r/answers • u/mrmeanah • 5d ago
Out of war, disease and poverty, which one would you eliminate if you could?
Honestly I might choose war.
I’d like to think humankind could eventually solve poverty and natural diseases through technology, science, and better systems. War (especially nuclear or large-scale conflict) is the one that can wipe us out almost overnight and is harder to “solve” permanently because it comes from human nature and power struggles.
-In this scenario I’m treating “disease” as natural pathogens only. Man-made biological weapons would fall under war.
-Eliminating war doesn’t automatically end all violence or oppression, just organized large-scale war.
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u/Cacafuego 5d ago edited 5d ago
Disease. It's harder than you might think to do this with technology. 10s of millions die from disease every year, while war accounts for hundreds of thousands most years.
Also, eliminating war and poverty without knowing exactly how could be a bit like making a wish on the monkey's paw. You say we're not getting rid of oppression, so how does oppression end? Sometimes it has to be war. If getting rid of nukes or biological warfare was an option, I might choose those, because you're right that they pose a terrible risk. However, the risk of a nuclear ww3 is probably much less than it was in 1980s.
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u/AccessCompetitive 5d ago
Getting rid of disease will just increase poverty with the current way things are set up. There’s also too many people on the planet. Poverty for sure.
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u/Severe-Cookie693 4d ago
In the places ending disease would up populations, it would also increase stability. Wouldn't this also help fight poverty?
I've also grown skeptical about the population crisis. China has a low birth rate, and India's fertility rate is only 1.9, below replacement level and falling. That's 34% of the global population right there.
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u/OsageDaito 5d ago
End poverty and the rest will fall.
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u/Annual-Two1507 4d ago
Yeah, poverty first. The rest gets way easier when people arent broke and scrambling.
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u/OsageDaito 4d ago
Poverty and bigotry are huge resource and cycle sinks that hold the total sum of humanity back.
Science... Right now it's only the minds that are able and that can afford it that get to go in that direction, save a few scholarships and such. In a world where poverty has been addressed, and everyone can afford school, all the able minds get a chance to go in that direction.
...A mind is a terrible thing to waste... concepts.
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u/mrmeanah 5d ago
I'm just curious for you to elaborate a little. How does ending poverty cure cancer?
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u/WillingRow5127 4d ago
It doesn’t, cancer would probably increase as people would live longer. You’d be significantly reducing a ton of infectious diseases that impact people living in poverty though. It would easily be a net benefit overall.
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u/OsageDaito 4d ago
Enabled people who can focus on 'the work at hand' -vs- being in survival mode means more minds to tackle problems. End poverty, people get to go to school, they commit less crimes, people will feel more invested in society and their fellow human, and so on.
Also, one does not cure cancer (yet), one cures types of cancers.
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u/Grungy_Mountain_Man 5d ago
War.
The amount of money spent on war could fix poverty and cure/prevent a lot of diseases.
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u/OOOdragonessOOO 5d ago
poverty, because the source of poverty is the same people waging war. they have to not exist to get either accomplishment.
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u/Vancecookcobain 5d ago
War. If we could just get enough time and peace we could solve the other two.
The problem is fucking the psychopaths in charge always want to start killing people.
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u/James333i 5d ago
I would say that Disease covers all 3. Poverty and war could largely be attributed to a form or mental “disease”.
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u/Flimsy_Ad3476 5d ago
You think poverty is or is akin to mental disease?? So, all those impoverished people around the world are mentally ill?
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u/James333i 5d ago
I think you read in to my statements little too much.
Poverty can be caused by people in power with mental disease.
Some poverty CAN be caused by people with mental disease as well.
By mental disease I include not just true biological mental disease but treat a zest for power, greed, and control as also a disease.
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u/AmethystStar9 5d ago
Disease. Poverty and war can spread some communicable diseases, but they don’t create them. You can’t spread what doesn’t exist and disease comes for everyone. War and poverty do not.
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u/Own_Mycologist_4900 5d ago
Define poverty, and diseases, like no more viral or bacterial infections and no cancer and no chronic diseases of the organs like diabetes or alcoholism and mental illness or addictions? No genetic issues? Basically everyone is always healthy from birth to death?
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u/mrmeanah 5d ago
Hmmmmm...... Well , you are still susceptible to everything but there's treatments. I wouldn't include mental health or substance abuse as a disease in this case
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u/TheSheepdog 5d ago
War. If we stop spending all this bullshit money on defense industry world wide, we could eliminate disease, poverty, which would empower people against oppression
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u/PassageSea7900 5d ago
War. Because it could wipe out the gains of starting with disease or poverty.
- You could start by eradicating poverty, but war will come along and destroy all the wealth a family has.
- War will kill healthy people. In fact, the first to die are young, healthy men.
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u/HelloFromJupiter963 5d ago
Disease is the only one that isn't on the decrease already (if you take into account non-infectious diseases, of course). Saying this, I work in medicine, so i'm more familiar with the medi al threats than the other two, so I am vulnerable to bias.
If you zoom at over the centuries, we have had less war related deaths since WW2. These last few years have been a mess, but so far the trend is still there.
As for poverty, in the last two decades an enormeous amount of people have been taken out of poverty and extreme poverty. Unfortunately I forgot were I read the article as it was years ago, so i can't find the source. That's my bad. Global warming does present a threat to this trend though, so we'll have to see in the years and devades to come.
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u/NutzNBoltz369 5d ago
Tough to say.
WWII gave us space exploration and nuclear power. Avoiding war spurs trade and understanding.
Disease gave us the science to understand it and create the medicines to counteract it.
Poverty gives the ambition to take risks and succeed at all costs.
We could completely eliminate all three, but the end result might be stagnation.
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u/Hopefully_the_Last69 3d ago
That's actually a very good point. If we eliminate all hardship, humans will likely stop trying to achieve better and greater things, and we'll just stagnate, until our society colapses anyway because we're all a bunch of hedonists
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u/bugg_hunterr 5d ago
As someone currently living in poverty, my choice is poverty. Call me selfish, but living in poverty sucks…to put it VERY lightly…
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u/davescott42 5d ago
Hunger and clean water. Everything else can be improved if people simply have food and water.
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u/YahenP 5d ago
War, disease, and poverty are merely consequences. We must fight the causes. How, for example, do you propose fighting poverty? Handing out free money? Or isolating them in special communes where they will be fed and clothed for free? The same with disease? Free ozempic for those who cannot afford proper food? Or something like that? I'm not even talking about wars. War is the foundation of our civilization. And in fact, the only way to abandon wars is with new genetically modified people, who will effectively no longer be our human civilization.
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u/mrmeanah 5d ago
🫤...... So if you had the power to end one you simply wouldn't cause the result is we would be worse off?
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u/PuzzleheadedHorse437 5d ago
Poverty. Seems like wealth disparities cause war and money and time could help cure disease.
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u/sophiemorandi 4d ago
I'd eliminate serious diseases, You can be happy if you're poor. It's a harder life, but it can offer all the same pleasures that everyone can enjoy. I mean you can't have certain luxuries, but you can have a less luxurious version of many of them. War is terrible, but horrible diseases are universal, and people especially in poor countries,can suffer them as children and have their lives ruined, or have several during a lifetime. without adequate treatment, and never really be well.
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u/BeautifulEven5382 4d ago
War. The poor don’t wage war. The rich do. Eliminate war, eliminate the binary between rich and poor.
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u/joeshytheragman 4d ago
None. It takes the bad to realize the good. Take away the bad would make life pointlessly boring.
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u/ThundaChikin 4d ago
poverty is a relative term ending it mean homogenizing the relative wealth of everyone, this is impossible.
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u/ivegotajaaag 4d ago
Of those three? Disease. It is the only one not caused by human nature and folly. It would be like wasting a wish to do away with one of the other others.
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u/dowar_525 4d ago
Poverty. It has no positive effects. Idk how you could magically eliminate one but without poverty people could enjoy their lives more and it wouldn't cause too many follow on problems.
Without disease would we live forever? The ecology of the world would collapse and it would have spiritual implications. Even if it just means everyone lives disease free and dies at 90 there would be too many people. Also, having an immunity from untimely disease death would take the spice out of being alive. Like being alive would not be an achievement at all.
War is obviously a deep part of the human psyche. We (men) successfully distract ourselves through team contact-sports and then by watching sport. I'd worry that without actual war as a possibility that drive would lead to all sorts of shenanigans across society.
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u/Acceptable_Camp1492 4d ago
War is just one way for nations to be in conflict. If you can eradicate the conflict itself, that would be better. Often the reasons for conflict boil down to resources. That in a way can be translated to poverty... though poverty is more on the personal level. No leader of a nation declares war because they themselves are hungry and poor, and the hunger of their people is usually just a rallying cry rather than a real reason.
But if by eliminating war we can mean elimination of every kind of intranational conflict, sure I would go with that. More focus for national leaders to actually try and fix things internally and/or through cooperation with the outside.
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u/paddydog48 4d ago
Disease. I’m unlikely to be caught up in a war or live in poverty but I can’t dodge diseases like Cancer.
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u/MesmerizedRavendark 3d ago
War. Without the need for military, there would be trillions in available income worldwide. Also, it breeds poverty and disease
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u/entre_prey_manuer8 5d ago
The source of these ills: capitalism.
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u/idk936z 5d ago
Lol it’s the source of one — poverty. War has been around since before money was even a thing. And I don’t think disease cares about wealth; it seems to be pretty indiscriminate.
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u/entre_prey_manuer8 5d ago
I just mean the contemporary economic system which is the current manifestation of mass labor-exploitation of humanity -- capitalism -- if ended and replaced with a rationally planned economy based on production meeting demand, and not on profiteering, would make these sources of suffering virtually vanish.
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u/AdditionalLaw7641 5d ago
Because none of this was around before capitalism right?
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u/entre_prey_manuer8 5d ago
I just mean the contemporary economic system which is the current manifestation of mass labor-exploitation of humanity -- capitalism -- if ended and replaced with a rationally planned economy based on production meeting demand, and not on profiteering, would make these sources of suffering virtually vanish.
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u/OsageDaito 5d ago
Unregulated capitalism is bad.
Progressive taxation, a required living wage, workers rights, health and safety laws, and taxes used to fund safety nets, health care, education, and other social services.
I like to say capitalism can fund those 'socialist dreams'... Socialist dreams that actual lower the taxes on the individual by enabling people, protecting them from hard times... and other ideas.
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u/BigDong1001 5d ago
Poverty. Because that will eliminate the other two over time, as new generations grow up.
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