Summary: The West is increasingly turning away from key technologies that built modern prosperity. A striking example is the rise of antivaccine and anti-germ-theory beliefs that threaten public health. If this trend continues, it could reverse decades of progress and harm many people.
Advanced civilizations sometimes really do throw it all away. I recommend reading the book Lost Enlightenment, which is about how the golden age of Islamic science and scholarship and literature gave way to centuries of religious fundamentalism and backwardness. (View Highlight)
The discovery that germs cause disease — and the subsequent development of vaccines, antibiotics, and sanitation to combat germs — was one of the fundamental break points that lifted humanity out of medieval conditions. (View Highlight)
If just 7% of parents don’t vaccinate their kids for measles, herd immunity against measles will be impossible, and lots of vaccinated kids will get measles too.1 This is why we have vaccine mandates — by going unvaccinated, antivaxers aren’t just placing themselves and their own kids in danger, but everyone else around them as well. (View Highlight)