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What Dreams May Come

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Re: What Dreams May Come

#261

Post by rbanffy »

hueving wrote: post #188
Blahah wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's true only in the specific case of HIV in the USA - the funding in the USA for cancer vs HIV is about right for the global number of deaths from those diseases. Especially if you consider that cancer is showing no sign of being a curable problem, while HIV is. For other diseases - malaria, dengue, hepatitis, typhoid etc., not to mention malnutrition - global spending is massively disporportionate in favour of c…

>Especially if you consider that cancer is showing no sign of being a curable problem, while HIV is. "We haven't found a solution to this problem" is possibly the worst reason I've ever heard to cut back on research.

It's not just that we haven't found a solution. Cancer is not a single condition - it's a multitude of different diseases with similar mechanisms and different causes. The cure for one type of cancer is usually ineffective for most other types. Frequently researchers have encouraging results on one set of patients that never happen again on another set.

HIV is a relatively easy problem when compared to cancer.

Re: What Dreams May Come

#262

Post by ak39 »

ilovecookies wrote: post #179

Even though I feel for your situation... Seriously this has nothing to do with hacker news. This is more of a reddit post that has snuck in here somehow.

Exactly. Maybe a social experiment to see how folks react to internet begging? Dunno. But why is it here on HN?

I'm not saying that the story isn't genuine, but there's no evidence or proof that it is and yet people are donating. That's amazing. Or maybe not.

Re: What Dreams May Come

#263

Post by TausAmmer »

bad_user wrote: post #51
theknown99 wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Without sounding unfeeling, do we really want to add to the overcrowding and population explosion problem that much? Earth is full. Our population has doubled in the short time I've been alive. Doesn't that scare the shit out of anyone else? Imagine what would happen if you suddenly cured all forms of cancer. People would live even longer. Population would shoot up. Lack of housing, lack of jobs. More pensioners... e…

Don't know if you noticed, but in western countries the population is aging, due to a decrease in birth rate/fertility, a decrease in mortality rate and a higher life expectancy, all leading to a sharp decline in population growth. Europe has a Wikipedia page about it, check it out: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aging_of_Europe Population growth is not really exponential, it's rather an S-curve. As soon as the qualit…

One screams kicks and bites off head of snake to just survive. That is value of life. Fear.

Re: What Dreams May Come

#264

Post by kaiuhl »

darthclue wrote: post #74

Jonathan here. Being woke up by my wife crying because the donations just aren't stopping is both heart-breaking and comforting. For those of you who haven't seen the 'Bucket List' post, here's what it says at the very top: As I try to deal with the reality that is my impending death I can't help but wonder how many things I might have been able to accomplish given just a little more time. When I was diagnosed, I had…

As someone who was also diagnosed with skin cancer recently and who's mother is dying of metastatic cancer, I can particularly relate. It's amazing that simply being told you're sick can physically make you so. If you want someone to talk to, I'm available. Contact information is my profile. Good luck.

Re: What Dreams May Come

#265

Post by pokstad »

baby wrote: post #255

> Prepare for / pay for my final arrangments : $20,000 I'm not here to bash, but with so much money problem why do people want to spend so much money on their death? If I die I just want people to get rid of my body in the cheapest way possible. Just burn me or give me to science.

OR a tibetan sky burial: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sky_burial

It's considered to be a one last sign of generosity to nature when you no longer need your body. Also, it was probably started because the land is too hard and tough to dig up in the mountains of Tibet (a.k.a. cost effective and practical).

Re: What Dreams May Come

#266

Post by josh_fyi »

Let me get this right.

Major diseases are the most important reason for health insurance to exist.

But in the US, if you get a major disease, you lose your job, then within 18 months your coverage, and then the insurance is gone.

Is this correct?

Re: What Dreams May Come

#268

Post by pbhjpbhj »

aestra wrote: post #151
lnanek2 wrote: post #125

Kind of bizarre seeing someone else's value system which is completely alien to my own. If I was leaving my wife and kids with mortgage and car loan debt, I wouldn't spend $10-20k on a graveyard plot, that's for sure. I don't think I would in any case, I'd just get cremated or whatever the cheapest option is.

Thank you for posting this. It is sad that we all think we are entitled to a piece of the earth for eternity. Not only is it a huge waste of money but a huge waste of land. If everyone who ever lived had a marked grave reserved for them forever, there would be no land left for the people who are living right now. It is the ultimate sense of entitlement. By the way caskets cost like 5 grand or something too. I was the…

>we all think we are entitled to a piece of the earth for eternity //

I live next to a graveyard - the stones often are so decayed after 100 years as to be unreadable. Graves get reused eventually or the graveyard gets reused as a whole (at least that's how things have happened in my country thusfar).

Funny half the people ITT seem to be saying we've got loads of resources.

Also FWIW a graveyard isn't wasted space - it's basically a park with memorial stones. People use it to walk, jog; it's a good space for wildlife, trees prosper.

Re: What Dreams May Come

#269

Post by quasque »

fasteo wrote: post #260
quasque wrote: post #236

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not a waste of money. Therapies for certain cancers do get developed and, in conducting such research, we learn a great deal more about cell biology. Yes, the trigger for carcinogenic mutations is mostly environmental influence - some of which can be controlled and some of which can't - but that's no reason to cease funding research into the actual cellular mechanisms of cancer.

Fair enough, but I see cell biology advances as a by-product of cancer research as in "how does this cancerous cell react to this candidate drug ?" instead of "why does a healthy cell go havoc ? Why is the immune system unable to detect and destroy a cell gone havoc ?"

I see what you're saying but it's not really just a by-product, it's an integral part of the research. Both the "why" and the "how" are needed, especially when looking at rational drug design to have specific targets to screen for.

Re: What Dreams May Come

#270

Post by jiggbenice »

MatthewWilkes wrote: post #102

20k for a funeral? Really? Seemed legit until that.

Good grief...the comments on Hacker News never cease to amaze...

...just to give a representative example, last September my Dad died. 1) We had his remains cremated. 2) We got said remains without anything fancier than the cardboard box they came in. 3) We scattered his ashes ourselves as a family without any visitation, funeral ceremony, or anything.

No gravestone, no casket, no wake, no ceremony, no officiant.

Total cost: $6,000.

$20,000 is absolutely realistic if he wants to be buried with an average casket, average headstone and average ceremony.

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