281. The Plague Paradox feat. Kyle Harper

Over the course of history, as human civilization has developed and advanced, so have our microbial enemies. This has led to a vast and diverse disease pool dating all the way back to the last Ice Age. 

Kyle Harper is a professor of Classics and Letters at the University of Oklahoma. In his books, Plagues upon the Earth: Disease and the Course of Human History and The Fate of Rome: Climate, Disease, and the End of an Empire, he examines the history of disease and its impact on the human race. 

Kyle and Greg discuss how Rome was both a rich and sick society, the common misconceptions about disease, and what history should have taught us about COVID-19. 

*unSILOed Podcast is produced by University FM.*

Episode Quotes:

The two basic problems of parasites

16:05: Every microparasite has a couple of really basic problems. The two most basic problems are: how do I survive the immune system of a host? Because our immune system is absolutely amazing. I mean, it wins 99.99999% of the time. They're incredible at picking out foreign cells or particles and getting rid of them. And so that's a really hard problem. The other really hard problem that every germ has is: how do I get from one host to the next? Because if I want to pass on my genes to future generations, I can get a few generations inside a host, but I've ultimately got to keep going to the next host, or my children's, children's children have to go to the next host.

The human body is responsive to things around it

06:06: The human body is responsive to things around it, things we put into it. And so, the human body changes over time, and it can be a crude yet really, really powerful way of thinking about changes in human health.

How can human societies bring infectious disease under control

49:37: Human societies are able to bring infectious diseases under control through the deployment of a number of always-overlapping mechanisms. And so you need all of it. You need good nutrition; you need economic growth and development that give particularly children high levels of nutrition to survive infection. You also need good policy. This would include number one, clean water, and number two, mandatory vaccination.

Infections hinder growth development

07:58: If your whole childhood is fighting off nasty infections, your body doesn't have the energy budget to invest in growth. So it's not just what you eat—protein is one thing. It's also eating away your energy, like little microparasites that you're fighting off constantly. And then other things—social stress, the kind of work environment— So bones. Tell a big story.

Show Links:Recommended Resources:

• Edward Gibbon
• Plagues and Peoples 
• Edward Jenner

Guest Profile:

• Faculty Profile at University of Oklahoma
• Faculty Profile at Sante Fe Institute
• Professional Profile on Academia
• Kyle Harper's Website
• Kyle Harper on Twitter

His Work:

• Article on Aeon
• Kyle Harper on Google Scholar
• Plagues upon the Earth: Disease and the Course of Human History
• The Fate of Rome: Climate, Disease, and the End of an Empire
• From Shame to Sin: The Christian Transformation of Sexual Morality in Late Antiquity
• Slavery in the Late Roman World, AD 275–425