Don Quixote’s Thought for the Day: Progress part 2
Don Quixote on Jan 22 2010 at 5:27 pm | Filed under: Uncategorized
Few would quarrel with the statement that medical science has advanced more in the last 50-75 years in its ability to diagnose and treat disease, save lives and improve the quality of life than in all of prior recorded history combined. The American medical system, relatively free of governmental intervention, has contributed more to this progress than any other system in the world. Don’t believe it? Consider the residences of the Nobel prize winners in physiology and medicine over the last 30 years:
Argentina 1/2
Italy 1/2
Denmark 1
Australia 2
Sweden 3
France 3
Germany 5
UK 8 1/2
United States 45 1/5
In other words, over the last 30 years, residents of the United States are with 1 1/2 recipients of having twice as many recipients of the Nobel prize in medicine as the rest of the world combined. Interestingly, 9 of the U.S. recipients were born in other countries and came to the United States, presumably to work in the finest system in the world. Source: http://nobelprizes.com/nobel/medicine/
Why on earth would anyone wish to make fundamental changes to a system that has done so much good for so many? Because, as the supporters of Obamacare will explain (the ones who will self-identify as “progressives” without a hint that they understand the rich irony of that label), it is more important that the existing services be provided more equally (not necessarily fairly, which is a value-laden word, just equally) than it is that this most extraordinary progress toward ever-improving ways to help people continue.
They have abandoned “progress” in the name of equality. And we, the minority on the other side, are left to rejoice that we can make our minority large enough (41-59) to have a chance of stopping them. But more on that tomorrow.
Related posts:
- Don Quixote’s Thought for the Day: Progress in three parts
- Like father, like son
- Don Quixote’s Thought for the Day: Left of Center?
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7 Responses to “Don Quixote’s Thought for the Day: Progress part 2”
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(Repost. My first post disappeared…)
Here is another example of why I believe that progress is in decline, and anti-science is in the ascendancy (for our current American culture)
PR NewsWire has the story:
Cass Community Social Services (Cass) will further its commitment to the Detroit community and the environment on Wednesday, January 20, 2010 at 9:00 am when it opens the doors to its Green Gym. The Green Gym is the nation’s first workout facility created specifically for homeless men, women and children. The grand opening of the Green Gym will mark a revolutionary step by Cass to improve its carbon footprint, reduce its energy costs and improve the quality of life for Detroit’s most at-risk citizens.
The Green Gym will be the first of its kind. Nowhere else in the country have such innovations been implemented for the benefit of homeless citizens. In addition to standard fitness equipment such as two weight machines, boxing bags, and a treadmill, 10 Green Revolution Technology™ enabled stationary bikes will generate electricity to be redirected into Cass’ power grid. Over one year of four daily classes, a full class of 10 at the Green Gym can generate enough power to light 36 homes for a month, or three homes for a year!
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Read that last sentence again – and note that it is a news story – and THEN note that it ends with an exclamation point! In a news story! (my exclamation points are intentional too!!!)
Progress used to mean:
- It all began with humans using a machine called a hoe, using solely their own muscle power, hoeing fields by hand
- Then harnessing horses to do the work, guided by a man with a steering mechanism
- Then a tractor powered by gas and oil, driven by a man
- Then automated reapers on a scheduled timer, overseen by a man from a window, sipping a coffee
And now, in our new Obama age:
- We have ended up with people, using machines called bikes, using solely their own muscle power, to generate electricity for “the grid”
This, we call, progress. These days. Jesus wept.
The progress of the Left, Mike, is a boon to the regressive impulse.
Bikes & generators…see my post Powering Down:
http://chicagoboyz.net/archives/10812.html
also
Power: Mechanical, National, and Personal
http://chicagoboyz.net/archives/10164.html
MikeD: “…and anti-science is in the ascendancy (for our current American culture)”
Spot on!
I happen to believe that history does repeat itself as farce. We’ve seen this before: the rise of utopian left-wing thought with Rousseau, Marat, Robespierre etc was, in my view, wrongly conflated with Rennaissance and Enlightenment that followed (which established the roots of the American but not French revolutions). Actually, the French revolution which gave rise to modern, organized utopian fascism was the outgrowth of a neo-classicist movement which romanticized a mythical, nature-focused past (if you don’t believe me, just look at the European art of that period…huge majestic landscapes with tiny, pastoral and happy individuals living the simple life). Many of these same back-to-nature-worship-of-the-simple-life elements characterized the ethos and art of the Communists and Nazis in the 20th Century (i.e., Hitler’s Germany, Russia, Mao’s China, Pol Pot’s Cambodia and Kim il Sung’s “Juche” North Korea) and the environmental socialist mythology of today (e.g., Climate Change, Peak Oil, Polar Bear idol worship).
What we see today is much the same as led to such misery and degradation in the 20th Century. These movements alwasy begin with large romantic ideals, it always ends in death, destruction and environmental degradation. I hope people wake up to where these subterranian neo-fascist rumblings are leading us.
Danny Lemieux:
> and the environmental socialist mythology of today (e.g., Climate Change, Peak Oil, Polar Bear idol worship).
“Polar Bear idol worship” !!!
Uncontrollable belly laugh for at least fifteen seconds! Priceless!
For those who think that American Exceptionalism is a pernicious doctrine without any basis in fact: how do you like them apples?
Unfortunately, this blog will not catch many such readers.
It’s not just the Nobel winners; it is also things like this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pub_Med_Central
People don’t realize how much infrastructure we provide the world of science.