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Jake Seliger has died

marginalrevolution.com

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Re: Jake Seliger has died

#151

Post by lupire »

yawboakye wrote: post #111
JohnMakin wrote: post #62

The craziest thing to me is he was still posting up to the very end. I've seen this multiple times in end-stage cancers, my grandfather's pancreatic cancer, he seemed "fine" (other than looking incredibly sick) til the last ~12 hours or so - he was even doing some yard work the day or two before he died. He knew the entire time how much time was left, too. I don't know why I find this so crazy, other than I hope I ne…

i’ve come to believe that we’re more terrified of a situation while we’re not in it. once in there, and especially when there’s no way out, our bodies make the necessary adjustments for the new normal. and soon our minds/being follow. it’s often characterized as extraordinary strength by onlookers when in fact the person going through the experience had no way out. in my mother tongue, we have a proverb which roughly…

In my mother tongue we have an expression:

"I'm not a coward; I've just never been tested. I'd like to think that if I was I would pass."

Re: Jake Seliger has died

#152

Post by vinnyvichy »

dredmorbius wrote: post #58

Jake posted as jseliger on HN: https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=jseliger He blogged at https://jakeseliger.com/ >, and numerous of his blog articles were submitted to HN: https://news.ycombinator.com/from?site=jakeseliger.com >. That includes numerous topics, over the past year or so his experience with cancer, often concerning frustrations with the process and mechanism. His essay on agenticness especially strik…

With regards to the mention on Tabarrok's post, her piece on FDA deregulation should be highlighted, I think:

https://bessstillman.substack.com/p/the-drugs-killing-dying-...

Re: Jake Seliger has died

#153

Post by vinnyvichy »

wizzwizz4 wrote: post #144
wizzwizz4 wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Think about how difficult it is to make a significant contribution in your particular field of expertise that is not about to be done right now anyway because the time is right. I independently reinvented my entire field of research by accident , because I didn't know it existed; and I'm pretty sure I did a better job. There are a few puzzle pieces and key insights it probably would've taken me a few years (or deca…

Also: Don't get so enamoured by the idea of incremental progress, of scientific legacy, that you can scarcely imagine the idea that everybody you know might have taken a wrong turn 30, or 50, or 400 years ago. Science is the study of what is _not_ true, of falsification: how _not_ to cure a patient, how _not_ to go to the moon. It says nothing about what _is_. (That's the domain of engineering.) The discovery of germ…

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Re: Jake Seliger has died

#155

Post by maxbond »

ChrisMarshallNY wrote: post #40

Honest question: Does this rate a black bar? I know that he wasn't a big deal, outside this community, but within HN, his posts were kinda awesome (and heartbreaking).

I've vouched this comment. I believe it was misinterpreted as suggesting there shouldn't be a black bar, which would be flaggable as flame bait. However, the black bar either wasn't there or they hadn't noticed it (it can be hard to see on mobile or if your topcolor is dark), and they were suggesting it should be.

I myself took this impression initially. Posting this in case someone else is confused and tempted to flag.

Re: Jake Seliger has died

#157

Post by vinnyvichy »

barry-cotter wrote: post #134
llamaimperative wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Part of the harm is in people no longer trusting drugs. We're very fortunate to be able to get prescribed a drug and have certainty the risk-reward tradeoffs have been evaluated to extreme depth by experts far more equipped than we are.

You are past of the reason the world is a worse place than it could be. Without people like you defending excessive caution as good for the PR of drug regulatory agencies millions of people who are dead would be alive, possibly tens of millions.

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Re: Jake Seliger has died

#158

Post by vinnyvichy »

ETH_start wrote: post #113

Two causes that Seliger believed in, that are after my own heart, are: Removing FDA restrictions, to speed up drug discovery: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40894632 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40746156 And removing regulatory restrictions on housing, to build more homes: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41125739 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40942621 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=407…

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Re: Jake Seliger has died

#159

Post by BessS »

Hi everyone, This is Bess, Jake's wife. I just want to say how deeply touched I am to see how much Jake and his writing are appreciated here on HN. The intellectual online community which made up a big piece of his life for so long was important to him, as was having a positive influence on others, and it would have meant so much to him- as it does to me- to see the impact he made. Thank you for the people who reached out while he was still alive to make sure he knew just how large that impact was.

I've lost the love of my life, as well as my thinking and writing partner, and everything is strange and disorienting right now. It's a comfort when nothing feels comfortable to know how appreciated he was and still is. As soon as I'm able, and for anyone who is interested in joining the efforts, I promised him I'd continue the push for FDA reform, and to try to find ways to improve agency for cancer patients so that other people in his position might suffer less than he did. I've never known a braver person. I'll miss him forever, but won't stop trying to keep his legacy alive.

Please feel free to reach out anytime (I'm at drbstillman@gmail.com). Thank you also for all the well wishes for myself and Athena, who I hope will be just like her Dad.

Re: Jake Seliger has died

#160

Post by vinnyvichy »

jpeloquin wrote: post #119
adaml_623 wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree with you in spirit but would suggest that pushing for more funding of schools, universities, basic research, and applied research is something that we should all be doing. Imagine if all the smart people tried to cure cancer instead of working in Wall Street and Adtech

Yes, the general spirit is good but the clinical trial stage is the very end of a long process. The clinical trial the most visible part of getting a new cancer treatment to patients, but the bulk of delay in developing a new treatment is waiting for the basic science. More aggressive clinical trials could save ~ years. More aggressive education and fundamental research could save ~ decades. Can't run a trial on a tr…

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