Katie's New Face • Hacker News Board

Re: Katie's New Face

#111

Post by clarkmoody » Wed, Aug 15, 2018, 10:13 PM UTC

crescentfresh wrote: post #47

As a father to two so-far-healthy young boys, one soon to be a teenager I feel devastated at the thought of either of them having to endure the level of emotional chaos that Katie went through the moments leading up to her suicide attempt. My stomach goes into a knot at the thought. I mean gosh, it was a cheating boyfriend. I don't know what to do to protect them from such a path.

Show your boys this article. Own up to your mistakes, and teach your boys not to repeat them.

Watch how they handle disappointment in smaller things, helping them to cope. Maybe this article will open their eyes to how decisions made in a moment of passion can affect their lives and the lives of many others.

You will not be able to protect them from everything. Start with that understanding and prepare.

Re: Katie's New Face

#112

Post by azernik » Wed, Aug 15, 2018, 10:16 PM UTC

realo wrote: post #100

Question: can the same organ be donated more than once? Imagine a "face" that would exist for many generations, given from one to another multiple times... Not sure what to think of that.

Not yet.

They mentioned that the donor had to be from someone of a similar age; these things deteriorate over time, like the rest of our bodies. Even for internal organs, younger is better.

Re: Katie's New Face

#113

Post by InitialLastName » Wed, Aug 15, 2018, 10:16 PM UTC

briandear wrote: post #107

throwaway987909 wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hate the glamorization of the military. I don't understand how anyone would actually join. Sacrifice yourself mentally, and physically to fight political wars for the rich and powerful. No thank you. But the propaganda is soooo strong it preys on people who can't think for themselves.

Go visit Taliban controlled Afghanistan when girls couldn’t go to school. Visit areas of Afghanistan after the US cleared Taliban areas and built schools. The girls that can now go to school aren’t rich and powerful, but it’s a fact that fighting that war helped make that possible.

...except that now (at least AFAIU) we're backing out of those areas and the Taliban are right back in control. Maybe that military-intervention-as-societal-revenge-plot wasn't so helpful?

Re: Katie's New Face

#114

Post by steve19 » Wed, Aug 15, 2018, 10:18 PM UTC

eagsalazar2 wrote: post #101

crescentfresh wrote: post #47

As a father to two so-far-healthy young boys, one soon to be a teenager I feel devastated at the thought of either of them having to endure the level of emotional chaos that Katie went through the moments leading up to her suicide attempt. My stomach goes into a knot at the thought. I mean gosh, it was a cheating boyfriend. I don't know what to do to protect them from such a path.

I hear you (I also have kids) but I always feel like the level of hype here is 75% about that pretty, white "before" photo. Yes it is tragic but what about the 1000s of disadvantaged kids that yearly fall into crime and drugs, ruining their lives, being incarcerated or killed, because of institutionalized indifference to the poor non-white members of our society and the corresponding negative feedback loops that trap…

Stop seeing everything through a racial lens. It is the first time an incredibly complex surgery has been performed, the race of the person is irrelevant. If this surgery was in China and performed on a Chinese person it would be just as groundbreaking.

Re: Katie's New Face

#115

Post by Waterluvian » Wed, Aug 15, 2018, 10:21 PM UTC

SpikeDad wrote: post #95

That was a difficult article (pictures actually) to read. It shows (to me at least) how intimately our humanity is linked to a face that passes our own internal pattern matching heuristics. I'm not proud to admit my initial thought was not how difficult life must be for her but rather how deformed her face was. But then I was proud that my (our) inherent human intelligence and morality was able to put that thought as…

My sense is that leap from emotional response to logical response is the lynchpin to so much potential we can unlock in millions, if not billions more of us.

Lots of us can't make that leap, and it costs us.

Re: Katie's New Face

#116

Post by azernik » Wed, Aug 15, 2018, 10:23 PM UTC

gambiting wrote: post #96

40acres wrote: post #35

Jesus that was difficult. How the hell did she even survive the gunshot wound?

Human bodies are weirdly resilient. Sometimes you can trip while walking, hit the wrong bit of your head and die on the spot. Other times, someone shoots themselves in the fact and survives. I guess she missed all the absolutely vital parts, so she survived.

Even so, the parts that the bullet missed still underwent enormous stress - note all the mention of brain injury just from concussive force, rather than a direct hit - and still survived.

Re: Katie's New Face

#117

Post by bscphil » Wed, Aug 15, 2018, 10:27 PM UTC

brianyu8 wrote: post #17

Non-interactive version of the article can be found here: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2018/09/face-tra...

Ironically, it was this link of the two that was so heavy with Javascript and downloads that I gave up on viewing it on my phone.

Re: Katie's New Face

#118

Post by danso » Wed, Aug 15, 2018, 10:27 PM UTC

eagsalazar2 wrote: post #101

crescentfresh wrote: post #47

As a father to two so-far-healthy young boys, one soon to be a teenager I feel devastated at the thought of either of them having to endure the level of emotional chaos that Katie went through the moments leading up to her suicide attempt. My stomach goes into a knot at the thought. I mean gosh, it was a cheating boyfriend. I don't know what to do to protect them from such a path.

I hear you (I also have kids) but I always feel like the level of hype here is 75% about that pretty, white "before" photo. Yes it is tragic but what about the 1000s of disadvantaged kids that yearly fall into crime and drugs, ruining their lives, being incarcerated or killed, because of institutionalized indifference to the poor non-white members of our society and the corresponding negative feedback loops that trap…

There are definitely stories that are sadly under-reported, but I do think that this story is an interesting feature that would’ve been done even if the patient were not a young white woman.

Re: Katie's New Face

#119

Post by slfnflctd » Wed, Aug 15, 2018, 10:28 PM UTC

toast_coder wrote: post #85

monkeynotes wrote: post #21

She's pretty brave to go through all of that, so much pain in so many ways. I think had this been my own situation I'd rather have some kind of plastic prosthetic than someone else's face and a lifetime of rejection treatment. I just don't think my psychology could handle the physical and emotional pain of accepting another face. That said, I know little about living with the alternative that she was dealing with. Cr…

I don't think plastic is an option. There isnt an artificial material that can replace skin. The options are to keep the mangled face, or replace.

I think monkeynotes was more talking about a high quality mask. After this article, I'm thinking I would feel the same way. I'm not sure I could handle going through this process, especially all the unending maintenance required afterward.

I hope Katie and her family are continually keeping in mind how they are helping push medical science forward and benefiting future patients. That's a big part of the value of these efforts, in my mind.

Re: Katie's New Face

#120

Post by stronglikedan » Wed, Aug 15, 2018, 10:37 PM UTC

lukebitts wrote: post #109

stronglikedan wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People who don't think just like you != people who can't think for themselves.

That's not their argument, you are making a much stronger claim than they are.

> not their argument

It's a direct quote from their comment.