Читать книгу The Human Race – Too Smart to Survive онлайн

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It was recently discovered that the oldest man-ape that walked on two legs lived in the Allgäu region in Germany about twelve million years ago. After twelve million years of evolution, the result is disease and pain? Genetics is there to ensure that a species adapts better to its environment from generation to generation, so that each is stronger than the one before it. Is that the case in our society? In the U.S., there are predictions of a generation emerging now that, for the first time in human history, will not outlive its parents. Current figures from the CDC in the U.S. show that 6 in 10 adult Americans have one chronic condition and 4 in 10 have two or more (1–4). 54% of U.S. children have a chronic disease and 21% have developmental disabilities. Annual cancer diagnoses have hit 1.6 million with 600,000 resulting deaths in the U.S. Autoimmune diseases are on the rise every year. One in four people die from heart disease, one in ten have liver disease, one in twenty have depression, 12% have thyroid dysfunction, 40% are diabetic, and 74% have chronic intestinal dysfunction! We as a population are expected to accept this, just as we are expected to accept drug treatment without addressing the causes. In 1971, U.S. President Richard Nixon launched an initiative called “The War on Cancer”. 50 years have passed since then, and the result? Today, more people are getting cancer than ever before. The WHO even warns that cancer incidence will double by 2040! How often do we hear news of being on the verge of a breakthrough in cancer treatment? Yet another new drug that is supposed to bring us a little closer to a cure, but ultimately disappoints. Americans today are now the sickest species in the history of our planet, and there are reasons for this. However, they are not genetic as we are so often led to believe. Even if the numbers in Europe are still lagging somewhat behind, we should at least be aware of the consequences our lifestyle has, not only for the individual, but also for society in general and the future of our species. If we adopt adequate measures, a long and healthy life without chronic diseases, medication and prolonged suffering is possible even for Central Europeans and Americans. But before we get into the causes of diseases and their solutions, first a brief digression into the history of medicine that paints a picture of how we came to our present-day conception of disease, health and medicine.