to global health security. In 2022 alone, over 400,000 cases occurred worldwide, with diagnosis and treatment of drug-resistant tuberculosis falling well short of global targets.”
This raises the question that if the disease is preventable and curable, why isn’t more action being taken? The answer essentially comes down to one thing; money, as it often does. It requires money to go to these countries and give them medicine (which also costs money). Somewhere in our brains, there is a primitive part of us that knows money is a resource and we want that resource to ourselves.
Greed and corruption are the biggest adversary to progress and both are inherent in the human mind. Take American healthcare for example. Most health insurance companies are seen as corrupt, heartless, and bloodsucking. With all that has happened recently with Luigi Mangione and the killing of United Healthcare’s CEO, people are speaking out with thousands of horror stories about insurance companies trying whatever they can just so they don’t have to do what they are being paid to do.
One man got into a motorcycle accident and needed knee and femur surgery. During the surgery, he had pneumonia, so the doctors decided to use a different type of sedatives that were safer due to the illness. The insurance deemed the sedatives “not medically necessary” and then shot down his appeal. He was left with an 11k$ bill. Another woman had a miscarriage during her first pregnancy and started experiencing similar symptoms during her second pregnancy. She went in for an ultrasound and some testing. After thankfully finding out the baby was ok, her insurance decided not to cover the cost of the testing, again stating that it was not medically necessary. This type of disregard and apathy really makes you question if it’s possible for anyone to be truly selfless.
There are consequences to this selfishness that aren’t just immediate and it’s what I am here to talk about. Progress, while some people may profit from it, is inherently selfless. The act of starting something or contributing to something bigger than yourself, and knowing that you may not live to see the fruits of your labor, is a very noble thing to do.
The human race is in dire need of progress and change. Problems such as global warming and new antibiotic-resistant diseases press heavily against our society. It is important now more than ever that we try to distance ourselves from our primitive, selfish tendencies for the betterment of our species. If we don’t collectively come together and put our effort toward something good, it may stall our necessary progress until it’s too late.
