In an ideal world, the amount of money we spend on medical research to prevent or cure a disease would be proportional to its seriousness and the number of people who suffer from it.
Interpretation
Funding for medical research should match the severity and impact of diseases on populations.
Peter Singer emphasizes the importance of aligning financial resources for medical research with the actual seriousness of diseases and the number of individuals affected by them. This quote highlights a perceived disparity in how resources are allocated, suggesting that more attention and funding should go to research based on the impact of health issues on society.
In practice
In a speech about healthcare reform, this quote can emphasize the need for more equitable funding in medical research.
The belief that the animals exist because God created them - and that he created them so we can better meet our needs - is contrary to our scientific understanding of evolution and, of course, to the fossil record, which shows the existence of non-human primates and other animals millions of years before there were any human beings at all.
Pain and suffering are in themselves bad and should be prevented or minimized, irrespective of the race, sex, or species of the being that suffers. How bad a pain is depends on how intense it is and how long it lasts, but pain of the same intensity and duration are equally bad, whether felt by humans or animals.
What is faith? If you believe something because you have evidence for it, or rational argument, that is not faith. So faith seems to be believing something despite the absence of evidence or rational argument for it.
Almost everybody accepts that some people can be killed. 'The concept of 'brain death' - the belief that people on respirators can legitimately be killed - shows that.
If we all think only of our own interests, we are headed for collective disaster - just look at what we are doing to our planet's climate.
Even in the era of AIDS, sex raises no unique moral issues at all. Decisions about sex may involve considerations about honesty, concern for others, prudence, and so on, but there is nothing special about sex in this respect, for the same could be said of decisions about driving a car. (In fact, the moral issues raised by driving a car, both from an environmental and from a safety point of view, are much more serious than those raised by sex.)
One of my rules is pay more, eat less. You do get what you pay for, and if you're willing to pay more for pastured eggs or grass-fed beef, you're getting something that's more delicious, and you'll feel better about eating it.
If you don't make time for exercise, you'll probably have to make time for illness.
I trained in internal medicine, and I expected most of my time would be spent on diabetes or heart disease or cancer. What I didn't expect was that so many people I saw would be struggling with loneliness.
Quit smoking, and observe posted speed limits. This will improve your odds of getting old enough to be wise.
Improvements in global public health must begin locally, and must be driven by leaders who will learn the hard lessons from COVID-19.
Asanas maintain the strength and health of the body, without which little progress can be made. Asanas keep the body in harmony with nature
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