• Question: Do you think if there were cures for lots of diseases/illnesses it could be a problem (eg over-populated areas, unemployment etc)??

    Asked by daviesl3 to Amit, Emily, Joanne, Martin, Paige on 19 Mar 2012.
    • Photo: Emily Bullen

      Emily Bullen answered on 19 Mar 2012:

      Yes, you’re right, that could absolutely be an issue. I won’t stop making better drugs though 🙂
      I think if we could just get ourselves sorted out though, stop wasting resources, and use those we have better, we could make it work.
      I do also think though that population growth will slow down. Western countries used to have far more kids years ago, because that was necessary to ensure that some survived. Some areas of India, China and Africa are still at that point, because they don’t yet have access to the resources that we do. Those areas will become more affluent, and naturally birth rate will decrease (this has happened in pretty much every country when it has been developing), and the population should stop growing quite so fast.

      Food for thought…

    • Photo: Martin Wallace

      Martin Wallace answered on 19 Mar 2012:

      Wow! What a serious question!

      You’ve realised that if we manage to cure a lot of people from illness and disease – which would be a very good thing – that would then mean there could be more people who are alive in the world using up the resources.
      You could argue that illness is nature’s way of finding out which individuals are stronger and able to survive in the world better. However the human race has a natural instinct to look after and care for those who are sick. We are fortunate to live in an age where we have the abilities and skills to look after one another – so it would be going against our nature to not work as hard as we can to cure illness and disease around the world.
      The problem with over-population and unemployment is definitely an issue, but a completely different one. Emily is right that we need to get ourselves sorted out – the world we live in is a very precious place and we need to treat it properly. There is lots of potential for the human race to live more comfortably on this planet, but we need to be more sensible about how we use it and less selfish with how much of it we think we are entitled to.

    • Photo: Joanne Davies

      Joanne Davies answered on 20 Mar 2012:

      What are your thoughts on this daviesI3?

      Thank you. 🙂

    • Photo: Paige Brown

      Paige Brown answered on 20 Mar 2012:

      Wow! What a serious question, like Martin says! And a great one!!!

      There are some ethical dilemmas here of course, but we must, as ethical human beings, search to help others and rid our planet of disease and illness without fear of over-population and unemployment. First of all, disease and illnesses are probably a Trillion-dollar or more expense on our planet… disease and illness takes away from our economy, and we would perhaps have more money for more jobs if we weren’t spending as much on healthcare.

      As far as over-population, this gets to be a problem in that it can CAUSE disease and bad living conditions. Actually, many scientists see a decreasing trend in population growth right now. With babies living healthier and better quality lives, mothers are having less children (It used to be that mothers would have several children but lose many to disease and illness! As a mother, this prompts you to have more children out of sorrow and despair for those you have lost). If we can rid the world of illness and disease, perhaps over-population won’t be as much of a problem as we think!!

      People are beginning to realize that quality of live is more important than quantity, especially when thinking of raising children.

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