I think plumbing wins the award too; we take it for granted yet it is the one thing most responsible for increasing longetivity in every civilization that uses it.
I took them for the first five years of my sex life - but back then the doses were many times higher and a big scare occurred when large numbers of test lab bitches were found to be dying of cancer. I immediately ceased taking the Pill and got a copper-7 IUD. Since I'm long past my menopause, the Pill is no longer an issue for me - but out of interest I looked up eight studies (in Italy, Australia, & the US) on the modern versions. It turns out that they are now much better. Colon cancer is down to 2.75% in over 100,000 women and endometrial cancer is no longer a risk. Prolonged use of contraceptives has proved to be a cofactor for cervical cancer in women with HPV positive genes. However, breast cancer is still a risk; "10% increased risk for less than 5 years of use, and 60% increased risk with 5–9 years of use." https://www.mayoclinicproceedings.org/article/S0025-6196(11)61122-1
Improving the world? It probably made it easier for Westerners with greater affluence and easier access to doctors and prescriptions to have sex without the risk of unwanted children. It has certainly helped to reduce family sizes, and hence build greater affluence. It probably made it much easier for wives to enjoy love with their husbands far more frequently. It's also made it theoretically possible for the world to move toward zero population growth. Those are significant improvements - perhaps greatly underrated.
On the other hand, in 1989 it was discovered that the Pill had led to a massive increase in the spread of STD's. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12342583 This includes Vietnam Rose which cannot be cured by any known anti-biotic - a form of syphilis which leads to madness and death, and which is transmitted to babies in utero. I also suspect that greater promiscuity has led to a culture-wide increase of relationship dramas. It seems to me that, in my youth, girlfriends confiding in me spent their entire time obsessing about the miseries of their affairs with men, or their S.O.'s affairs with other women.
Thank you - it was great to think about that. :)
This post was edited by inky at September 19, 2018 10:38 PM MDT
I suppose we could say that before people evolved, the natural world was a very different place - supporting the proliferation of life, and simultaneously very harsh, with many discomforts, difficulties and threats for all species. Then, as people developed language and spread the use of tools, housing and clothing, survival became a little easier and more comfy. Then we became an advanced technological species and, in the affluent regions, life became so easy that few of us would now be capable of surviving in the wild. Maybe we don't often stop to appreciate just how wonderful and extraordinary these achievements are.
Yet we humans have created global warming, now at 1% globally. At 2% by 2025 agriculture around the world will be at risk and failing. By 5% there will be massive extinctions of many species - now predicted to hit by 2050. But there are other risks which at any moment could trigger a sudden exponential rise of 9% which would cause the catastrophic extinction of this round of evolution. Only extremophiles would survive.
Did we people invent ourselves? I guess we have invented what we have become.
So many thoughts triggered by your answer -- many thanks. :)
This post was edited by inky at September 20, 2018 1:17 AM MDT
HUGE GIGGLES! Mine has placed an ad on Craigslist and in the local newspaper. It is begging to be moved to another keyboard and adopted by another owner. :( I must say, my little delete button has seen better days. I have used it, abused it, cursed it, and spanked it, smacked it numerous times, and rarely have cleaned it. You can't even read his little name anymore. Much to my dismay, it has a point. It is over-worked, expected to perform and mistreated even when it does. I can't blame him.
This post was edited by Merlin at September 19, 2018 3:38 PM MDT
Don Barzini 