The world we live in today is a constantly evolving place, as time passes we cannot help but think about the dangers that await us. There are many different characteristics of the hazard; one of the most common and sometimes the most terrifying is the disease. In The First Knight, John Aberth states: “All diseases, of course, vary greatly in their morbidity, or incidence within a given population, and in their mortality, or death rate, factors which have determined the extent of their role in history. On the other hand, according to Deadly Companion, "microbes today use almost every transmission route imaginable to bridge the gap between susceptible hosts, but many of these routes were closed to microbes during the hunter-gatherer era in due to the small size". With many diseases existing today and new ones developing every day, some of the deadliest have been around for centuries while others have only been around for just over two decades. More specifically AIDS and smallpox. How were their impacts on human societies similar or different? Although smallpox has been around much longer than AIDS, both share a common similarity in which they have affected the human population politically, economically, and culturally. Furthermore, this summary journey illustrates how the two diseases began, where they are today, and how our observations of history will explain their future in an ever-growing technological world. The journey begins with the scientific and geographical discovery of one of these diseases. Smallpox is one of the oldest diseases known to man. It was believed to have been founded with the early civilizations of ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt, but did some of the greatest damage in Europe, where it was the primary cause of... middle of paper... and transformation, as it companies are getting bigger and bigger. This is a never-ending battle, but thanks to great technology we are able to control diseases using what we have learned from the past. The history of diseases and observations made by doctors and civilizations centuries ago help us relate and combat the never-ending event. Bibliography Aberth, John. The First Knight: disease in human history. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2007.Crawford, Dorothy H.. Fellow Mortals: How Microbes Shaped Our History. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007. Sahagún, Bernardino de. General history of things in New Spain. 2nd ed. Santa Fe, NM: School of American Research, 1970. “The Next Pandemic?” Foreign Affairs. Np, July 1, 2005. Web. September 28, 2013. http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/60816/laurie-garrett/the-next-pandemic