From hacker to hospice in seven weeks • Hacker News Board

Re: From hacker to hospice in seven weeks

#211

Post by benjamincburns » Tue, Dec 02, 2014, 8:58 AM UTC

andrea_s wrote: post #168

I'm having issues donating through the givealittle.co.nz service... My VISA gets rejected. Does anybody know if it's possible to donate via PayPal?

Even if it doesn't go through - thanks so much for the sentiment.

That said, Givealittle is located in New Zealand, and they're charging New Zealand Dollars. It's likely your bank is blocking the foreign transaction, or that they don't offer foreign currency conversion services.

If you're keen to donate I'd send a note to Givealittle's customer service. I'm sure they'll get you sorted.

Thanks once again.

Re: From hacker to hospice in seven weeks

#212

Post by pyre » Tue, Dec 02, 2014, 9:44 AM UTC

nkw wrote: post #112

dkbrk wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

False positives aren't inherently a problem. If you have accurate understanding of the sensitivity and specificity of a test, then you can take action to maximise the utility of the expected outcome. This means, for example, not necessarily performing a biopsy just because something is there (but it's probably benign). The cost of invasive procedures such as biopsies, and risk-increasing tests such as CT scans has to…

> Until the legal system starts to account for rational choices based on statistical information, this problem is going to persist. The legal system does account for this. To succeed in a malpractice action, a plaintiff must prove a defendant failed to meet the required standard of care, which means the defendant failed to exercise that degree of skill and learning ordinarily exercised under the same or similar circu…

But at what cost? It's like saying that broad patents aren't a problem because they can 'just' be invalidated if they become a problem.

Re: From hacker to hospice in seven weeks

#213

Post by rhizome » Tue, Dec 02, 2014, 11:24 AM UTC

fnordfnordfnord wrote: post #161

maxerickson wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is there some reason that hospitals can't fund the programs themselves? Or do they just choose not to? More usefully, what could be done to get hospitals to fund the programs? Some hospital systems have billions of net income, they can clearly afford to fund at least a few residencies.

> Some hospital systems have billions of net income, they can clearly afford to fund at least a few residencies. What incentive, economic or otherwise, exists that would cause them to do that?

Public benefit.

Re: From hacker to hospice in seven weeks

#214

Post by sytelus » Tue, Dec 02, 2014, 11:43 AM UTC

maxerickson wrote: post #142

chimeracoder wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not a direct response to what you said, but since this is a common discussion on HN, I just want to get some facts straight pre-emptively: 1) The AMA has nothing to do with limiting the supply of doctors in the US 2) The AAMC (not the AMA) formerly limited the number of medical students per-year in the US, but they stopped this practice sometime around 2004 with the stated goal of increasing the number of medical sch…

Is there some reason that hospitals can't fund the programs themselves? Or do they just choose not to? More usefully, what could be done to get hospitals to fund the programs? Some hospital systems have billions of net income, they can clearly afford to fund at least a few residencies.

Couldn't it be same incentive why we like interns in tech? In tech, we love internships and most top companies go out of their way to have attractive internship programmes. This allows you to (1) filter future hires much better than hour long interview (2) lot of less complicated stuff can be offloaded to them (3) well, yeah, cheap labor (4) much better cultural training (5) young energetic employees with passion to improve things.

Re: From hacker to hospice in seven weeks

#215

Post by sireat » Tue, Dec 02, 2014, 1:32 PM UTC

nocman wrote: post #208

A cousin of mine recently lost her life in a very short battle with cancer. She was only 41 years old -- both of her parents still living. In the past few years there have been a lot of deaths among my family and friends. Some of them were very old, some very young, and some in-between. I would like to encourage readers here to consider this. Your life here is temporary. Even if you are very healthy your whole life,…

Why become a Christian out of multitude of religions?

And if one is to become Christian then which one (Catholic, Lutheran, etc etc)?

I've read some Christian apologestics (Augustine, Aquinas, Pascal, GK Chesteron, CS Lewis et al) and they spin a good yarn but obviously you can not reason your way into/out of religion.

So why should one believe Jesus was the Real Thing and Brian was not ?

One way I can see religion working if there is a way to reconcile most of world's religions (that is they are all working to the same end just from different directions). This is what a Lutheran pastor was proposing to me that all Abrahamic religions were working towards the same goal, but that leaves the problem of Jesus.

Second way would be the second coming. This would be even more effective. Why settle for some miracles 1970 years ago, when you could do real miracle stuff every once in a while to remind people that God is indeed something they should consider. Otherwise we get some questionable miracles like the gold plates from Mormons etc.

Until I can figure this out I am doomed to remain in "conscious meat" category.

Re: From hacker to hospice in seven weeks

#216

Post by jkaunisv1 » Tue, Dec 02, 2014, 2:39 PM UTC

orangecat wrote: post #197

jkaunisv1 wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't want my children to grow up in a world where you have to work at McDonald's for 100 years to afford buying a small house on the outskirts of a city. All because old wealthy people just keep accruing more wealth and never returning it to the cycle of the economy. When I look at the power structures of the modern world and the control that corporations have over our governments, I don't extrapolate positive cha…

I don't want my children to grow up in a world where you have to work at McDonald's for 100 years to afford buying a small house on the outskirts of a city. All because old wealthy people just keep accruing more wealth and never returning it to the cycle of the economy. The economy doesn't work that way. You and your children are not poorer because Warren Buffett is rich. Death is part of life. So are Alzheimer's, ca…

While the economy isn't zero-sum, resources like land are. Warren Buffett isn't taking money away from people, but I still believe income & other inequality would rise if people lived forever.

I think all of those problems are worth addressing, but I don't think we should be in a mad rush to cure death itself. It is a vital part of returning resources to the cycle of life to be used anew. I think our world would be worse off if humans lived forever, it would be stale and stagnant. Finally, I think we should fix some other problems that our overpopulation and thirst for growth are causing before we try to cement that growth with eternal life.

Re: From hacker to hospice in seven weeks

#217

Post by jkaunisv1 » Tue, Dec 02, 2014, 2:50 PM UTC

orangecat wrote: post #201

jkaunisv1 wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I disagree. There is an obsession with preserving life in our culture, at any cost. But everywhere else in the world (ie. for other animals) there is abundant evidence that death is crucial to life. Without a tree dying, what would mushrooms feed on, where would insects make their homes, etc.? Didn't you watch the Lion King? Would you rather have tens of billions living forever in socially stagnant, oppressive condit…

Would you rather have tens of billions living forever in socially stagnant, oppressive conditions, or a few billion living in gradually-improving conditions? This is a huge false dilemma. Doesn't the quality of the life matter as much as the quantity? Certainly. And the effects of aging are heavily detrimental to quality of life.

Why is it a false dilemma? I like your thought experiment of a world that doesn't suffer from aging but does have the social problems described above. But that's not the world we're in. I'd rather fix the social problems first because I think they'll get harder to solve if we get rid of aging first.

Ask the next menial labourer you encounter (the person making your food, ringing up your groceries, or cleaning your hotel room) which of the following they'd prefer: A) A basic income* until they die around age 100 B) Eternal life in the same economic & social conditions they're in now

Do you really think the majority would choose B?

* I'm using basic income as a placeholder for an improved economic & social situation.

Re: From hacker to hospice in seven weeks

#218

Post by johnaspden » Tue, Dec 02, 2014, 3:32 PM UTC

jkaunisv1 wrote: post #157

johnaspden wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Death is a bad thing. Anger is appropriate. We can probably fix it. If not in time to save ourselves, we might be able to save our children. We need to start now and spend a fortune. People need to stop pretending that it's ok.

I don't want my children to grow up in a world where you have to work at McDonald's for 100 years to afford buying a small house on the outskirts of a city. All because old wealthy people just keep accruing more wealth and never returning it to the cycle of the economy. When I look at the power structures of the modern world and the control that corporations have over our governments, I don't extrapolate positive cha…

But you do want them to die?

Re: From hacker to hospice in seven weeks

#219

Post by goblin89 » Tue, Dec 02, 2014, 4:06 PM UTC

peapicker wrote: post #65

johnaspden wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Death is a bad thing. Anger is appropriate. We can probably fix it. If not in time to save ourselves, we might be able to save our children. We need to start now and spend a fortune. People need to stop pretending that it's ok.

Death is neither good nor bad. All life is terminal. You can't fix it, even if you can prolong it. The sooner you get this into your head and heart, the better you will live.

Every time I come across this sentiment—that death is natural, and we have to accept it, and so on—the Fable of Dragon-Tyrant[0] comes to mind.

[0] http://www.nickbostrom.com/fable/dragon.html

Re: From hacker to hospice in seven weeks

#220

Post by jkaunisv1 » Tue, Dec 02, 2014, 4:47 PM UTC

johnaspden wrote: post #218

jkaunisv1 wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't want my children to grow up in a world where you have to work at McDonald's for 100 years to afford buying a small house on the outskirts of a city. All because old wealthy people just keep accruing more wealth and never returning it to the cycle of the economy. When I look at the power structures of the modern world and the control that corporations have over our governments, I don't extrapolate positive cha…

But you do want them to die?

Yep. I don't have any yet, but should I have offspring, I would expect them to die eventually. Obviously I would hope for a full, rich life before their passing (as I do for myself) but I actually look forward to dying. Not that I want it to happen soon, but I am curious about the experience and I'm not scared of it.

Things come and go all the time. I try not to cling to them. "This too shall pass" can be a very comforting mantra. Value things while they're around and know they won't always be around.