Austrian psychiatrist Julius Wagner-Jauregg had a remarkable talent for recognizing patterns. When a common tendency appears, it’s called a pattern. Finding common ground also involves identifying problems or finding solutions. Before the discovery of penicillin, Julius was searching for a way to treat neurosyphilis but accidentally discovered that the condition was cured when the patient developed a severe fever from another disease. Julius intentionally infected a patient with malaria to induce a fever, and when the fever rose, he used quinine to treat malaria and saved the syphilis patient. Without treatment, syphilis had a 30% survival rate, but with malaria-induced fever, the survival rate increased to 60%. The survival rate was doubled. For this work, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1927. Although high fever causes pain in humans, it also signals that the immune system is active. Recognize patterns to solve problems. - Joseph’s “just my thoughts”
Paradoxically, one of the reasons for Rome’s demise was that it kept winning wars. Victories expanded the empire’s territory, and the risks increased proportionally. Men, primarily middle-class men, volunteered as soldiers; the larger the territory, the longer the wars lasted, and the longer it took for them to return home. The women who remained at home were forced to borrow labor and became indebted to the nobility. Eventually, the women were sold into slavery, and by the time the men returned, their families had disintegrated. People don’t betray because they’re evil, but because it increases their risk. If the territory you’re in grows, you might reconsider your loyalties to the organization. - Joseph’s “just my thoughts”