Imagine the following. Here's the spectrum of medical knowledge: ----------------------------------------- Here's where we were in the dark ages: --|-------------------------------------- Here's where we are now: -------|--------------------------------- Here's where people like to think we are: ------------------|---------------------- In this scenario it seems like what you're saying and what your parent said are b…
But then we’re in the dark ages for everything, except maybe siege warfare. So it becomes a meaningless comment.
Yes, on a scale of dark ages to understanding a field perfectly, it's no surprise we are closer to the dark ages.
Well, perhaps we understand basic algebra pretty well.
> I've suspected for some time that medicine is actually closer to the dark ages than we like to think it is What does that even mean? Nobody's claiming that modern medicine is anywhere close to perfect but the "dark ages" medicine was Humorism, blood letting and faith healing. Surgeons didn't start washing their hands before childbirth until the 19th century. It's really weird to look back at the mind-boggling progr…
Imagine the following. Here's the spectrum of medical knowledge: ----------------------------------------- Here's where we were in the dark ages: --|-------------------------------------- Here's where we are now: -------|--------------------------------- Here's where people like to think we are: ------------------|---------------------- In this scenario it seems like what you're saying and what your parent said are b…
> I've suspected for some time that medicine is actually closer to the dark ages than we like to think it is What does that even mean? Nobody's claiming that modern medicine is anywhere close to perfect but the "dark ages" medicine was Humorism, blood letting and faith healing. Surgeons didn't start washing their hands before childbirth until the 19th century. It's really weird to look back at the mind-boggling progr…
Yes, we've made some great leaps and they shouldn't be discounted, but neural-science is still in its infancy. We still don't know the exact mechanism of action of many commonly prescribed psychoactive medications. We know they work because, unlike in the past, we conduct rigorous studies, but we can only theorise as to why the work and why they don't have the same effect in all patients. This has real implications f…
I think we know their mechanism of action, but the grim reality is that they don't work that well at low doses, plus there are a lot of side effects even at low doses. (Because their mechanism is so general. Inhibit this, promote that. But those are all over our body. Plus eventually there are tolerance issues - so doctors switch from time to time. But then they have to fiddle with the dose.)
> I've suspected for some time that medicine is actually closer to the dark ages than we like to think it is What does that even mean? Nobody's claiming that modern medicine is anywhere close to perfect but the "dark ages" medicine was Humorism, blood letting and faith healing. Surgeons didn't start washing their hands before childbirth until the 19th century. It's really weird to look back at the mind-boggling progr…
Imagine the following. Here's the spectrum of medical knowledge: ----------------------------------------- Here's where we were in the dark ages: --|-------------------------------------- Here's where we are now: -------|--------------------------------- Here's where people like to think we are: ------------------|---------------------- In this scenario it seems like what you're saying and what your parent said are b…
You seem to imply/think that there is a finite endpoint to your x-axis. I think that is the _real_ misconception here.
> I've suspected for some time that medicine is actually closer to the dark ages than we like to think it is What does that even mean? Nobody's claiming that modern medicine is anywhere close to perfect but the "dark ages" medicine was Humorism, blood letting and faith healing. Surgeons didn't start washing their hands before childbirth until the 19th century. It's really weird to look back at the mind-boggling progr…
Blood letting is still the treatment for iron overload.
Leaches produce enzyme that prevents blood cloth from forming. It also improves oxygenation. For some wounds, leaches would protect leg or arm from amputation.
Imagine the following. Here's the spectrum of medical knowledge: ----------------------------------------- Here's where we were in the dark ages: --|-------------------------------------- Here's where we are now: -------|--------------------------------- Here's where people like to think we are: ------------------|---------------------- In this scenario it seems like what you're saying and what your parent said are b…
You seem to imply/think that there is a finite endpoint to your x-axis. I think that is the _real_ misconception here.
I think the point is equally well demonstrated if you add an ellipses to the right-hand side of the spectrum.
It seems almost unbelievable that in this day and age we could have missed something like this. In my opinion, it put modern medicine into perspective. I've suspected for some time that medicine is actually closer to the dark ages than we like to think it is, and this report seems like a good validation of that notion.
There are many people who espouse a bright and endless increase of medical power, combined with a utopia-lite for our current state of medical knowledge.
There is a lot in the dark and we should not hesistate to point it out. It would be a lie to paper over the cracks with yet another affirmation about it all being figured out and we can go back to sleep.
It seems almost unbelievable that in this day and age we could have missed something like this. In my opinion, it put modern medicine into perspective. I've suspected for some time that medicine is actually closer to the dark ages than we like to think it is, and this report seems like a good validation of that notion.
One day in the distant future, people will look back at us having treated cancers with radiation & wonder what the hell we were thinking!
I hope they will know that there was some level of science (statistics) behind doing so, and not because someone just thought it might help
It seems almost unbelievable that in this day and age we could have missed something like this. In my opinion, it put modern medicine into perspective. I've suspected for some time that medicine is actually closer to the dark ages than we like to think it is, and this report seems like a good validation of that notion.
> I've suspected for some time that medicine is actually closer to the dark ages than we like to think it is What does that even mean? Nobody's claiming that modern medicine is anywhere close to perfect but the "dark ages" medicine was Humorism, blood letting and faith healing. Surgeons didn't start washing their hands before childbirth until the 19th century. It's really weird to look back at the mind-boggling progr…
On the other hand, just keeping to the observation, we can at least say that countless pathologists and others over a very long period have failed to identify this anatomical entity. In the main it seems that experts see what they expect to see and if it's not in the anatomy book then it doesn't exist. That's not necessarily perjorative. It's how we humans tend to be when observing the world (including ourselves) around us.
> I've suspected for some time that medicine is actually closer to the dark ages than we like to think it is What does that even mean? Nobody's claiming that modern medicine is anywhere close to perfect but the "dark ages" medicine was Humorism, blood letting and faith healing. Surgeons didn't start washing their hands before childbirth until the 19th century. It's really weird to look back at the mind-boggling progr…
Imagine the following. Here's the spectrum of medical knowledge: ----------------------------------------- Here's where we were in the dark ages: --|-------------------------------------- Here's where we are now: -------|--------------------------------- Here's where people like to think we are: ------------------|---------------------- In this scenario it seems like what you're saying and what your parent said are b…
I'd say "medical knowledge" is too broad of a term to define a finite full spectrum in reasonable terms, as it effectively includes every possible interaction of each part of the human body with every type of physical or chemical condition. More reasonable would be to talk about "anatomical knowledge", which is finitely bound to understanding the expected structure/distribution, function of and communication between each part of the human body to a sub-cell level. We're most of the way there on the first facet, but our models of the latter two are still hilariously incomplete at this point.