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There are serious nonfatal diseases. The Guinea worm doesn’t really kill anyone, but the eradication of it, along with other of the neglected tropical diseases,
by theothermkn 8y ago
There are serious nonfatal diseases. The Guinea worm doesn’t really kill anyone, but the eradication of it, along with other of the neglected tropical diseases, is still a boon to humanity. Reducing debilitating suffering is perfectly valid.
- craftyguy 8y agoI see your point, but malaria is 1) debilitating and 2) kills hundreds of thousands per year. With unlimited funding for research, it would make sense to try to cure all the things. Since that's not the case, should we really be shifting priority away to diseases that effect fewer people?
- theothermkn 8y agoAbsolutely. Work should definitely proceed in parallel. The marginal utility of an extra dollar to a more or less fully funded research activity is small, even after factoring in the effect size. That same dollar spent on another disease could have much more benefit. Even without considering the varied research interests of scientists, or without considering any other human factors in the labor supply, the maximum benefit to humanity is not going to be achieved by throwing all or most money at a single disease.