already better: barbelith re health 1/3/06
- Back in 2003, Haus posted a Conversation thread called “How much are you prepared to suffer in the name of health?” which asked the question, “How much is health ruining your life?” ...If we were to find no good objective definition of health, what implications would this have for public health policy? Although few would dispute that cancer is a disease, we might dispute what is meant by this. Is my saying so only another way of saying “I really don’t want cancer” or is there something more to it than that? If not, then the only meaningful definition of an objective disease would be a condition in which all people are agreed that the condition is highly undesirable ...Off the top of my head, here are some conditions I have heard some people call diseases and others call not diseases: addiction, shortness, baldness, impotence, unattractiveness, listlessness, loneliness, crooked teeth, deafness, all mental illness.
-here's something to cogitate:in the old-growth forest on the Pacific coast of Canada, there is a low incidence of disease (not sure how that's defined).The reason for this is that the rich soil (lots of varieties of microorganisms) as well as the rest of the ecosystem has evolved a fairly balanced symbiosis.I think that disease, in this case, reflects parasitic relationships, whereas health reflects the symbiotic.does that help?-not jack
- the etymology of disease: causing a lack of ease. Therefore it may be wise to see a more personal distinction as to what qualifies as a disease and what doesn’t.
- there is a certain glow about people in good health. it usually goes along with being in good spirits. It can probably be measured with some doodad or machine that goes "ping," but there's a certain intuitive recognition of robustness.maybe it's pheromonal.just a thought. or a feeling. true. --not jack