We all are to some extent: How many of us would not be alive today if it were not for fairly recent inventions? I had pneumonia as an infant and likely would have died if it were not for antibiotics. They wrecked my teeth, but I can smile about it now. Because I am alive! My three girls exist because of the inexplicable choice my wife made: Go to Brown or Washington State University for graduate school? We met, they exist: Yea random chance!
About 28 years ago, my dad had quadruple coronary artery bypass surgery due to angina and 90%+ blockage in his coronary arteries. It wasn't a close-call from a historical standpoint: Such treatments had been common for twenty years by then. Over thousands of years of Human history, this surgery did not exist--not for a peasant and equally not for the most powerful king or emperor. My dad was a middle class retired Air Guard pilot and in this part of Human history, cures were available.
He would not have died from this condition, at least not right away. The risk of sudden death would have forced an extreme limit on physical activity. As it was, he went on to live 28 more years and when he died, it was completely unrelated to his heart.
A mere 150 years ago, it could reasonably take a couple of weeks for a letter from Washington to reach me in Boston. In less time than that, I have found out about his passing, will have flown across the country for his memorial service and returned home.
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