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For most of human history, surviving childhood was 50/50. Growing old enough to see your kids start having kids of their own was also rare. When you have a shor
by downrightmike 8y ago
For most of human history, surviving childhood was 50/50. Growing old enough to see your kids start having kids of their own was also rare. When you have a short life span, later in life things aren't selected against. But never in our history have we had the tools and the knowledge that we have now. We will continue to understand and stop these diseases.
- mattigames 8y agoThere is a lot of diseases that can't be cured and will not be cured; just like you can't separate two twins conjoined by the head there are many other things that can't be reversed; pretending every disease can be cured or will be cured is irrational and irresponsible, at least not with technology from this millennium.
- downrightmike 8y agoWe can 3d print ultrasounds now [1], so really the issue is how wide spread we can deploy the tech and what the mother wants. But in time we'll understand how conjoining happens and maybe prevent this example. In 1918 doctors didn't know what a virus really was. It could just hijack a cell to reproduce. Measles were a much more real threat, so they focused on that. 18 months later between 3 and 6% of the world's population was dead. The 21st century will see things we dream of. We can modify t-cells with crispr to attack childhood cancer. There's a HIV vaccine that was successful in human trials [2]. Have a little more hope. [1] https://www.ge.com/reports/brazilian-doctor-3d-printing-baby-ultrasound-blind-parents/ https://www.ge.com/reports/brazilian-doctor-3d-printing-baby... [2] https://www.bbc.com/news/health-44738642 https://www.bbc.com/news/health-44738642
- jessaustin 8y agoDude this is the third millennium, not the second.