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I remember growing up being terrified of HIV/AIDS. The idea of something being permanent and transmissible via sex, and literally dismounting your immune defens

I remember growing up being terrified of HIV/AIDS. The idea of something being permanent and transmissible via sex, and literally dismounting your immune defense to all other diseases on the planet... To this day it still terrifies me, even though the treatments have become so good. Each year it seems there are new stories about HIV research, and progress keeps being made. I pray for positive results and am really amazed. We have a lot to be thankful for.

suifbwish 5y ago
- ImaCake 5y ago
  Just to address this. There is no evidence anyone produced HIV in a lab and then released it, accidentally or not, out into the world. Scientists have established a pretty robust causal chain for where HIV came from. It is plausible that HIV was spreading between humans before we even really had the field of Molecular Biology that would have allowed us to “make” HIV.
  - suifbwish 5y ago
    I didn’t say it was not natural. I simply said it would not surprise me if it were not. It’s interesting how even asking a question about things can become taboo.
    - biorach 5y ago
      No one said it was taboo. You made a dumb comment, someone politely explained real science to you.
      - ImaCake 5y ago
        Thanks for this :) Probably the best thing about the culture of science is that ignorance is often answered with polite explanation. Many scientists I know expect their own ignorant comments to be answered the same way. It is much harder to argue against a polite and well argued scientific response!
      - suifbwish 5y ago
        I merely said I would not be surprised, implying that I am not completely certain everything is as it is always commonly believed. If you feel the comment was dumb that’s your opinion and perhaps others share it but it’s hardly more than an opinion. I am quite aware of what real science is and what hurdles it has gone through for the past several hundred years to rid itself of political inhibition.
        nerdponx 5y ago
        The point is that in this case the common belief happens to agree with science. Saying something controversial or inflammatory and then accusing other people of getting riled up is pretty much trolling 101.
    - Kranar 5y ago
      But you didn't ask a question, you made a statement. There are only two reasons I can think of for why someone wouldn't be surprised if something that is almost certainly false turned out to be true. 1. That person is wholly ignorant of the subject and so nothing about that subject would surprise them because that individual has no reason to believe anything about it one way or another. As an example, it wouldn't surprise me if it turned out that the Birch-Tate conjecture turned out to be false, because frankly I have no idea what that conjecture even means and so I have no reason to be surprised about it one way or another. 2. That person has expert knowledge about a topic that is not known by either the public at large or even by other experts in the field. Perhaps that person has devoted extensive and specialized research and managed to reveal a strong body of evidence that overturns the best commonly held understanding on that subject. The reason I suspect you are being downvoted is because most people on HN think you're in category 1, that is you're someone who is not sufficiently informed on this topic to be surprised by it one way or another, and hence your comment comes across as revelling in your own ignorance. If you're in category 2, then you have my sincere apology and I'd be genuinely interested for you to share your knowledge, but I somehow doubt that will happen.
matwood 5y ago
We must have started having sex at the time (90s?). Even as a straight man, who religiously used condoms (because being terrified), I was scared the first time I took an HIV test.
- I-M-S 5y ago
  Religiously using condoms is not using them very much
vymague 5y ago
Honestly, the fact that 4 STDs are incurable still frightens me.
- feupan 5y ago
  HIV, HPV, herpes, what’s the fourth one? At least for HPV there’s a vaccine though.
  - copperx 5y ago
    Hepatitis C. Although there's a cure for a large percentage of cases, it's still not a cure for everyone.
  - Animats 5y ago
    * HPV vaccine - in use * Herpes vaccine - 10 different ones in development.[1] * Hepatitis C - difficult, and several vaccines have been developed that didn't work.[2] Drug treatments are effective, at last, but started at $80,000 and are now down below $30,000 in the US. [1] https://www.precisionvaccinations.com/vaccines/herpes-vaccine-candidates https://www.precisionvaccinations.com/vaccines/herpes-vaccin... [2] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/labs/pmc/articles/PMC8402855/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/labs/pmc/articles/PMC8402855/
FooBarBizBazz 5y ago
Seriously! AIDS changed culture tremendously, and created a ton more fear around sex. If a vaccine is developed for it, it will be epochal -- like the introduction of Penicillin. A cure for AIDS is almost like a cure for cancer, or fusion power. It's one of those technological miracles you thought maybe wouldn't ever come. Or the Pill, or the Bomb. (I know antivirals have advanced tremendously, but very few people would choose to be stuck on those. Also the progress was gradual enough that it didn't really affect straight peoples' consciousness. For most, AIDS remained a scary threat on the horizon, persistently uncured, still an eventual death sentence.) So, this is wonderful news. I don't think it will actually affect culture very much though. Straight people still worry about pregnancy. People are generally more cautious than they used to be. And the sexual counterrevolution is in full force. But still. It'll be wonderful to close the chapter on AIDS. And it's inspiring that these long-term projects can eventually pan out.
- rob_c 5y ago
  Well if it is "that revolutionary" I'm convinced the modellers need to readjust their 9billion peak human lives estimate. I think HIV is probably only one of the reasons the developed nations cared about pushing contraception in the developing world. If that fear rather than education goes I think some regions will see population explosions...

suifbwish 5y ago

ImaCake 5y ago
Just to address this. There is no evidence anyone produced HIV in a lab and then released it, accidentally or not, out into the world. Scientists have established a pretty robust causal chain for where HIV came from. It is plausible that HIV was spreading between humans before we even really had the field of Molecular Biology that would have allowed us to “make” HIV.
- suifbwish 5y ago
  I didn’t say it was not natural. I simply said it would not surprise me if it were not. It’s interesting how even asking a question about things can become taboo.
  - biorach 5y ago
    No one said it was taboo. You made a dumb comment, someone politely explained real science to you.
    - ImaCake 5y ago
      Thanks for this :) Probably the best thing about the culture of science is that ignorance is often answered with polite explanation. Many scientists I know expect their own ignorant comments to be answered the same way. It is much harder to argue against a polite and well argued scientific response!
    - suifbwish 5y ago
      I merely said I would not be surprised, implying that I am not completely certain everything is as it is always commonly believed. If you feel the comment was dumb that’s your opinion and perhaps others share it but it’s hardly more than an opinion. I am quite aware of what real science is and what hurdles it has gone through for the past several hundred years to rid itself of political inhibition.
      - nerdponx 5y ago
        The point is that in this case the common belief happens to agree with science. Saying something controversial or inflammatory and then accusing other people of getting riled up is pretty much trolling 101.
  - Kranar 5y ago
    But you didn't ask a question, you made a statement. There are only two reasons I can think of for why someone wouldn't be surprised if something that is almost certainly false turned out to be true. 1. That person is wholly ignorant of the subject and so nothing about that subject would surprise them because that individual has no reason to believe anything about it one way or another. As an example, it wouldn't surprise me if it turned out that the Birch-Tate conjecture turned out to be false, because frankly I have no idea what that conjecture even means and so I have no reason to be surprised about it one way or another. 2. That person has expert knowledge about a topic that is not known by either the public at large or even by other experts in the field. Perhaps that person has devoted extensive and specialized research and managed to reveal a strong body of evidence that overturns the best commonly held understanding on that subject. The reason I suspect you are being downvoted is because most people on HN think you're in category 1, that is you're someone who is not sufficiently informed on this topic to be surprised by it one way or another, and hence your comment comes across as revelling in your own ignorance. If you're in category 2, then you have my sincere apology and I'd be genuinely interested for you to share your knowledge, but I somehow doubt that will happen.

matwood 5y ago

We must have started having sex at the time (90s?). Even as a straight man, who religiously used condoms (because being terrified), I was scared the first time I took an HIV test.

I-M-S 5y ago
Religiously using condoms is not using them very much

vymague 5y ago

Honestly, the fact that 4 STDs are incurable still frightens me.

feupan 5y ago
HIV, HPV, herpes, what’s the fourth one? At least for HPV there’s a vaccine though.
- copperx 5y ago
  Hepatitis C. Although there's a cure for a large percentage of cases, it's still not a cure for everyone.
- Animats 5y ago
  * HPV vaccine - in use * Herpes vaccine - 10 different ones in development.[1] * Hepatitis C - difficult, and several vaccines have been developed that didn't work.[2] Drug treatments are effective, at last, but started at $80,000 and are now down below $30,000 in the US. [1] https://www.precisionvaccinations.com/vaccines/herpes-vaccine-candidates https://www.precisionvaccinations.com/vaccines/herpes-vaccin... [2] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/labs/pmc/articles/PMC8402855/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/labs/pmc/articles/PMC8402855/

FooBarBizBazz 5y ago

Seriously! AIDS changed culture tremendously, and created a ton more fear around sex. If a vaccine is developed for it, it will be epochal -- like the introduction of Penicillin. A cure for AIDS is almost like a cure for cancer, or fusion power. It's one of those technological miracles you thought maybe wouldn't ever come. Or the Pill, or the Bomb. (I know antivirals have advanced tremendously, but very few people would choose to be stuck on those. Also the progress was gradual enough that it didn't really affect straight peoples' consciousness. For most, AIDS remained a scary threat on the horizon, persistently uncured, still an eventual death sentence.) So, this is wonderful news. I don't think it will actually affect culture very much though. Straight people still worry about pregnancy. People are generally more cautious than they used to be. And the sexual counterrevolution is in full force. But still. It'll be wonderful to close the chapter on AIDS. And it's inspiring that these long-term projects can eventually pan out.

rob_c 5y ago
Well if it is "that revolutionary" I'm convinced the modellers need to readjust their 9billion peak human lives estimate. I think HIV is probably only one of the reasons the developed nations cared about pushing contraception in the developing world. If that fear rather than education goes I think some regions will see population explosions...