JeffT
Prevention is better than cure relates to all aspects of our life, not just medicine. Context is that: Why fight terrorism, instead can't we prevent it? Devise political system that does not give rise to extreme ideologies!
We have a history of abandoning the wise habits.
1) The ancient Greeks–the finest of people, physically and mentally, that ever lived–ate only two meals a day (which gave the body enough time to complete the digestion process fully and to concentrate on toxin/waste removal [toxin and waste provide fertile ground for germs to multiply], which gave them peaceful sleep with body too being at full rest, permitting the sleep mechanism to do its intended job perfectly. [But we preferred to eat whatever we want and whenever we want giving overload to body, becoming obese, and then going for exercise to reduce weight .....]
2) In ancient India, one of the greatest laws was: “If a beggar is found in a kingdom, king would automatically be disqualified from continuing as king.” [We are now creating beggars in our kingdoms}
3) Nikola Tesla offered to distribute electricity free of charge to all consumers, and he had the technology too for that. Yet our commercial mind abandoned listening to such wisdom.