Forwards, not back

Health is the stability of our body. Many centuries ago, Hippocrates thought that human body functions as a whole, and if something has misplaced or some problems have happened within the body, the whole system have to be taken into account.

However, later advancements in medicine have shifted our view towards a more localized remedies such as using the artificial hand when real one has injured in an accident. Another view we hold is that to gain the healthy state after any injury, our bodies have to return to the state it was in before the injury.

However, studies have found that when researchers cut any part of a worm’s body, the worm, again, generates that body part, functionally same but not identical. Furthermore, the size of the regenerated organ, in cases of other animals, depends on a more complex interconnection of all the body parts: a mysterious relation between the amount of energy needed to regenerate and the necessary efficiency or functionality of the to be regenerated organ.

Therefore, instead of saying to return to the previous state, we should say it to adapt with new environment, an adaptation that not only works in the injured local parts but also maintains a communication with distant parts of the human body.

In conclusion, health is not a constant base or state that should be strictly followed; rather, it is the result of our adaptation to an environment, and this adaptation depends on our goal and priorities about the regeneration happening.

This summary is based on Kate MacCord's essay “Forwards, not back” (Aeon), which explores how health should be understood as adaptive transformation rather than a return to a prior state. Main essay link: https://aeon.co/essays/regeneration-is-a-better-ideal-for-health-than-restoration