5 ms·

Fuck cancer, and Fuck the US Insurance system. I am in remission from leukemia at age 29, and my insurer was billed >1M USD. I payed out over $10000 in persona

Fuck cancer, and Fuck the US Insurance system. I am in remission from leukemia at age 29, and my insurer was billed >1M USD. I payed out over $10000 in personal costs, despite a "$2000" /yr deductible (my treatment was over 1.2 yrs), and am in legal disputes with a medical bill claim on my credit report. And this is with "Cadillac" platinum-tier employer insurance. Anyone not lucky enough to be a millionaire or 5% STEM professional is fucked. Edit: cost of my admission, day 1: https://imgur.com/a/pnMRRKw https://imgur.com/a/pnMRRKw

echelon 6y ago
> Anyone not lucky enough to be a millionaire or 5% STEM professional is fucked. And cancer impacts a large percentage of us at some point in our lives. It's fucking awful. It's a failure mode of multicellular organisms, and each of us have lots of cells nearing that state continually. I have some extremely controversial ideas to accelerate progress on beating the disease, but I get downvoted and called a monster every time I suggest them. We need to create decephalized monoclonal humans. If we can grow humans that lack brains just like plants, we can vastly accelerate research in real human models. Research is the rate limiting step. Let's give researchers the best model, orders of magnitude better than what they've got currently. It's like we're asking them to develop cutting edge graphics on pen, paper, and punch cards. We would also get an unlimited supply of organ, tissue, and blood transplants and can potentially remove all the immune markers / reactive HLA groups. The whole process becomes a new industry that self-sustains itself. We could even make in roads on simply replacing parts of ourselves as we age. Bone marrow and immune system replacements. Everyone calls me evil, but it's the most moral thing we could do. I'm clawing to try to make it to a point where I can push this hard.
- hyperpallium2 6y ago
  No need for decephalization! Babies up to the age of one year have not yet formed minds. And, the leftovers after research and harvesting are a most delicious nourishing and wholesome food, whether stewed, roasted, baked, or boiled; and I make no doubt will equally serve in a fricassee, or a ragout. Seriously, I believe the essential problem is that we don't want to get used to treating beings who look, seem and feel human, as non-human. We want to, and are, moving in the opposite direction. Man's inhumanity to man is worse than cancer.
  - echelon 6y ago
    A human without a brain is not a person. An animal with high cognitive function is a person. > Man's inhumanity to man is worse than cancer. A brainless human has no rights, no feelings, and never existed as a conscious entity. It's a tool. The inability to accept this as a remarkable solution is beyond disappointing.
    - hyperpallium2 6y ago
      You didn't consider the actual argument: > we don't want to get used to treating beings who look, seem and feel human, as non-human. Doing so might enable you to counter it. Or at least, understand where others are coming from. Let me parallel your claims: > A baby is a human without a mind - therefore not a person. A baby is an animal without high cognitive function. A mindless human has no rights, no feelings, and never existed as a conscious entity. It's a tool. Babies fail the self-awareness mirror test (until about 15-24 months). Do you feel comfortable doing this to other people's infants? How about your own first born?
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      - deleted 6y ago
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  - syrgian 6y ago
    This reminds me of when a French coworker tried to translate an item in a restaurant menu which said 'cabrit al forn', Catalan for 'roasted goat'. Google first translated it to English ('baked kid') and then to French 'enfant cuit au four'. His incredulous face was on point. I just checked and it still happens today, it probably happens with many other indirect translations with ambiguous intermediate words.
- drewbug 6y ago
  > Canavero sees his announced head transplantation as only the beginning. The goal isn't to save just the lives of people stricken with incurable muscle disorders. The goal is to eventually allow you to grow a clone body of yourself that you can then use to keep yourself physically young forever, by getting recurring head transplants onto donor bodies grown from your own genetic material. https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/d73e9m/a-qa-with-the-first-human-head-transplant-surgeon https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/d73e9m/a-qa-with-the-firs...
otachack 6y ago
It's truly a shame and I hope we turn it around in this country within the next couple decades.

echelon 6y ago

> Anyone not lucky enough to be a millionaire or 5% STEM professional is fucked. And cancer impacts a large percentage of us at some point in our lives. It's fucking awful. It's a failure mode of multicellular organisms, and each of us have lots of cells nearing that state continually. I have some extremely controversial ideas to accelerate progress on beating the disease, but I get downvoted and called a monster every time I suggest them. We need to create decephalized monoclonal humans. If we can grow humans that lack brains just like plants, we can vastly accelerate research in real human models. Research is the rate limiting step. Let's give researchers the best model, orders of magnitude better than what they've got currently. It's like we're asking them to develop cutting edge graphics on pen, paper, and punch cards. We would also get an unlimited supply of organ, tissue, and blood transplants and can potentially remove all the immune markers / reactive HLA groups. The whole process becomes a new industry that self-sustains itself. We could even make in roads on simply replacing parts of ourselves as we age. Bone marrow and immune system replacements. Everyone calls me evil, but it's the most moral thing we could do. I'm clawing to try to make it to a point where I can push this hard.

hyperpallium2 6y ago
No need for decephalization! Babies up to the age of one year have not yet formed minds. And, the leftovers after research and harvesting are a most delicious nourishing and wholesome food, whether stewed, roasted, baked, or boiled; and I make no doubt will equally serve in a fricassee, or a ragout. Seriously, I believe the essential problem is that we don't want to get used to treating beings who look, seem and feel human, as non-human. We want to, and are, moving in the opposite direction. Man's inhumanity to man is worse than cancer.
- echelon 6y ago
  A human without a brain is not a person. An animal with high cognitive function is a person. > Man's inhumanity to man is worse than cancer. A brainless human has no rights, no feelings, and never existed as a conscious entity. It's a tool. The inability to accept this as a remarkable solution is beyond disappointing.
  - hyperpallium2 6y ago
    You didn't consider the actual argument: > we don't want to get used to treating beings who look, seem and feel human, as non-human. Doing so might enable you to counter it. Or at least, understand where others are coming from. Let me parallel your claims: > A baby is a human without a mind - therefore not a person. A baby is an animal without high cognitive function. A mindless human has no rights, no feelings, and never existed as a conscious entity. It's a tool. Babies fail the self-awareness mirror test (until about 15-24 months). Do you feel comfortable doing this to other people's infants? How about your own first born?
    - deleted 6y ago
      [deleted]
    - deleted 6y ago
      [deleted]
- syrgian 6y ago
  This reminds me of when a French coworker tried to translate an item in a restaurant menu which said 'cabrit al forn', Catalan for 'roasted goat'. Google first translated it to English ('baked kid') and then to French 'enfant cuit au four'. His incredulous face was on point. I just checked and it still happens today, it probably happens with many other indirect translations with ambiguous intermediate words.
drewbug 6y ago
> Canavero sees his announced head transplantation as only the beginning. The goal isn't to save just the lives of people stricken with incurable muscle disorders. The goal is to eventually allow you to grow a clone body of yourself that you can then use to keep yourself physically young forever, by getting recurring head transplants onto donor bodies grown from your own genetic material. https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/d73e9m/a-qa-with-the-first-human-head-transplant-surgeon https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/d73e9m/a-qa-with-the-firs...

otachack 6y ago

It's truly a shame and I hope we turn it around in this country within the next couple decades.