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There will be a time in the future, when we look back on pills as a laughably crude form of treatment, similar to how we look back on bloodletting now. Take X

There will be a time in the future, when we look back on pills as a laughably crude form of treatment, similar to how we look back on bloodletting now. Take X pill to solve Y, but side effect(s) are Z. Your best bet in life now is to invest in your health early. It's a compounding effect. Walk regularly. Exercise. Eat healthy (mostly vegetables, fruit, reduce animal products). Sleep well.

TeMPOraL 7y ago
Hopefully it'll be the time where pill-equivalents will contain sophisticated nanomachines (read: e.g. proteins) specifically crafted to solve Y without side effects. Until then, I'll happily take my ibuprofen pill instead of wondering where my life went wrong so that I now have fever and am in pain.
- jerf 7y ago
  One of the markers I'm definitely looking from the health community are "containers" that can contain drugs, and unlock only at specific sites, so that we're not spraying pills all over the body, but only where they need to be. It's a really hard problem, in all sorts of ways. We're still at a very preliminary phase of that research. But that'll really help with the "side effect" problem.
TheSoftwareGuy 7y ago
I don't want to downplay the importance of investing in your health early, but I generally disagree with the sentiment. Pills are possibly the best form of treatment that exists (so long as there is a pill that can treat your condition, like there's no pill to treat a severed finger). People have been taking medicines for mellenia, and pills are just medicine that has been measured and packaged in a convenient way. Its the difference between telling patients "Go find a willow tree and eat some of its bark" vs. "take two aspirin".
- rubicon33 7y ago
  I don't disagree that they're the best form of treatment right now. I can see how the tone of my post definitely disregards the importance of pills right now. I just feel like they are a disappointing "solution" to a yet fully understood problem. I'm hopeful that we (humanity) continue to invest in real cures, rather than treatments that often come with side effects.
  - TheSoftwareGuy 7y ago
    I think you are disappointed in the practice of treating symptoms when no cure is available, rather than disliking pills as a delivery mechanism for medicine, which is how your first comment reads. It's entirely possible that some diseases will be cured by pills, as they are just a delivery mechanism for medicine (and I would like to reiterate they are pretty great at that). To your main point about treating symptoms vs. creating cures, yes its pretty unfortunate. But most likely, we will be finding cures for diseases one at a time, and there will always be conditions where we can only treat the symptoms.
- Gys 7y ago
  Or: 'Sure, you can have diner at MacDonalds every day. Just take those pills after each meal'. Big Mac and Big Farm love you ;-)
- Scoundreller 7y ago
  > there's no pill to treat a severed finger I’m pretty sure we have a pill to stop you from worrying so much about that problem.
- wolco 7y ago
  The best form of medicine? That should be food or whole plant medicine. When we isolate components into pill form we lose the aspects we don't understand yet.
  - TheSoftwareGuy 7y ago
    Food is not medicine though, so it did not come into consideration
chimen 7y ago
You forgot about fluoride in toothpaste (sarcasm)
- wolco 7y ago
  Fluoride gives some people issues. Meat gives other people issues. Vegetables others. Latex others. Peanuts others. Coffee others.. Don't mock people because you don't have that issue. Fluoride processing involves the liver...
defined 7y ago
If I did half the things I already know to do, I would be in great shape. Tell me how to make myself do the right things so that I actually do them consistently, and you will be immensely wealthy after you publish that self-help book.
kiba 7y ago
Bloodletting was almost always ineffective. Pills work. Your best bet in life now is to invest in your health early. It's a compounding effect. Walk regularly. Exercise. Eat healthy (mostly vegetables, fruit, reduce animal products). Sleep well. Why not both?
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]

TeMPOraL 7y ago

Hopefully it'll be the time where pill-equivalents will contain sophisticated nanomachines (read: e.g. proteins) specifically crafted to solve Y without side effects. Until then, I'll happily take my ibuprofen pill instead of wondering where my life went wrong so that I now have fever and am in pain.

jerf 7y ago
One of the markers I'm definitely looking from the health community are "containers" that can contain drugs, and unlock only at specific sites, so that we're not spraying pills all over the body, but only where they need to be. It's a really hard problem, in all sorts of ways. We're still at a very preliminary phase of that research. But that'll really help with the "side effect" problem.

TheSoftwareGuy 7y ago

I don't want to downplay the importance of investing in your health early, but I generally disagree with the sentiment. Pills are possibly the best form of treatment that exists (so long as there is a pill that can treat your condition, like there's no pill to treat a severed finger). People have been taking medicines for mellenia, and pills are just medicine that has been measured and packaged in a convenient way. Its the difference between telling patients "Go find a willow tree and eat some of its bark" vs. "take two aspirin".

rubicon33 7y ago
I don't disagree that they're the best form of treatment right now. I can see how the tone of my post definitely disregards the importance of pills right now. I just feel like they are a disappointing "solution" to a yet fully understood problem. I'm hopeful that we (humanity) continue to invest in real cures, rather than treatments that often come with side effects.
- TheSoftwareGuy 7y ago
  I think you are disappointed in the practice of treating symptoms when no cure is available, rather than disliking pills as a delivery mechanism for medicine, which is how your first comment reads. It's entirely possible that some diseases will be cured by pills, as they are just a delivery mechanism for medicine (and I would like to reiterate they are pretty great at that). To your main point about treating symptoms vs. creating cures, yes its pretty unfortunate. But most likely, we will be finding cures for diseases one at a time, and there will always be conditions where we can only treat the symptoms.
Gys 7y ago
Or: 'Sure, you can have diner at MacDonalds every day. Just take those pills after each meal'. Big Mac and Big Farm love you ;-)
Scoundreller 7y ago
> there's no pill to treat a severed finger I’m pretty sure we have a pill to stop you from worrying so much about that problem.
wolco 7y ago
The best form of medicine? That should be food or whole plant medicine. When we isolate components into pill form we lose the aspects we don't understand yet.
- TheSoftwareGuy 7y ago
  Food is not medicine though, so it did not come into consideration

chimen 7y ago

You forgot about fluoride in toothpaste (sarcasm)

wolco 7y ago
Fluoride gives some people issues. Meat gives other people issues. Vegetables others. Latex others. Peanuts others. Coffee others.. Don't mock people because you don't have that issue. Fluoride processing involves the liver...

defined 7y ago

If I did half the things I already know to do, I would be in great shape. Tell me how to make myself do the right things so that I actually do them consistently, and you will be immensely wealthy after you publish that self-help book.

kiba 7y ago

Bloodletting was almost always ineffective. Pills work. Your best bet in life now is to invest in your health early. It's a compounding effect. Walk regularly. Exercise. Eat healthy (mostly vegetables, fruit, reduce animal products). Sleep well. Why not both?

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]