Major risks to human health and life are, indeed, as old as life itself. Whether we think of epidemics, hunger and malnutrition, famines, wars, violations of human rights, crime, natural disasters and swarms of other dangers, we cannot but be struck by their pantemporality and ubiquitousness. Acute or chronic, periodic or sporadic, frequent or infrequent, these and other hazards are endemic to the very condition of human existence —unwanted but nonetheless real consequences of being alive and of being social.

It is indeed quite plausible to view some of the central strands and trajectories of human history as efforts to cope with the hazardous conditions of existence: to prevent risks from actualizing, or to mitigate the consequences of hazards which do actualize—those which we have not yet as developed the capability to prevent, and those which we cannot hope to prevent.