The Role of Chance in Human Affairs - Assignment Example

After a wide range of agricultural benefits were introduced with the help of technology, hunters-gatherers were replaced by the agriculturalists, and humanity evolved subsequently. Phenomenal improvement in agricultural technology contributed heavily to this replacement for the better. It facilitated the lives of all humans in that it saved them from perpetual traveling, with the result that many tribes of hunters and gatherers settled down in one place, which is how communities started developing.

High mortality rates due to hunger issues dropped and the average life span of a human increased. Discovery of farming has definitely changed the world (Buyer) and allowed people to invest less time traveling and more in studying, the result being that many new medicines and tools have been invented. The healthcare costs have been rising in the US for many years partly because the healthcare system is improperly organized and partly due to not the intensive promotion of effective and rapid healthcare.

In words of Guterman, who is assisting the Commonwealth Fund’s Program, the healthcare costs are so high because “there a long list of factors like technology and the organization of health care that doesn't promote efficient and effective care” (Guterman, cited in Khan). More expensive technologies and a rise in chronic diseases are also noted as major factors that are driving healthcare spending. In contrast, in Canada, going to a doctor costs far less than in the US because of the benefits offered by the public single-payer healthcare system.

The healthcare costs are low in Canada because there just a doctor, his/her receptionist, and possibly a nurse take care of patients, whereas in the USA as many as 8 people do that job (Fayerman). Chaos theory is a field of study in mathematics dealing with nonlinear dynamics, in which random events can be predicted on the basis of some equations. It is claimed by Livingston that while it is true that humans are fully responsible for most of what happens to them in their daily lives, “surely there is a place in human affairs for the inadvertent and unpredictable” (Livingston), which underlines the possibility that chance can play some role in human affairs like development.

There is a link between social sciences and public policy planning. Social sciences are vital to design more effective policies in response to changing needs and challenges. They are also vital in the challenge of a better understanding of the society we live in, and public policies must refer to social sciences to create knowledgeable societies.