Live data from Hacker News

‘ Reprogrammed’ stem cells to be tested in people with Parkinson’s

nature.com

1–10 of 19 posts

Re: ‘Reprogrammed’ stem cells to be tested in people with Parkinson’s

#3
I see a lot of negativity that technology is going to stagnate in the next few years, often out of the "we were supposed to have flying cars by now" vein. But stuff like this makes me feel we may be in for some of the greatest medical revolutions in generations over the next few years.

CRISPR/CAS9, full genome sequencing, stem cells, we're going to start seeing the real results from these over the next decade, and if that means my Mother can have her parkinson's cured, I'm incredibly optimistic about the future.

Re: ‘Reprogrammed’ stem cells to be tested in people with Parkinson’s

#4
post #3

I see a lot of negativity that technology is going to stagnate in the next few years, often out of the "we were supposed to have flying cars by now" vein. But stuff like this makes me feel we may be in for some of the greatest medical revolutions in generations over the next few years. CRISPR/CAS9, full genome sequencing, stem cells, we're going to start seeing the real results from these over the next decade, and if…

I hope so, I think there's some valid arguments that forms of technology have stagnated (flying cars is not one of them). All power to medical progress though!!

Re: ‘Reprogrammed’ stem cells to be tested in people with Parkinson’s

#5
post #3

I see a lot of negativity that technology is going to stagnate in the next few years, often out of the "we were supposed to have flying cars by now" vein. But stuff like this makes me feel we may be in for some of the greatest medical revolutions in generations over the next few years. CRISPR/CAS9, full genome sequencing, stem cells, we're going to start seeing the real results from these over the next decade, and if…

Aside from medicine, technology in general is arguably already "good enough" for most people.

Hopefully we can focus on making social/ethical progress soon as much as we have in technology. There are still many places and practices in the world that someone from the "first world" would have a hard time believing.

Re: ‘Reprogrammed’ stem cells to be tested in people with Parkinson’s

#6
post #3

I see a lot of negativity that technology is going to stagnate in the next few years, often out of the "we were supposed to have flying cars by now" vein. But stuff like this makes me feel we may be in for some of the greatest medical revolutions in generations over the next few years. CRISPR/CAS9, full genome sequencing, stem cells, we're going to start seeing the real results from these over the next decade, and if…

I believe we have had a few efforts at direct cellular level and genetic intervention - things like treating immune cells to teach them to attack cancer cell. These efforts have often been disappointing. And in general, genetic engineering has faced a lot of road blocks.

The problem one faces is one is using debugging-techniques on a lasagna of only "code-like" commands that no resemblance to the code-divisions or processes of human-generated code.

IE, Nearly all "genetic engineering" is cut-and-paste changes hoping that such operations can give one-for-one changes in the attributes of organisms. Sometimes this works but it seems like it have inherent limitations. It seems to me progress will require understanding what the genetic code does and that's going to require different progress than what we have now.

Re: ‘Reprogrammed’ stem cells to be tested in people with Parkinson’s

#7
post #3

I see a lot of negativity that technology is going to stagnate in the next few years, often out of the "we were supposed to have flying cars by now" vein. But stuff like this makes me feel we may be in for some of the greatest medical revolutions in generations over the next few years. CRISPR/CAS9, full genome sequencing, stem cells, we're going to start seeing the real results from these over the next decade, and if…

I believe we have had a few efforts at direct cellular level and genetic intervention - things like treating immune cells to teach them to attack cancer cell. These efforts have often been disappointing. And in general, genetic engineering has faced a lot of road blocks. The problem one faces is one is using debugging-techniques on a lasagna of only "code-like" commands that no resemblance to the code-divisions or pr…

> things like treating immune cells to teach them to attack cancer cell. These efforts have often been disappointing.

I disagree, things like Car-T cell therapy have been some of the most exciting developments in the fight against cancers

Re: ‘Reprogrammed’ stem cells to be tested in people with Parkinson’s

#8
post #3

I see a lot of negativity that technology is going to stagnate in the next few years, often out of the "we were supposed to have flying cars by now" vein. But stuff like this makes me feel we may be in for some of the greatest medical revolutions in generations over the next few years. CRISPR/CAS9, full genome sequencing, stem cells, we're going to start seeing the real results from these over the next decade, and if…

Stagnation is the opposite of our problem. We are innovating at a faster pace that we can manage it : laws, studies, education, ecosystem feedback and the society in general are completly unable to adapt to the tremendous amount of stuff we make up and the rate of it.

It takes time for 7 billions of people to make mistakes and learn, and even more to agree on something.

Meanwhile the things we are creating are more and more powerful, and reach more and more area in our lives.

It's going to be a tricky future.

Re: ‘Reprogrammed’ stem cells to be tested in people with Parkinson’s

#9
post #5
post #3

I see a lot of negativity that technology is going to stagnate in the next few years, often out of the "we were supposed to have flying cars by now" vein. But stuff like this makes me feel we may be in for some of the greatest medical revolutions in generations over the next few years. CRISPR/CAS9, full genome sequencing, stem cells, we're going to start seeing the real results from these over the next decade, and if…

Aside from medicine, technology in general is arguably already "good enough" for most people. Hopefully we can focus on making social/ethical progress soon as much as we have in technology. There are still many places and practices in the world that someone from the "first world" would have a hard time believing.

> Aside from medicine, technology in general is arguably already "good enough" for most people.

That was true in the 1960s as well. People often don't know what they want until it's old hat.

Re: ‘Reprogrammed’ stem cells to be tested in people with Parkinson’s

#10
post #3

I see a lot of negativity that technology is going to stagnate in the next few years, often out of the "we were supposed to have flying cars by now" vein. But stuff like this makes me feel we may be in for some of the greatest medical revolutions in generations over the next few years. CRISPR/CAS9, full genome sequencing, stem cells, we're going to start seeing the real results from these over the next decade, and if…

I used to think like this, until I saw a lab where stem cell research is done. The scientists were carrying around a tray of harvested baby organs.
Post reply on HN