The People v. The Flu

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Written by Simon Johnson

April 30, 2009 at 6:10 am

In Plagues and Peoples, published in 1976, William McNeill argued that human history can be thought of as the co-evolution of our societies and the “microparasites” to which we are prone.  The emergence of settled agriculture, major historial movements of people, and industrialization all brought with them new or more intense diseases.  Eventually, most societies figured out how to survive - but of course some didn’t (see Jared Diamond’s work for details) and many people died young along the way.

You don’t need to buy McNeill’s full view in order to take away the following point.  We have to invest and innovate to stay ahead of disease - there is no sense in which these are likely to be completely ”conquered” - because they change as we do.  Investments are needed not just in the relevant science, but also in how it is used to combat potential epidemics - as well as more general endemic disease.

The People v. The Flu « The Baseline Scenario

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