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Natural Selection, or Universal Healthcare?

This question has been bothering me the last few days, so I decided to come and ask you guys and gals! Which is more important? Evolution of our species, or protection for the weakest (mentally or physically)? I know it’s kind of a “cold” question, but you’re all critical thinkers and can handle it. Lol. Should we really protect those who actually eat and even smoke laundry detergent? Or should we just let these go? Get better as a species?? What do you think? Tell me!

Comicfan1986 4 Jan 20
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12 comments

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2

Having lived half my life in a country with universal healthcare (Canada) I can say from experience that it's not the best system. Long wait times for everything, and prioritized healthcare for the young and productive are two unintentional outcomes from this type system .

I have heard that on the news, but it's good to first course confirmation.

1

I heard about these tools eating laundry capsules. Going to be a great year for the Darwin Awaards.

Why would they eat laundry capsules? I don't get it!

1

Your assumption is that people w/o healthcare are mentally or physically weaker and whose who have healthcare are stronger? This make little sense from a evolutionary point of view. Well, unless there is a kind of person you would want selected for.
It can be argued that birth control pills is already skewing mating selection. Women who don't use it or cannot afford it reproduce at higher rates than people who can. Also, lack of sex education is shown to cause higher reproductive rates in those populations. So evolutionary, people who reproduce in higher numbers are actually more successful.
But what do I know. I'm only a biologist.

Birth control pills are also biologically necessary for some to regulate estrogen.

Birth control pills are not a biological necessity since people didn't even have access to them until the late 50's. Not saying that they are not medically helpful and help control the population.

2

This is a very touchy subject. No need for elimination of any kind. We all deserve a chance
at a life. Elimination throughout the world do to abortion, genocide and starvation already
has been going on for decades. What else do you want ?

2

We have actually somewhat shaped the effects of natural selection or evolution for a long time. Just one example is that most of us go to the grocery store instead of hunting. It has dulled our senses and made us kind of lazy. We are not really self reliant anymore. Most people would die if the proverbial shit hit the fan. We don't exercise as much as we used to because we have made almost every aspect of our life easier. It's also made us healthier in ways with inventing medicine and treatments we have now etc. So there's been a trade off. We've turned from hunter gatherers to couch potatoes so to speak. Even though you can say we did it to ourselves, evolution will still take hold and we will evolve into a species with severely dulled senses. There are obviously a lot of factors that go into it though.

I think most of the people taking part in this new idiotic craze are kids. Kids are pretty stupid to begin with. They're kids. So no, we shouldn't let them kill themselves from their stupidity. We should teach them. If we let natural selection take hold then we would die off as a species. Everyone is a kid at some point in their life. Natural selection means no interruption. We are interrupted with from day 1.

I think modern medicine has weakened us as a species. I like to look in the grave yards, and I find many children dying at a young age from illness. It's and I hope I am wrong, but that is natural selection.

@Leutrelle You're actually right in terms of antibiotics. We are becoming more and more resistant to them.

2

This isn't even a question we should be asking as a civilized society (civilised if you're across the pond). One of the things that sets us apart from most of the other species on this planet is empathy. (I say "most" because even some in the animal kingdom have been observed helping each other even between species.)

If we lose that, we deserve extinction.

Where would we draw that line? And, who gets to make that decision? Do we just euthanize those with congenital defects that cannot take care of themselves?

If we don't take care of those we consider weaker than ourselves, we might get healthier physically but, that doesn't make us better as a species. That makes us worse.

Duke Level 8 Jan 20, 2018
3

Just because we don't die as often as we should doesn't mean we've stopped evolving.

6

As an emergency RN, I can personally confirm we humans say "Fuck you, not today" to natural selection on a daily basis. We should because we can and have the resources to (for now). I don't think people who overdose on drugs, attempt suicide and fail, or suffer injuries from a myriad of preventable accidents are unfit genetically. So much of what we are today relies on epigenetics and the environment, not genes that natural selection would eliminate. According to biologist Bret Weinstein, "The cultural piece is every bit as biological and evolutionary as the genetic layer, and it’s a special trick deployed by the genetic layer to solve problems not solved by genetics alone." I encourage listening to his last conversation with Sam Harris. Our memes are a lot more important than our genes at this stage in human evolution. We need selection to be acting on them. Eating Tide Pods is a meme that I don't anticipate will endure long and you don't need the carriers to die to eliminate it. They just need to be educated.

Memes -- good word

3

Hard to know where to draw the line morally I suspect. Though it happening to a degree in UK health care, smokers and the obese being the first to realise they won't in many cases be placed above non smokers or non obese requiring certain treatments.

3

What is the price of human life? What is the price to society of neglecting health? The Tide pod issue is not a healthcare issue, it is a marketing and social media issue. When heathcare is rationed the health of the population suffers and it costs more in the long run. ERs are used for primary care which wastes their resources. If every citizen has access to health care and can take care of their basic health, medical costs will drop. For example, if diabetes is treated properly it will avoid endless complications. ERs frequently end up treating and admitting poor diabetic individuals who end up with emergency amputations and other complications. That is NOT a good use of resources. The US is so far behind the rest of the world in this aspect it is shameful.

3

There are no shoulds. What we do shows who we are.

skado Level 9 Jan 20, 2018
2

I am one that should be left to die. And that is what I am doing. Slowly and painfully.

I don't want to live in a society that begrudges my existence.

😟

What?! why? What are you talking about Stinkeye?

@MrLink

Between fifteen years of torture by fibromyalgia's curse
A failed suicide, three lost jobs, and botched degree--by far what's worse
Was the tacit condemnation from the keepers of the keys
Who mouthed their obligate utterances and were utterly disgusted by me

As in their tidy offices I trembled and I cried
Homeless, disabled, and indigent; full of dread and terror inside
"Too young, too smart, and healthy: she is surely full of lies"
They stuttered stilted sentiments, coldness eloquent in their eyes

I survived (somehow) in body--but all hope has long since fled
Since I will never purge the image of their rancor from my head
So, although the hellish chronic pain has been by diet tamed
I will never heal completely from having been so cruelly shamed

There is nothing special about my story. People who are far more vulnerable than I ever was are treated far worse every day.

Don't weep for me. If you must, weep for the human race.

@stinkeye_a My goodness. I am sorry for your pain and what you must be experiencing. That is a hell of a poem. I hope things improve for you.

I hear what you are saying stinkeye_a, but I don't understand. From my observation you are a fighter, smart, and you will overcome these terrible memories. Your talent for writing may in part come through your suffering. Who knows what powerful word you may write?

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