[ExI] The post-antibiotic era

[Anders Sandberg]

On 2013-11-20 19:39, BillK wrote:
> The doctors so far are only seeing the first signs of the increased
> death rate from antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
> It is the future death rates they are worried about.

Yes, I know. And I still think they are being myopic.

A world without antibiotic would be nastier. Surgery would indeed be far 
harder (but not impossible - there are non-specific sterilization 
methods too that are resistant to resistance) and many common accidents 
would become far more serious. Not to mention childbirth. But... most 
people live longer today because they do not get sick and have fewer 
accidents, not because they have lots of surgery or antibiotics to treat 
minor wounds. Good immune systems thanks to sanitation, plentiful food 
and vaccines count for a lot.

Antibiotic use in animal husbandry is actually a serious bad, and 
rightly banned in many countries (e.g. banned for non-medical purposes 
across EU since 2006). You can produce cheap meat without it. It is just 
that you can make cheaper meat with it, at the price of feeding 
resistance bigtime. (Not that the EU cares about cheap meat...)

Conflating antibiotics used for plants with the ones used for humans is 
just stupid - I lost all my respect for the Wired article at that point.


-- 
Dr Anders Sandberg
Future of Humanity Institute
Oxford Martin School
Oxford University