The Six Million Dollar Human
Hmm... I bet you're thinking to yourself, "Well, here we go... another political rant and rave today. Another diatribe about inequities, how everything's going down the toilet, etc., etc."
Usually that'd be the case, but you know what? Sometimes I read stuff that is so amazing, it gives me hope for the future. Often I reserve this sense of optimism and wonder for technology and medicine. Often I chuck my spam, but I do read jokes, "deep thoughts," quizzes, and such stuff sent on by friends. Often they get recycled or sent by several people at the same time. One of the things I've gotten over the years (especially when I was in academia) is the list, usually sent out in the fall, that says "people entering college this year..." and it goes on to list things that they are used to or have never been without, or significant events/dates that were before they were born. Just thinking about my own past, I could come up with my own list. Things like rotary phones, typewriters, carbon copies and mimeographs handed out at school, stamps that cost less than 20 cents, entire regions of the country without a McDonald's in sight... these are among the things that no longer exist. VCRs, DVD players, computers, UPC codes, microwaves, closed-captioning, TTYs, relay services... the list goes on and on. I can remember life before all of these came on the scene. (There's actually a pretty good book on the subject: Going, Going, Gone: Vanishing Americana by Jonas and Nissenson) The same is the case for medicine. Life before insulin, statins, and antibiotics was quite different, indeed.
In medicine, we've gone in less than 200 years from the beginnings of vaccination and anesthesia to open heart surgery and artificial body parts, such as hip joints. Now there's a new report out that the possibility of restoration of sight exists, by using stem cells. While I doubt we'll be conquering death anytime soon (and given the fact that the planet is already overpopulated, that could be very frightening!), I think we're on the brink of making some real jumps in progress in medicine. There is so much we still don't know about the body: we're still learning about the potential and function of the brain, for example.
As a deaf person, probably the greatest fear I have in my life is the fear of losing my sight. While I don't plan to go out and be reckless anytime soon, it's a comfort knowing that there may be some real opportunities to preserve sight. As the article points out, the operations that have been conducted so far have made a real difference in people's lives. All of this is due to the stem cell. It's amazing what cells can do, what they are capable of, and how fundamentally necessary they are to life. It really upsets me that people who claim they support life would focus so narrowly on the issue of childbirth, babies, and when life begins, and not see the broader picture. It's why I have far more respect for people who are both anti-abortion and anti-death penalty. How you can claim you support life by forcing women to either keep a child or give it up for adoption and then turn around and gladly murder someone in the name of the state is beyond me. It's not logical or rational. It also bugs me that these same people will insist that women that they don't even know or care about give birth, but once the child is born and breathing, whoops! Gotta go! People aren't willing to stick around and help the mother support and raise her child. We'll throw money at anti-abortion legislation, appoint anti-abortion judges, bomb clinics, and maim or kill doctors, but we're also willing to cut funding for Head Start, shortchange education, reduce welfare assistance for single parents and their kids, and withhold health care and insurance from thousands of kids. It's a troublesome paradox.
Wow... I meant to write about stem cells, saving sight, and I slide into yet another post about what I think is wrong with everything. Sorry 'bout that! Back to the topic at hand. It's going to be interesting to see how this news turns out down the road. Obviously these operations are recent, and there will need to be studies about the sustainability of sight, but it does seem on the surface that the repairs done in surgery are permanent. What will be next? I honestly think Christopher Reeve missed the boat by a few years. I expect at some point we're going to have operations for just about everything, and yes, that includes hearing. When I was at Deaf Way II a few years back, I had a conversation with an old friend, a member of a prestigious fraternity at my alma mater. He surprised me by saying he felt that in a hundred years, there wouldn't be any more deafness. Medicine will have eradicated or reduced deafness to the extent that the Deaf community wouldn't really exist anymore. The recent completion of examining and identifying genes in DNA, the ongoing discovery of genes that cause deafness, the continuing advancement of technology such as cochlear implants, etc. lead me to think this could very well be true.
From all indications, most of the public agrees that stem cells aren't to be ignored out of hand, and aside from the religious right and the politicians in their pockets, I think there's support for further exploration. It's going to be very exciting to see what happens next!
So despite the ranting and raving I slipped into this post, I *do* think this is exciting news, and I do look forward to seeing humanity's progress in the years ahead. Pretty soon we won't have to watch Lee Majors in reruns; we'll have our own bionic humans walking about among us.
Usually that'd be the case, but you know what? Sometimes I read stuff that is so amazing, it gives me hope for the future. Often I reserve this sense of optimism and wonder for technology and medicine. Often I chuck my spam, but I do read jokes, "deep thoughts," quizzes, and such stuff sent on by friends. Often they get recycled or sent by several people at the same time. One of the things I've gotten over the years (especially when I was in academia) is the list, usually sent out in the fall, that says "people entering college this year..." and it goes on to list things that they are used to or have never been without, or significant events/dates that were before they were born. Just thinking about my own past, I could come up with my own list. Things like rotary phones, typewriters, carbon copies and mimeographs handed out at school, stamps that cost less than 20 cents, entire regions of the country without a McDonald's in sight... these are among the things that no longer exist. VCRs, DVD players, computers, UPC codes, microwaves, closed-captioning, TTYs, relay services... the list goes on and on. I can remember life before all of these came on the scene. (There's actually a pretty good book on the subject: Going, Going, Gone: Vanishing Americana by Jonas and Nissenson) The same is the case for medicine. Life before insulin, statins, and antibiotics was quite different, indeed.
In medicine, we've gone in less than 200 years from the beginnings of vaccination and anesthesia to open heart surgery and artificial body parts, such as hip joints. Now there's a new report out that the possibility of restoration of sight exists, by using stem cells. While I doubt we'll be conquering death anytime soon (and given the fact that the planet is already overpopulated, that could be very frightening!), I think we're on the brink of making some real jumps in progress in medicine. There is so much we still don't know about the body: we're still learning about the potential and function of the brain, for example.
As a deaf person, probably the greatest fear I have in my life is the fear of losing my sight. While I don't plan to go out and be reckless anytime soon, it's a comfort knowing that there may be some real opportunities to preserve sight. As the article points out, the operations that have been conducted so far have made a real difference in people's lives. All of this is due to the stem cell. It's amazing what cells can do, what they are capable of, and how fundamentally necessary they are to life. It really upsets me that people who claim they support life would focus so narrowly on the issue of childbirth, babies, and when life begins, and not see the broader picture. It's why I have far more respect for people who are both anti-abortion and anti-death penalty. How you can claim you support life by forcing women to either keep a child or give it up for adoption and then turn around and gladly murder someone in the name of the state is beyond me. It's not logical or rational. It also bugs me that these same people will insist that women that they don't even know or care about give birth, but once the child is born and breathing, whoops! Gotta go! People aren't willing to stick around and help the mother support and raise her child. We'll throw money at anti-abortion legislation, appoint anti-abortion judges, bomb clinics, and maim or kill doctors, but we're also willing to cut funding for Head Start, shortchange education, reduce welfare assistance for single parents and their kids, and withhold health care and insurance from thousands of kids. It's a troublesome paradox.
Wow... I meant to write about stem cells, saving sight, and I slide into yet another post about what I think is wrong with everything. Sorry 'bout that! Back to the topic at hand. It's going to be interesting to see how this news turns out down the road. Obviously these operations are recent, and there will need to be studies about the sustainability of sight, but it does seem on the surface that the repairs done in surgery are permanent. What will be next? I honestly think Christopher Reeve missed the boat by a few years. I expect at some point we're going to have operations for just about everything, and yes, that includes hearing. When I was at Deaf Way II a few years back, I had a conversation with an old friend, a member of a prestigious fraternity at my alma mater. He surprised me by saying he felt that in a hundred years, there wouldn't be any more deafness. Medicine will have eradicated or reduced deafness to the extent that the Deaf community wouldn't really exist anymore. The recent completion of examining and identifying genes in DNA, the ongoing discovery of genes that cause deafness, the continuing advancement of technology such as cochlear implants, etc. lead me to think this could very well be true.
From all indications, most of the public agrees that stem cells aren't to be ignored out of hand, and aside from the religious right and the politicians in their pockets, I think there's support for further exploration. It's going to be very exciting to see what happens next!
So despite the ranting and raving I slipped into this post, I *do* think this is exciting news, and I do look forward to seeing humanity's progress in the years ahead. Pretty soon we won't have to watch Lee Majors in reruns; we'll have our own bionic humans walking about among us.
posted by Mr. Sandman | 10:09 PM
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