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It isn't nuts to try it if there isn't much downside. The donors are dead already, the person receiving is blind already. What's to lose? Money and some time an
by danielmarkbruce 2y ago
It isn't nuts to try it if there isn't much downside. The donors are dead already, the person receiving is blind already. What's to lose? Money and some time and inconvenience?
- robwwilliams 2y agoHuge lost opportunity cost! I am all for innovative science but this is beyond silly until it works in rats.
- danielmarkbruce 2y agoWhat other thing could these specific people be working on that would have as much upside as making blind people see? Your misunderstanding of risk/reward is astounding.
- yencabulator 2y agoThey could likely fail & learn with rats 10,000 times for the same cost.
- ElevenLathe 2y ago...and much faster, leading to more blind people having their sight restored sooner.
- vkou 2y agoSurgery is inherently dangerous.
- danielmarkbruce 2y agoThe person is blind. The upside is dramatic. People have surgery all the time for significantly less upside.
- BenjiWiebe 2y agoCan you call it an upside if it has ~no chance of working?
- danielmarkbruce 2y agoA team who works in the space thinks it's sufficiently likely they are going to spend time working on it. These aren't a pack of losers off the street - these people have real options in life to do all kinds of interesting work. There is no chance it has no chance.
- yencabulator 2y agoBut they've never demonstrated the operation working on an animal...
- danielmarkbruce 2y agoso what? "that's the way it's usually done" ?
- yencabulator 2y agoYes, for many reasons. What else were you expecting? It tends to be more a cost-effective way of using the research money, it's considered more ethical, it has less legal risk, and so on. If you're saying you want to perform a full-head transplant on humans without ever succeeding on apes, people would very rightly call you delusional.
- danielmarkbruce 2y agoHow about think instead. The amount of precaution required is a function of the risk and reward. That's a stupid analogy. The downside would be death.
- vkou 2y ago
- wyager 2y agoSurgery is risky and resource-intensive.
- TeaDrunk 2y agoNeeding to take immunosuppressants for the rest of your life is exceptionally dangerous and you best have a proper justification for it.
- XorNot 2y agoRemoving the eyeball is an option though if it doesn't work.
- jessriedel 2y agoYes but you can pick up an infection while immunocompromised that kills you even after you remove the graft and stop the immunosuppressant drugs, or before you have a chance to do so.
- codezero 2y agoThey’re wiring new inputs to their brains. This could affect things like sleep and wakefulness in ways that are unpredictable and not well studied.