Kill the Economy

[DonCoquixote]

116. Without science, it is

As someone who was raised in a culture that uses "primitive medicine" there is no need to lecture ME on it, unless you frequent Botanicas and herbal shops as well. However, for every Chamomile that does calm the nerves, or ginger tea that relieves sinuses, there are quack cures that can and do kill, with the full weight of tradition behind them. Also, if you think Oral tradition is enough to keep thing accurate, I suggest you ask a few atheists and agnostics how utterly awful oral tradition preserves text..i.e. "thou shalt not suffer a witch to live originally meant "poisoner", and for that several thousand of the herbal medicine specialists you just praised were KILLED.

Let's examine this next bit

In any case, the science you mention is only required to make these informed decisions once the ailment exists with a high enough incidence rate to study it, which only started happening post-civilization because agriculture drastically reduced human health.

Really? so the shamans years ago did not practice Science as best they could in their day? Little bebo gets sick, give bebo Red herb, if green herb fails, give blue herb, if blue works consistently, keep using blue herb. It is the same science that got refined through the centuries. That science led to civilization, as people searched for better, more consistent ways to ensure survival. When you say "the ailment exists with a high enough incidence to study it", you ignore the fact that the only reason there were enough people TO study is because most primitives died before 30 of ten thousand other causes, not the least of which was the fact that getting pregnant was enough to kill women.

Of course, what makes that get corrupted is not the idea of cause and effect, but the cultural crap that gets loaded onto things, like "the blue herb helped because Earth Mother Goddess loves the color blue, and hates the color Red." So of course, rather than use the science, said group grows up thinking red things are bad, and woe to whatever foreign tribe wears red. Alchemy and Astrology did push Chemistry and Astronomy to develop; the observatories and beakers are still used by modern scientists as they work; all the same, horoscopes are useless, and lead does not become gold.

The point is, without science to determine what is actually TRUE, everything is blind intuition. Granted, much in civilization is also baggage from an old primitive past, but to blame Science and Tech is folly, because, right after you smash the machines and burn down the grids (making a body count of hundreds of millions) people will still need reliable information to survive, and no, the folks that trust more in traditions than what they see for themselves will NOT provide it. Simply put, Civilization is not killing this planet, but the lack thereof, where one group of countries feels that they can ignore science, and keep churning out coal plants and SUVs If we were more civilized, realizing that we are interconnected, and need to cooperate, we would stop shitting in other's people's water, because we know that it will get to our water supply sooner or later.