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This is really cool. Thanks for sharing. It validates the perspective of the late great Pieter Hintjens on this topic. https://github.com/hintjens/confessions/b
by marymkearney 3y ago
This is really cool. Thanks for sharing. It validates the perspective of the late great Pieter Hintjens on this topic. https://github.com/hintjens/confessions/blob/master/ch08.txt https://github.com/hintjens/confessions/blob/master/ch08.txt
"In my body right now there is a holy war going on, and has been raging for years. My immune system has been doing its damned best to kill these rogue cells. And the rogue cells, unaware that they're destroying their own host, have been fighting back.
"The odds are on the cancer, of course, which is why this family of diseases is a major killer. Our bodies have to keep winning, year after year. Any given cancer has to win only once, and it's Game Over. The only way to beat cancer, really, is to die from something else first.
"Everyone fights cancer, all our lives long. From birth, our immune systems are hunting down and killing rogue cells.... We are all cancer survivors, until we're not. "
- jvanderbot 3y agoI discovered ZMQ after his death. Reading his last posts were perspective-shifting. I genuinely felt sad, both for him as an individual, and because many of his best works are not going to survive much longer than he did. Life is short and our impacts are transient.
- marymkearney 3y agoI learned a lot from his writing. This view of the immune system really shifted my perceptions too. Maybe having your work help people, even years after your death, isn't a bad legacy.
- jostmey 3y agoI just skimmed his text, and it is apparent that he thought deeply about cancer, death, and living. I don't think technology will eliminate all cancer, but from data I've seen, I'm convinced that cancer immunotherapy will help us control many cancers, and the technology is just getting started
- chaostheory 3y agoHe’s gained immortality through his work.
- Paul-Craft 3y ago> Maybe having your work help people, even years after your death, isn't a bad legacy. Isn't that, in some sense, the best possible legacy?
- whistle650 3y agoWow, thank you for sharing that link. It was rational and humane and I found it very moving. I didn't know who he was, but I'm glad to know of him and his work now.
- Rodeoclash 3y ago“I’m pretty sure, I’m not a doctor, but I’m pretty sure if you die, the cancer dies at the same time. That’s not a loss. That’s a draw." - Norm Macdonald
- robertlagrant 3y agoWatching Norm Macdonald's standup in light of his then-undisclosed terminal cancer diagnosis is awe-inspiring.
- HopenHeyHi 3y agoI didn't even know he was sick..
- timbit42 3y agoHe didn't tell anyone.
- nicwilson 3y agoIndeed, we should be thankful there is no human equivalent of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devil_facial_tumour_disease https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devil_facial_tumour_disease
- tuxguy 3y agoThanks for this reminder about Pieter Hintjens. I have been greatly influenced by his writing, including his use of Alice & Bob, in "a protocol for dying" ! So witty, so clever - such a tragic loss.