The new super strain need only time, and it is only an example, there already now exists bacteria of varying strains immune to even the strongest medicine we have to throw at it. Thanks to horizontal gene transfers the spread of these diseases will only escalate.
I think quantifying intangibles is important because humans are not merely objects in the world. This is somewhat of a philosophical point by I am not just a fleshy organic object sitting in a chair, you could in theory quantify the value of in strictly tangible terms but you would be engaging in the in a view of humans that only the severely autistic could hold.
The intangible is in this case absolutely everything because humans also interpret meaning into the world.
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..... go back 100 years and it was the height of intellectual thought, to some degree it still is considered intellectually valid.
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One could wax and wane about religion this or religion that or even its material role in warfare.
One point to note is that between the year 500 CE and 1900 CE, the major wars of religion in Europe all happened AFTER the 1400's, so after the last possible end of the "Dark Ages." The 30 years war, the French wars of Religion, the English Civil War, all are products of the Enlightenment and the Renaissance.