Disease and Civilizations
The beginning of the third chapter of The Fate of Rome: Climate, Disease, and the End of an Empire gave me chill bumps because of how timely and relatable the spread and crippling nature of disease is to a civilization. “The empire’s thick webs of connection let chronic diseases diffuse across the empire. But the really decisive moment came when an acute infectious disease transmitted directly between humans found its way into the empire” (Harper pg 63). It’s incredible because even with the pharmaceutical companies and gains in technology and biological understanding we are still vulnerable to this threat. We just lived through a pandemic and humanity especially when reliant on civilization is not well equipped to survive disease.
I think the article made an interesting point about the role agriculture and static life played in heightening germ exposure. “The rise of agriculture has been demoted from its privileged place because we no longer need a singular moment when humanity drew into fatally closer contact with a more or less stationary background of potentially lethal germs. The experience of the twentieth century has been a harsh teacher: emerging infectious diseases are a constant menace. Farm animals are only a small part of the biological brew from which new pathogens emerge. The continuing power of the wild to generate new adversaries is evident in the roll call of recent scourges like Zika, Ebola, and AIDS” (Harper pg 71). Ironically, our attempt to tame and bridle nature resulted in the development and widespread dissemination of disease. With agriculture we suffer because of the exposure and pristine environment for pathogen genetic mutilation and without it we risk a Malthusian type crisis where population will exponentially exceed resources.