On Cash Cows and Cancer
Blubs of Verbs, Thought Crime Comments Off on On Cash Cows and Cancer
Understanding the spirit of our institutions to aim at the elevation of men, I am opposed to whatever tends to degrade them.-Abraham Lincoln
New ways of tackling Cancer are always being highlighted, -See below- but, there have been no advanced changes in the fight of this disease. One thing that has been identified at contributing to this slowness is the funding process (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/28/health/research/28cancer.html?em ). We think there is something else, we think capitalism wide, there is no real incentive to cure cancer. It’s not a conscious focus, it’s just the situation we’ve worked ourselves to.
Cures, we believe, are one of the true governmental fixable problems. Governments should dive in, collecting the Altruistic focus of us all, and then, finishing, switch gears. A government should decisively work on curing cancer or anything else (like how they fund DARPA – Five years, all the money you like). But the time limit is important. The problem with Cancer now (40 year later since Nixon declared war) is the number of industries dedicated to it and a bureaucracy self interested need to survive. This self interest now prevails, in the funding system- no one wants to fund a bad Grant so the grant system plays it safe, and few “leaps” can be made without risk-, in the Drug dispensing system, in hospitals and so on.
Admittedly the medical business model – for profit healing-; is flawed. It’s not even cancer; seriously, where was the last time we cured something? The capitalist business model for subscription based essential goods (or perceived essential –like internet service) is too compelling, and profitable. Game developers and applications developers do it, Cellphone providers are doing it. These are sure fire cash flow and so are cancer drugs and charities and sponsorships. Entire industries (which have matured for 40 years) now solely exist on the cancer existing. There are numerous charities, charities events, grants, section of the NIH (national Institute of Health) dedicated to cancer. Think of all the men, women, and events that would need to go away, find new jobs or even have to learn an entire new skill if cancer were cured.
Curing cancer is an end to a cash flow stream. It means a couple of treatments, then done, over. No 20 years of drugs and $100,000 medical bills. No need to explore being an Oncologist in Medical college. But if we, as a species, are going to say “There is something more than survival of the fittest, but also the extension of a health species.” We can’t keep figuring costs into keeping our fellow human alive.”
Ok, we are being too cynical. But if we cured cancer to morrow, I believe we’d have to slow roll a cure in over 10 years, so people know it’s coming, wind down. If a miracle cure were delivered tomorrow, shock would hit the medical community; people wouldn’t know what to do with themselves. And you thought the bank collapse of 2008-2009 was interesting.
Promising Cancer technologies: Lasers (directly burning the cancer, Sasers vibrating the cancer, Blocking protein and toxin injections.)
Lasers in Cancer
http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/therapy/lasers
Nano-tech laser kills cancer cells, leaves regular sells intact.
http://news.stanford.edu/news/2005/august10/nanotube-081005.html
Injected Isotopes type Cures or Toxins
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/29/health/research/29drug.html?em
OceansOfThought @ June 29, 2009