4 ms·

Yes, this is sort of sensationalizing the situation and making it sound intentionally nefarious. Regardless, the reality is people spent a lot of time, money an

Yes, this is sort of sensationalizing the situation and making it sound intentionally nefarious. Regardless, the reality is people spent a lot of time, money and energy on having tech embedded in their body and adapting to it only to find themselves up shit creek without a paddle. And we seem resistant to learning any good lessons from it. We go for the "ooh, shiny" solutions that grab headlines, even for medical stuff where we should be more concerned about things like health and reliability. Being upset on behalf of these people most likely does nothing for them. Humanity would be better served by us wondering how to stop doing this kind of thing to people.

noja 4y ago
How is it not (intentionally) nefarious? It seems pretty wicked to me.
- DoreenMichele 4y ago
  This story has been here before. There are better articles out there that tell the story with more detail and nuance. The short version is "Don't attribute to malice what can readily be explained by stupidity." This is not all that different from organ transplants which also garner a lot of headlines, can end in the organ being rejected and the recipient dying slowly because of it and even if successful will require lifelong antirejection drugs. And yet when I suggest we might try harder to help people keep their own organs more functional in that case, I'm generally given all kinds of flak. I think this is the same thing: people coming up with solutions for failing organs that will grab headlines and "LA LA LA Not Listening!!!" about details like "Yeah, but what if it breaks at some point?" It happens because a very large number of people are happy to be cheerleaders for "Ooh, shiny!" solutions and don't want to hear that there could be quieter, saner solutions available if only we tried harder to look for and implement those. It takes a long list of people cooperating to make something like this happen. It doesn't happen because of just one lone person pushing for it. By the time it's a negative headline on HN, it's too late for so-called common sense to prevail, unfortunately.
  - andrepd 4y ago
    >And yet when I suggest we might try harder to help people keep their own organs more functional in that case, I'm generally given all kinds of flak Brilliant! Why did nobody think of that /s Major organ transplants are pretty much only performed on people for whom it is the last resort. In fact, there are not enough organs to do transplants on everybody who would need it, let alone waste on people who don't.
    - DoreenMichele 4y ago
      I'm abundantly familiar with this. Seriously. And, no, we don't try hard enough. There is lots of room for improvement.
      - Pepe1vo 4y ago
        > There is lots of room for improvement. Like what? I feel for the majority of transplant cases the answer is going to be along the lines of "you shouldn't have gotten (into an accident|leukemia)" which is technically true yet at the same time very unhelpful.
  - krisoft 4y ago
    > And yet when I suggest we might try harder to help people keep their own organs more functional in that case, I'm generally given all kinds of flak. I don't think that deserve any flak. That is a very sensible approach. It is so sensible that it is basically the minimum acceptable standard of care. Can you show us any story where any doctor did otherwise?
    - DoreenMichele 4y ago
      I have a form of cystic fibrosis. Last I checked, the condition accounts for a third of all adult lung transplants in the US and half of all pediatric lung transplants in the US. I was diagnosed late in life with a relatively mild form of it. "The normal progression of CF" is a standard phrase in the CF community and its purpose is to tell patients to quit their bitching and accept that their steadily declining health is a NORMAL for people stupid enough to be born with this genetic disorder. Having been diagnosed late in life, etc etc, I found my diagnosis very empowering and began getting better. My doctor expressed zero curiosity about how that was helping and simply scheduled me fewer appointments because "he had patients that actually needed him." I used to have a hole in my left lung. I don't anymore. I used to be a lot more open about my medical situation on HN under my previous handle of Mz. I've toned it down a lot because I get so much utter and complete bullshit from people who absolutely refuse to believe that I could possibly know anything medically significant. I've had a really fucking bad day. I'm sick to death of a long list of things. I don't plan to continue to argue this on HN. I'm right. I know I'm right. I know there are people who know I am not making this shit up. But I'm likely to die on the fucking streets because the entire world is hellbent on believing "A former homemaker cannot possibly know fuck all that's medically useful, and we do NOT care that her life depended on it. LA LA LA NOT LISTENING." Goodnight HN.

noja 4y ago

How is it not (intentionally) nefarious? It seems pretty wicked to me.

DoreenMichele 4y ago
This story has been here before. There are better articles out there that tell the story with more detail and nuance. The short version is "Don't attribute to malice what can readily be explained by stupidity." This is not all that different from organ transplants which also garner a lot of headlines, can end in the organ being rejected and the recipient dying slowly because of it and even if successful will require lifelong antirejection drugs. And yet when I suggest we might try harder to help people keep their own organs more functional in that case, I'm generally given all kinds of flak. I think this is the same thing: people coming up with solutions for failing organs that will grab headlines and "LA LA LA Not Listening!!!" about details like "Yeah, but what if it breaks at some point?" It happens because a very large number of people are happy to be cheerleaders for "Ooh, shiny!" solutions and don't want to hear that there could be quieter, saner solutions available if only we tried harder to look for and implement those. It takes a long list of people cooperating to make something like this happen. It doesn't happen because of just one lone person pushing for it. By the time it's a negative headline on HN, it's too late for so-called common sense to prevail, unfortunately.
- andrepd 4y ago
  >And yet when I suggest we might try harder to help people keep their own organs more functional in that case, I'm generally given all kinds of flak Brilliant! Why did nobody think of that /s Major organ transplants are pretty much only performed on people for whom it is the last resort. In fact, there are not enough organs to do transplants on everybody who would need it, let alone waste on people who don't.
  - DoreenMichele 4y ago
    I'm abundantly familiar with this. Seriously. And, no, we don't try hard enough. There is lots of room for improvement.
    - Pepe1vo 4y ago
      > There is lots of room for improvement. Like what? I feel for the majority of transplant cases the answer is going to be along the lines of "you shouldn't have gotten (into an accident|leukemia)" which is technically true yet at the same time very unhelpful.
- krisoft 4y ago
  > And yet when I suggest we might try harder to help people keep their own organs more functional in that case, I'm generally given all kinds of flak. I don't think that deserve any flak. That is a very sensible approach. It is so sensible that it is basically the minimum acceptable standard of care. Can you show us any story where any doctor did otherwise?
  - DoreenMichele 4y ago
    I have a form of cystic fibrosis. Last I checked, the condition accounts for a third of all adult lung transplants in the US and half of all pediatric lung transplants in the US. I was diagnosed late in life with a relatively mild form of it. "The normal progression of CF" is a standard phrase in the CF community and its purpose is to tell patients to quit their bitching and accept that their steadily declining health is a NORMAL for people stupid enough to be born with this genetic disorder. Having been diagnosed late in life, etc etc, I found my diagnosis very empowering and began getting better. My doctor expressed zero curiosity about how that was helping and simply scheduled me fewer appointments because "he had patients that actually needed him." I used to have a hole in my left lung. I don't anymore. I used to be a lot more open about my medical situation on HN under my previous handle of Mz. I've toned it down a lot because I get so much utter and complete bullshit from people who absolutely refuse to believe that I could possibly know anything medically significant. I've had a really fucking bad day. I'm sick to death of a long list of things. I don't plan to continue to argue this on HN. I'm right. I know I'm right. I know there are people who know I am not making this shit up. But I'm likely to die on the fucking streets because the entire world is hellbent on believing "A former homemaker cannot possibly know fuck all that's medically useful, and we do NOT care that her life depended on it. LA LA LA NOT LISTENING." Goodnight HN.