Kia kaha out to his family and friends.
From hacker to hospice in seven weeks
21–30 of 234 posts
Re: From hacker to hospice in seven weeks
#22Earlier quoted context omitted.
False positives don't mean a month of visiting a doctor - they mean several months of anxiety inducing "watchful waiting" or invasive biopsies. And false positives are not a rare event. False positives are very common. On top of that the radiation (from CT scans) increase the risk of cancer. Scans for healthy people are strongly discouraged. There's a possible benefit if you have any of the genetic markers for lung c…
Yep. My wife has yearly scans because of a tumour supressor gene mutation and last year they thought they spotted something on the ultrasound, so sent her for a CT. CT showed that it was pretty bad, que months of stressing and worrying about what was going to happen. Turns out it was a false positive, caused by an accessory spleen looking like a tumour. False positives do happen, and they can be pretty devastating -…
Would you care to share with us how you were able to determine that she had such a gene? Was it some sort of byproduct of a normal scan/test? Or was it some sort of specificly requested test you went somewhere to get tested for? Or?
Re: From hacker to hospice in seven weeks
#23How long until a daily brain scan and body scan is a part of everyone's routine, the same way brushing your teeth is? Problems like these are untreatable if left for too long, but if caught early, there's sometimes hope. The solution seems to be to develop as many types of passive scanners as possible. The problem is false positives. But wasting a month needlessly visiting the doctor doesn't seem that bad.
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…
> Of course, there is no risk with a full-body MRI scan.
Not quite true. While the scan itself isn't harmful, the strong magnetic fields, RF fields and noise have caused several accidents, some fatal. Compare for example http://www.auntminnie.com/index.aspx?sec=sup_n&sub=mri&pag=d... "The FDA's Manufacturer and User Facility Device Experience (MAUDE) database documented a total of 40 incidents for MRI in 2004. In 2009, the total more than quadrupled, to 193 reported adverse events."
Example of a fatality: http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=92745
> 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.
False positives can still cause huge psychological strain on the involved person(s).
Re: From hacker to hospice in seven weeks
#24If people donate nothing towards ameliorating diseases of ageing[0], then what's to be expected? People die. People get sick. Everyone you, and I, know is probably going to suffer and perish. The poor soul in the blog post sounds like he got struck down in his prime; but rest assured, your time is coming in a matter of decades. Accept death/disease or do something about it; but don't be shocked when it happens! Stati…
As someone that is overly conscious about my own mortality, and fear of it. I can see it being much more preferable "in the moment" to be oblivious to such things awaiting us. And at times I really don't understand why people aren't afraid/concerned about their inevitable mortality.
However, I wouldn't personally choose such obliviousness. I'd rather know, and perhaps plan for it, and do my best to mitigate it as far as I can.
Re: From hacker to hospice in seven weeks
#25Earlier quoted context omitted.
False positives don't mean a month of visiting a doctor - they mean several months of anxiety inducing "watchful waiting" or invasive biopsies. And false positives are not a rare event. False positives are very common. On top of that the radiation (from CT scans) increase the risk of cancer. Scans for healthy people are strongly discouraged. There's a possible benefit if you have any of the genetic markers for lung c…
Yep. My wife has yearly scans because of a tumour supressor gene mutation and last year they thought they spotted something on the ultrasound, so sent her for a CT. CT showed that it was pretty bad, que months of stressing and worrying about what was going to happen. Turns out it was a false positive, caused by an accessory spleen looking like a tumour. False positives do happen, and they can be pretty devastating -…
If you worry that much about a false positive, I'm sorry for you, but you have no idea how much worse things may get. Many people don't get to complain about a false positive!
Stressing and worrying are both several orders of magnitude better than suffering and dying.
Source: My case wasn't a false positive.
Re: From hacker to hospice in seven weeks
#26Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yep. My wife has yearly scans because of a tumour supressor gene mutation and last year they thought they spotted something on the ultrasound, so sent her for a CT. CT showed that it was pretty bad, que months of stressing and worrying about what was going to happen. Turns out it was a false positive, caused by an accessory spleen looking like a tumour. False positives do happen, and they can be pretty devastating -…
Would you care to share with us how you were able to determine that she had such a gene? Was it some sort of byproduct of a normal scan/test? Or was it some sort of specificly requested test you went somewhere to get tested for? Or?
I don't know about your country, but genetic screening / testing is something you need to ask for, not something that happens as a by-product of a CT scan.
Re: From hacker to hospice in seven weeks
#27If people donate nothing towards ameliorating diseases of ageing[0], then what's to be expected? People die. People get sick. Everyone you, and I, know is probably going to suffer and perish. The poor soul in the blog post sounds like he got struck down in his prime; but rest assured, your time is coming in a matter of decades. Accept death/disease or do something about it; but don't be shocked when it happens! Stati…
As someone that is overly conscious about my own mortality, and fear of it. I can see it being much more preferable "in the moment" to be oblivious to such things awaiting us. And at times I really don't understand why people aren't afraid/concerned about their inevitable mortality. However, I wouldn't personally choose such obliviousness. I'd rather know, and perhaps plan for it, and do my best to mitigate it as far…
You should check out longecity.org, if the subject interests you, zo1.
Edit: In particular, the forum! http://www.longecity.org/forum/
Re: From hacker to hospice in seven weeks
#28Earlier quoted context omitted.
As someone that is overly conscious about my own mortality, and fear of it. I can see it being much more preferable "in the moment" to be oblivious to such things awaiting us. And at times I really don't understand why people aren't afraid/concerned about their inevitable mortality. However, I wouldn't personally choose such obliviousness. I'd rather know, and perhaps plan for it, and do my best to mitigate it as far…
You should check out longecity.org, if the subject interests you, zo1. Edit: In particular, the forum! http://www.longecity.org/forum/
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Re: From hacker to hospice in seven weeks
#29If people donate nothing towards ameliorating diseases of ageing[0], then what's to be expected? People die. People get sick. Everyone you, and I, know is probably going to suffer and perish. The poor soul in the blog post sounds like he got struck down in his prime; but rest assured, your time is coming in a matter of decades. Accept death/disease or do something about it; but don't be shocked when it happens! Stati…
While more open discussion on the often taboo and reduced to euphemisms topic of death definitely needs to happen, I'm not sure that your attitude is the most sensitive to the matter.
I think it's a bit haughty to tell people they should either accept death or do something about it. You'd be a fool to think that the topic of mortality isn't on every person's mind at least monthly, especially with the media constantly reminding us of it. The issue is that it's hard to accept something so distant, especially if it doesn't fit into our current model of our future. It's only until we experience the death of those close to us that we realize it. It's only natural to be shocked, especially when these deaths are unexpected and don't afford the opportunity for reconciliation with the dying. Of course as we get older and more experienced with death we become better equipped to deal with it, but that doesn't make it any less of an uncomfortable topic.
Telling people to accept a certain view of death at a certain time is limiting. It denies the uniqueness of individuals' personal philosophies and their developmental trajectories.
Re: From hacker to hospice in seven weeks
#30We need to fix this, and we need to start yesterday. “Yes, we did it, we killed the dragon today. But damn, why did we start so late? http://www.nickbostrom.com/fable/dragon.html If you are in a position to fund things, consider the SENS Research Foundation, instead of the next Yo app. http://www.sens.org
How effective is the institution? We throw a lot of money at problems. Are there more effective institutions or methods? Perhaps a series of X-Prizes for medicine would help? The tricolor prize, for example: http://tricorder.xprize.org/about/overview