Live data from Hacker News

Man still alive six months after pig kidney transplant

nature.com

181–190 of 293 posts

Re: Man still alive six months after pig kidney transplant

#181

“Xenotransplantation” is pretty #%^*ing metal. It’s pretty wild being alive these days. Lots of big stuff the species is struggling to adapt to and figure out how to exist with. But also… we got the tablets from Star Trek. And now we have the ship’s computer from Star Trek, and the early makings of the holodeck. And we’re making pigmen senior citizens who would otherwise be dead. It’s quite something to stop and thin…

Meanwhile we can’t figure out how to provide a basic level of housing and healthcare to everyone.

Sure we can, how do you think our governments have managed to avoid it so artfully all this time?

Re: Man still alive six months after pig kidney transplant

#182
post #144

"This is the longest a pig organ has survived in a living person." Not quite the way I thought it should be phrased...

A bit of medical and historical context seems to invert its interpretation entirely. For example Louis Washkansky, the recipient of the first human transplant (performed by Dr. Christiaan Barnard in 1967 in Cape Town, South Africa) lived for only 18 days before passing away from pneumonia. But nobody considers that historical fact as a negative when thinking about heart transplants these days. In comparison, this sta…

I think the person you replied to was objecting to the fact that the wording makes it sound like we're using humans as vessels for extending the life of pig organs outside of pigs.

Not necessarily that 6 months is a short period of time.

Re: Man still alive six months after pig kidney transplant

#183

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It really depends on the organ. Kidneys stand out as the most successful organs for transplantation, even in allotransplantation (between humans) so it makes sense that they are working well in xeno as well. Kidneys are not as vascularized as some other organs (heart or lung) which probably helps a lot. Heart and lung xenotransplantation are still a ways off and a lot of basic research is still needed to make them wo…

Totally agree that kidneys are the logical starting point. Lower immunological complexity + less vascularization makes them more forgiving as a test case. The lung, on the other hand… yeah, that's a whole different beast

>...that's a whole different beast

...so's the donor! (I'll see myself out...)

Re: Man still alive six months after pig kidney transplant

#184
post #179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sheepskin (the “I’ll get my coat” reference is from The Register ).

https://theregister.com ? It's much older than that.

I am not surprised, but that's where I learned it.

Re: Man still alive six months after pig kidney transplant

#185
post #178

“Xenotransplantation” is pretty #%^*ing metal. It’s pretty wild being alive these days. Lots of big stuff the species is struggling to adapt to and figure out how to exist with. But also… we got the tablets from Star Trek. And now we have the ship’s computer from Star Trek, and the early makings of the holodeck. And we’re making pigmen senior citizens who would otherwise be dead. It’s quite something to stop and thin…

> But also… we got the tablets from Star Trek. They regularly used multiple tablets at a time, stacked like papers. What we have is presumably superior from a technological standpoint. Except their tablets weren’t filled with time-wasting features designed to keep you addicted and distracted. > And now we have the ship’s computer from Star Trek No, we definitely do not. If every time they spoke to the ship’s computer…

>Except their tablets weren’t filled with time-wasting features designed to keep you addicted and distracted.

>And you’re ignoring we’re also in the stages of getting the surveillance from 1984 and the social class divide from Brave New World.

Those are more human problems than technological problems.

Re: Man still alive six months after pig kidney transplant

#186
post #178

“Xenotransplantation” is pretty #%^*ing metal. It’s pretty wild being alive these days. Lots of big stuff the species is struggling to adapt to and figure out how to exist with. But also… we got the tablets from Star Trek. And now we have the ship’s computer from Star Trek, and the early makings of the holodeck. And we’re making pigmen senior citizens who would otherwise be dead. It’s quite something to stop and thin…

> But also… we got the tablets from Star Trek. They regularly used multiple tablets at a time, stacked like papers. What we have is presumably superior from a technological standpoint. Except their tablets weren’t filled with time-wasting features designed to keep you addicted and distracted. > And now we have the ship’s computer from Star Trek No, we definitely do not. If every time they spoke to the ship’s computer…

It wasn’t a tablet but there was a TNG episode about a time wasting game that nearly took over the minds of the entire crew.

Re: Man still alive six months after pig kidney transplant

#187
post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In star trek they only figured that out in 2024, so we are only a year late. And honestly, the way us politics are headed, a "bell riots" type event doesn't even seem that implausible. (Learning from it on the other hand does seem implausible) [For those not into star trek lore, the way star trek became a utopia was first the government put poor people in internment camps, eventually triggering violent riots in 2024,…

So we’re getting close in the US government is putting certain types of poor people in internment camps.

"Close"? It seems many Americans still live in a fantasy. Unless y'all start looking into your history, you're bound to repeat it.

Re: Man still alive six months after pig kidney transplant

#188

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Insane take. Even if you confiscated ALL the money from all the billionaires (instant 100% wealth tax) and spread it to everyone worldwide, it would be a one time sum of under $2000. And what then?

You can shear a sheep many times but skin him only once. It seems like billionaires have a knack for making lots of money every year. Why don’t we just take a bit more of it than we do now and invest it into useful projects?

Billionaires generally do not have a knaxj for value creation. What they do generally have is an egregious amount of greed and a total lack of empathy which enables an incredible amount of exploitation.

Re: Man still alive six months after pig kidney transplant

#190
post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A bit of medical and historical context seems to invert its interpretation entirely. For example Louis Washkansky, the recipient of the first human transplant (performed by Dr. Christiaan Barnard in 1967 in Cape Town, South Africa) lived for only 18 days before passing away from pneumonia. But nobody considers that historical fact as a negative when thinking about heart transplants these days. In comparison, this sta…

I think the person you replied to was objecting to the fact that the wording makes it sound like we're using humans as vessels for extending the life of pig organs outside of pigs. Not necessarily that 6 months is a short period of time.

That's an interesting way to interpret it! I see what you mean, but I still can't see myself interpreting that headline in that way. Does it really give that vibe?
Post reply on HN