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How Long Have I Got Left?

nytimes.com

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Re: How Long Have I Got Left?

#121

Post by hrq »

melling wrote: post #2

"And then my health began to improve, thanks to a pill that targets a specific genetic mutation tied to my cancer." Isn't tailoring drugs to specific mutations the next big revolution in medicine that we've been waiting for? Steve Jobs had his DNA sequenced to help fight his cancer. http://appleinsider.com/articles/11/10/21/steve_jobs_had_his...

http://www.technologyreview.com/view/519686/steve-jobs-left-...

Another article describing a business that was started around this concept and seems to be having an important impact in medicine.

Re: How Long Have I Got Left?

#122

Post by JunkDNA »

sdegutis wrote: post #42
sdegutis wrote: post #17

For a long time I've been pretty worried about my mortality. But ever since I became a Christian a couple years ago, I've been much more at peace about it. Not all the way (yet?), but much more than before. I highly recommend looking into Christianity to anyone else feeling that same fear.

For anyone interested in rational arguments for believing in Christianity, I recommend the Handbook of Christian Apologetics[1] by Kreeft and Tacelli. [1]: http://www.amazon.com/Handbook-Christian-Apologetics-Peter-K...

Thanks for sharing this link. As a lifelong Catholic, as well as a biologist and software developer, I have often thought my background in this particlar area was not what it should be.

Re: How Long Have I Got Left?

#123

Post by sdegutis »

belluchan wrote: post #119
sdegutis wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

By "experiment" I mean I started questioning whether or not it was true, debating with my peers about it (either for or against). I ultimately settled on agnosticism because absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. If there was a God who chose to never reveal (or even hint at) his existence to humanity, it would be incorrect for a person to be an atheist. Since that's a legitimate possibility, it makes more se…

So what evidence did you eventually find to turn to God if it's not a feelings/faith based thing?

If it could be explained in a HN comment, I think there would be many more Christians in the world. That's why there are whole books written on the subject. The only one I still own is The Handbook of Christian Apologetics[1][2] so that's the only one I can recommend.

But it does require some faith, just not blind or unreasoning faith, as most people seem to think.

[1]: http://www.amazon.com/Handbook-Christian-Apologetics-Peter-K...

Re: How Long Have I Got Left?

#124

Post by kyleblarson »

thomasz wrote: post #63

> We never cite detailed statistics, and usually advise against Googling survival numbers, assuming the average patient doesn’t possess a nuanced understanding of statistics When I was at the receiving end of that talk, this attitude made me incredibly angry. They know exactly that we will look up those numbers, they are just too afraid to have a honest discussion with us. People make very bad decisions because those…

I suspect that in the US in particular, doctors are also hesitant to give specific numbers or statistics for fear of the abusively litigious nature of our system.

Re: How Long Have I Got Left?

#125

Post by sdegutis »

JunkDNA wrote: post #122
sdegutis wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For anyone interested in rational arguments for believing in Christianity, I recommend the Handbook of Christian Apologetics[1] by Kreeft and Tacelli. [1]: http://www.amazon.com/Handbook-Christian-Apologetics-Peter-K...

Thanks for sharing this link. As a lifelong Catholic, as well as a biologist and software developer, I have often thought my background in this particlar area was not what it should be.

As a fellow Catholic, I would instead recommend The Handbook of Catholic Apologetics[1] by the same author. It's basically the same book, but with an additional ~40 pages about Catholicism. I admit they're not the best apologetics for Catholicism out there, but it's not much of a price difference. Also, this is the one I have.

[1]: http://www.amazon.com/Handbook-Catholic-Apologetics-Reasoned...

Re: How Long Have I Got Left?

#126

Post by saraid216 »

thomasz wrote: post #63

> We never cite detailed statistics, and usually advise against Googling survival numbers, assuming the average patient doesn’t possess a nuanced understanding of statistics When I was at the receiving end of that talk, this attitude made me incredibly angry. They know exactly that we will look up those numbers, they are just too afraid to have a honest discussion with us. People make very bad decisions because those…

If they gave numbers and explained the statistical significance, people would go and Google things and come to the conclusion that the doctor was wrong. Doesn't matter if the doctor was right; they'd still think they were wrong.

Re: How Long Have I Got Left?

#127

Post by saraid216 »

1stop wrote: post #75
wpietri wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The way I resolve it: meaning is something we construct. So yes, there's no Meaning of Life written in the stars, no absolute truth there. But you can make as much meaning as you need. Personally, I like that better. If somebody tried to tell me the One True Meaning of Life, the first thing I'd do is argue with 'em. This way I get to argue with myself.

I think you misinterpret the question. It's not "What is the meaning of my/your life?" - it's "What is the meaning of life?" or put another way: "Why does life exist? and why should/does it continue?"

That doesn't necessarily change the answer.

Re: How Long Have I Got Left?

#128

Post by belluchan »

belluchan wrote: post #119
sdegutis wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

By "experiment" I mean I started questioning whether or not it was true, debating with my peers about it (either for or against). I ultimately settled on agnosticism because absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. If there was a God who chose to never reveal (or even hint at) his existence to humanity, it would be incorrect for a person to be an atheist. Since that's a legitimate possibility, it makes more se…

So what evidence did you eventually find to turn to God if it's not a feelings/faith based thing?

I can't reply to you directly. Why is your faith not blind or unreasoning? Can you give me just one specific example of empirical evidence for God's existence? Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. I'm guessing you're going to give me some unverifiable testimony from people who died long ago and expect that to have a person question heaps of contrary empirical evidence. I don't think that works.

And you are resorting to faith because the evidence isn't good enough. The evidence that explain the things that I believe in, like the existence of this computer in front of me, don't require any faith at all.

Re: How Long Have I Got Left?

#129

Post by philh »

pstack wrote: post #82
ifktaotc wrote: post #29

A few years ago I got testicular cancer. The information about the disease came in pieces: first all I knew was that there was a lump; then came the ultrasound, the CT scan, then biopsy of the testicle, then a second surgery to sample lymph nodes to which the cancer might have spread. At every step I would obsessively query my doctors for conditional probabilities: given what we'd just found out, what were the chance…

It doesn't help that life or death issues for men, like testicular cancer, are almost completely ignored. About a decade ago, I had the same concern as you and after a scary doctor visit (which included his female assistant observing, which added to the discomfort but that all mitigated by the more terrifying prospect of this being a life-threatening concern) followed by an ultrasound at the hospital, I was relieved…

> It doesn't help that life or death issues for men, like testicular cancer, are almost completely ignored.

This isn't a great example, because testicular cancer is rarely fatal. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Testicular_cancer

> Testicular cancer has one of the highest cure rates of all cancers: a five-year survival rate in excess of 90 percent overall, and almost 100 percent if it has not spread (metastasized).[6] Even for the relatively few cases in which malignant cancer has spread widely, modern chemotherapy offers a cure rate of at least 80%.[7]

Obviously, awareness still helps. (And openness. I had an ultrasound when I was 16 (turned out to be a hydrocele), but I think it was a few weeks from when I noticed the lumy to when I told my mum about it, because how do you bring something like that up?)

Re: How Long Have I Got Left?

#130

Post by kaoD »

1stop wrote: post #75
wpietri wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The way I resolve it: meaning is something we construct. So yes, there's no Meaning of Life written in the stars, no absolute truth there. But you can make as much meaning as you need. Personally, I like that better. If somebody tried to tell me the One True Meaning of Life, the first thing I'd do is argue with 'em. This way I get to argue with myself.

I think you misinterpret the question. It's not "What is the meaning of my/your life?" - it's "What is the meaning of life?" or put another way: "Why does life exist? and why should/does it continue?"

I think that's not the question. Things don't have a meaning by themselves.

What does hydrogen mean?

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