421
understand it in any other Being.
13
Anderson’s seminal study on comparative Quality
of Life Indicators, takes into account the “negative aspects of the underlying
constructs.”
14
Hence, the contradictions that issue from, for example, the 2020 United Nations
Development Programme (UNDP) reports on declining world poverty. The notion
that the world has vastly diminished “extreme poverty” (less than “$1.90 income
per day”), to 700 million people, at first must invite some sense of imagined relief;
a vision, not too distant, where all will be well. Writes UNDP Administrator, Achim
Steiner, “There has been a massive drop in global extreme poverty rates – from 36
per cent in 1990 to 8.6 per cent in 2018 – vastly increasing the economic and social
opportunities for so many across the world.”
15
Yet, as Anderson’s global studies reveal, “levels of stress and pain, as well as
negative emotions, have actually gone up in the past 12 years at the rate of about
1-percent per year.” When we speak of “global” statistics, the cybernetic feedback
loops of the Anthropocene (particularly acute when speaking of human agriculture)
necessarily augment the discussion points to encompass every quadrant of the biological world. Moreover, by expanding that framework, we are also committed to an
overarching depicture of pain among all taxa.
Measurements of pain have never been precise; nor has the concept itself. The
International Association for the Study of Pain, founded in 1973,
16
defines pain as
“an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential
tissue damage, or described in terms of such damage.” This dates to the work of
Harold Merskey in 1964.
17
It is about as explanatory to the layperson in terms of
defining pain, as Hippocrates (c.460–370 BC) characterizing it as an “imbalance in
vital fluids” or words to that effect. In other words, about as precise as saying that
pain and unpleasantness are the same.
18
13 See “Global Rise in Negative Emotions Including Pain,” Ron Anderson, February 16, 2020,
World Suffering & Compassionate Relief of Suffering” website, http://worldsuffering.org/
global-suffering-on-the-rise/.
14 “A Technical Introduction to World Suffering,” by Ronald E. Anderson, University of Minnesota,
January 2015, http://worldsuffering.org/wp-content/uploads/A-Technical-Introduction-to-Wo
rld-Suffering-1jan15.pdf, Accessed April 28, 2020.
15 See “International Day for the Eradication of Poverty,” by Achim Steiner, October 17, 2019,
UNDP, https://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/news-centre/speeches/2019/internationalday-for-the-eradication-of-poverty-.html, Accessed April 28, 2020.
16 www.iasp-pain.org.
17 Merskey, H. (1964), An Investigation of Pain in Psychological Illness, DM Thesis, Oxford.
18 See Turk DC, Melzack R. Handbook of Pain Assessment. Guilford Press; New York: 2001; See
also, Farrar JT, Young JP, LaMoreaux L, et al. Clinical importance of changes in chronic pain
intensity measured on an 11-point numerical pain rating scale. Pain. 2001;94:149–158. [PubMed];
and Farrar JT, Berlin JA, Strom BL. Clinically important changes in acute pain outcome measures:
a validation study. J Pain Symptom Manage. 2003;25:406–411. [PubMed]; See also, Curr Pain
Headache Rep., Curr Pain Headache Rep. 2009 Feb; 13(1): 39–43. doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/
s11916-009-0009-x, PMCID: PMC2891384, NIHMSID: NIHMS209740, PMID: 19126370,
“Pain Outcomes: A Brief Review of Instruments and Techniques,” Jarred Younger, PhD, Rebecca
McCue, BA, and Sean Mackey, MD, PhD, HHS Public Access, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/
pmc/articles/PMC2891384/. Accessed April 27, 2020
46.4 Among the Many Tiers of Tragedy
understand it in any other Being.
13
Anderson’s seminal study on comparative Quality
of Life Indicators, takes into account the “negative aspects of the underlying
constructs.”
14
Hence, the contradictions that issue from, for example, the 2020 United Nations
Development Programme (UNDP) reports on declining world poverty. The notion
that the world has vastly diminished “extreme poverty” (less than “$1.90 income
per day”), to 700 million people, at first must invite some sense of imagined relief;
a vision, not too distant, where all will be well. Writes UNDP Administrator, Achim
Steiner, “There has been a massive drop in global extreme poverty rates – from 36
per cent in 1990 to 8.6 per cent in 2018 – vastly increasing the economic and social
opportunities for so many across the world.”
15
Yet, as Anderson’s global studies reveal, “levels of stress and pain, as well as
negative emotions, have actually gone up in the past 12 years at the rate of about
1-percent per year.” When we speak of “global” statistics, the cybernetic feedback
loops of the Anthropocene (particularly acute when speaking of human agriculture)
necessarily augment the discussion points to encompass every quadrant of the biological world. Moreover, by expanding that framework, we are also committed to an
overarching depicture of pain among all taxa.
Measurements of pain have never been precise; nor has the concept itself. The
International Association for the Study of Pain, founded in 1973,
16
defines pain as
“an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential
tissue damage, or described in terms of such damage.” This dates to the work of
Harold Merskey in 1964.
17
It is about as explanatory to the layperson in terms of
defining pain, as Hippocrates (c.460–370 BC) characterizing it as an “imbalance in
vital fluids” or words to that effect. In other words, about as precise as saying that
pain and unpleasantness are the same.
18
13 See “Global Rise in Negative Emotions Including Pain,” Ron Anderson, February 16, 2020,
World Suffering & Compassionate Relief of Suffering” website, http://worldsuffering.org/
global-suffering-on-the-rise/.
14 “A Technical Introduction to World Suffering,” by Ronald E. Anderson, University of Minnesota,
January 2015, http://worldsuffering.org/wp-content/uploads/A-Technical-Introduction-to-Wo
rld-Suffering-1jan15.pdf, Accessed April 28, 2020.
15 See “International Day for the Eradication of Poverty,” by Achim Steiner, October 17, 2019,
UNDP, https://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/news-centre/speeches/2019/internationalday-for-the-eradication-of-poverty-.html, Accessed April 28, 2020.
16 www.iasp-pain.org.
17 Merskey, H. (1964), An Investigation of Pain in Psychological Illness, DM Thesis, Oxford.
18 See Turk DC, Melzack R. Handbook of Pain Assessment. Guilford Press; New York: 2001; See
also, Farrar JT, Young JP, LaMoreaux L, et al. Clinical importance of changes in chronic pain
intensity measured on an 11-point numerical pain rating scale. Pain. 2001;94:149–158. [PubMed];
and Farrar JT, Berlin JA, Strom BL. Clinically important changes in acute pain outcome measures:
a validation study. J Pain Symptom Manage. 2003;25:406–411. [PubMed]; See also, Curr Pain
Headache Rep., Curr Pain Headache Rep. 2009 Feb; 13(1): 39–43. doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/
s11916-009-0009-x, PMCID: PMC2891384, NIHMSID: NIHMS209740, PMID: 19126370,
“Pain Outcomes: A Brief Review of Instruments and Techniques,” Jarred Younger, PhD, Rebecca
McCue, BA, and Sean Mackey, MD, PhD, HHS Public Access, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/
pmc/articles/PMC2891384/. Accessed April 27, 2020
46.4 Among the Many Tiers of Tragedy