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Man still alive six months after pig kidney transplant

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Re: Man still alive six months after pig kidney transplant

#161

Post by TeMPOraL »

bawolff wrote: post #96
SoftTalker wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

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,…

2024 Bell Riots were the tipping point[0], but there was still World War 3 a few decades later. A global nuclear exchange probably helped a lot in kicking human civilization off the dystopian but locally optimal path it found itself stuck on[1]. Meeting a technologically superior alien race a decade later also helped solidify a different perspective :).

But yeah, I too was disappointed when 2024 came and gone without the Bell Riots - Star Trek came this close to accidentally turning prophetic, as in the months prior things really felt like the Riots are going to happen on the date.

--

[0] - In that timeline, at least. We've already past several important world events that originally happened in Trek timeline, so the show keeps shifting the dates to keep with the overall premise of being imagined future of real humanity.

IIRC the writers now settled on "Romulan temporal agents meddling with timeline, desperate to stop the Federation from forming, and failing because apparently the cosmos really wants UFP to be a thing" as a convenient explanation to push WW3, Eugenics Wars, etc. forward every once in a while.

[1] - How humanity bounced back from that so quickly is something of a mystery to me.

Re: Man still alive six months after pig kidney transplant

#162

Post by basisword »

ChrisMarshallNY wrote: post #18
SapporoChris wrote: post #9

Keep in mind the amazing thing is the survival of having the transplant in addition to kidney failure. People have been living up to five years without kidneys by relying on dialysis.

Dialysis is hell. I had a friend that chose to die, after several months on a home dialysis machine.

>> Dialysis is hell.

I've seen this sentiment before but I've been unable to find an explanation why. Searching around it's noted as relatively painless.

Can anyone explain why it's so difficult?

Re: Man still alive six months after pig kidney transplant

#164

Post by ChrisMarshallNY »

basisword wrote: post #162
ChrisMarshallNY wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dialysis is hell. I had a friend that chose to die, after several months on a home dialysis machine.

>> Dialysis is hell. I've seen this sentiment before but I've been unable to find an explanation why. Searching around it's noted as relatively painless. Can anyone explain why it's so difficult?

I have never experienced it, myself, but have seen several close friends deal with it.

They always come back wiped out, and sick.

Usually, it’s a temporary thing; meant to keep you going, until a full cure (like a transplant) can be effected.

My friend made his decision, because a transplant was not an option. He would need to live like that, for the rest of his life. I have a couple of other acquaintances, that got transplants, and were able to go past dialysis.

Re: Man still alive six months after pig kidney transplant

#165

Post by ChrisMarshallNY »

quasarj wrote: post #102
ChrisMarshallNY wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dialysis is hell. I had a friend that chose to die, after several months on a home dialysis machine.

That's rough, I'm sorry for your loss. I've been on dialysis for 5 years now (in-center, I couldn't do home for.. reasons). In the beginning I was considering giving up, but it did finally get somewhat better, and I'm fairly well adjusted now. I mean, it still sucks (especially losing about 5 hours 3 days a week), but I'm able to not think about it when I'm not there, at least.

Damn. Sorry to aggravate. I sincerely wish you well.

Re: Man still alive six months after pig kidney transplant

#167

Post by johnisgood »

daedrdev wrote: post #89
krackers wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But presumably the nerves between the brain and heart exist for a reason. What functionality do you lose by not reattaching them? Do things like "heart beating faster when nervous" depend on this nerve signaling, or is it done via other chemical signaling.

Reading up on this there is some chemical signaling from the blood, but the brain is not controlling the rate of the new heart

That is actually wild and I wonder about the practical consequences as well.

So you get into a stressful situation or get a flee or flight response, and your heart is not affected by it, or at least the heart rate, but your cardiovascular system may be needed because in that case the rest of your body is, and presumably you may need much more blood to be pumped out to your organs among other things.

It is a cool food for thought.

Re: Man still alive six months after pig kidney transplant

#168

Post by thyristan »

TeMPOraL wrote: post #161
bawolff wrote: 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,…

2024 Bell Riots were the tipping point[0], but there was still World War 3 a few decades later. A global nuclear exchange probably helped a lot in kicking human civilization off the dystopian but locally optimal path it found itself stuck on[1]. Meeting a technologically superior alien race a decade later also helped solidify a different perspective :). But yeah, I too was disappointed when 2024 came and gone without…

> [1] - How humanity bounced back from that so quickly is something of a mystery to me.

There is always the "it wasn't as bad as in Mad Max/Fallout/..." explanation. Nuclear winter is now understood to be either less severe than predicted back in the 60s, or nonexistent. Nuclear weapons will kill people and destroy cities, but if they aren't aimed at people or cities, but at military installations such as the US nuclear sponge[0], death toll and destruction will be far less severe. Things like the Golden Gate Bridge or the Eiffel Tower might be left standing, as seen in a few Star Trek episodes. Which would also mean that humanity would be in less of a severe turmoil than other nuclear war SciFi might have imagined.

[0] https://www.reddit.com/r/nuclearwar/comments/18e01zh/would_t... https://www.thomasnet.com/insights/nuclear-sponge/

Re: Man still alive six months after pig kidney transplant

#170

Post by jimnotgym »

ekianjo wrote: post #12
SoftTalker wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Provide with what money? Every major country is an ocean of debt

Debt to who? If every country is in debt who is the creditor? Mars?

But you actually said every major country is in debt, so do all the major countries owe money to um...minor countries?

Perhaps it is not the country that is in debt at all, but the government? In which case it must owe money to entities like people and corporations. The government has powers to take money from entities in its jurisdiction and pay its debts, it is called taxation. In fact since the money is issued by the government in the first place, you could consider a token of government debt is actually a token meant to pay your taxes with. By lending money to the government you receive interest, or in other words a discount off your future tax.

All very neat, and why a government being in debt is no reason for it to not be able to pay for things.

In fact you might argue that government debt takes money out of the economy, so keeping inflation down. This means the government can spend more without causing inflation. If a government borrows a dollar and spends that dollar, there is the same amount of dollars circulating. However if it borrows it off someone who is hoarding it, and spends it then you create gdp growth. Magic.

Perhaps it's time to get past puritanical hatred of debt?

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