Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Two weeks later David Bennett is alive, his pig’s heart beating soundly

irishtimes.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

331–340 of 527 posts

Re: Two weeks later David Bennett is alive, his pig’s heart beating soundly

#331

Post by gambiting »

gpm wrote: post #220
kevin_thibedeau wrote: post #182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It would be better if you got to keep the meat rather than letting it go to waste. Then you could indulge in autophagy by proxy.

If we're genetically modifying the pigs to be more like humans, I wonder if there would be health risks with eating the meat - specifically from prions. Similar to those that come from eating humans. Admittedly probably negligible until we modify them a heck of a lot more than we are right now (if they do theoretically exist).

Prions don't appear from thin air - and you can already get deadly prions eating meat, the reason why you don't is the same why you don't get all kinds of deadly diseases from meat - it's (usually) well regulated and any outbreaks are immediately culled. A pig genetically modified to be "more like a human" wouldn't spontaniously get deadly prions.

Re: Two weeks later David Bennett is alive, his pig’s heart beating soundly

#332

Post by gambiting »

sillysaurusx wrote: post #222
drenvuk wrote: post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not zero cost morality wise to kill anything at any point in their lifetime; from bacteria, to worms, to flies, to pigs each has its own weight on a person's conscience be it nil or hefty. I mean that. But a pig is not human so it's acceptable to me.

Would you feel the same if cats were the only animal whose organs could be harvested?

Absolutely - why wouldn't you? Serious question.

Re: Two weeks later David Bennett is alive, his pig’s heart beating soundly

#333

Post by corobo »

bamboozled wrote: post #187
corobo wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Anyone care to emphasize why this opinion should be down voted so heavily Because they don’t say anything. They announced their belief and wandered off. Post could do with a “because” and another sentence or two Can’t speak for everyone ofc but that was my reasoning. Nothing to do with the opinion my side, standard downvote behaviour for contentless comments

Do you require an explanation for why that might not be the correct thing to do?

Nope. I'll vote how I feel like voting. You may do likewise :)

If a single downvote matters, it doesn't matter

Re: Two weeks later David Bennett is alive, his pig’s heart beating soundly

#334

Post by K5EiS »

_qua wrote: post #231
digianarchist wrote: post #196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can’t they just keep replacing it every ten years?

It's difficult to do repeat surgeries in the chest.

Just install a window and some valves for easy replacement. Maybe you could even hot swap pig hearts.

Re: Two weeks later David Bennett is alive, his pig’s heart beating soundly

#335

Post by drran »

bobsmooth wrote: post #329
pjc50 wrote: post #308

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> regulate diagnostic tests If only there hadn't been a major high profile collapse of a fraudulent diagnostic test company recently.

Regulations are written in blood, then the blood darkens and people forget why we have regulations.

Regulations should be transparent, with link to original cases and deduction process documented. We are not telepaths.

Re: Two weeks later David Bennett is alive, his pig’s heart beating soundly

#336

Post by dtech »

threshold wrote: post #305

Is this compassionate use or experimentation on a dying patient for the future benefit of the rest of us? I’m fine with the latter, if consensual. But only if we call it what it is.

It's a way to potentially prolong a terminally ill patients life with an experimental technique, potentially advancing medical science in doing so. I fail to see why this should be cast in a negative light.

Re: Two weeks later David Bennett is alive, his pig’s heart beating soundly

#337

Post by aqme28 »

jostmey wrote: post #8
phnofive wrote: post #2

Discussed here fifteen days ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29882912 Not a huge update but an interesting discussion of FDA approval; can the FDA actually stop or sanction experimental procedures like this?

Yes, the FDA will insert itself to regulate medicine wherever it can. For example, the FDA has been pushing to regulate diagnostic tests as medical devices. It’s funny how Americans surrender medical autonomy to the government but draw a strict line in the sand in other issues

Is that a recent push? I used to work for a company producing a diagnostic test, and it was being regulated as you said.

But what is the issue with that? Failures in diagnosis kill people very regularly. It should be regulated.

Re: Two weeks later David Bennett is alive, his pig’s heart beating soundly

#338

Post by cute_boi »

K5EiS wrote: post #334
_qua wrote: post #231

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's difficult to do repeat surgeries in the chest.

Just install a window and some valves for easy replacement. Maybe you could even hot swap pig hearts.

Easier said than done.

Re: Two weeks later David Bennett is alive, his pig’s heart beating soundly

#339

Post by aqme28 »

spoonjim wrote: post #317
pkaye wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They did so a pig to human kidney transplant recently however it was on a brain dead man as an initial test. Probably soon it be on a living patient. As a person on a kidney transplant waitlist, it given me some hope for the future. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2022-01-pig-to-human-transpla...

Quoted post unavailable.

Why do you say it’s non-consensual? He donated his body to science.

Re: Two weeks later David Bennett is alive, his pig’s heart beating soundly

#340

Post by op00to »

spoonjim wrote: post #318
sillysaurusx wrote: post #222

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Would you feel the same if cats were the only animal whose organs could be harvested?

Yes, I would be OK with killing any number of cats to save any human’s life.

One million cats to save Putin?
Post reply on HN