[ExI] internet as the biggest advance in medicine ever

[Tomasz Rola]

On Mon, 12 Jul 2010, BillK wrote:

> On 7/12/10, Tomasz Rola wrote:
> > This is rather doubtful, at least for me (even though I am far from
> >  being/becoming/considering a medic). Would you trust opinions on your
> >  profesional subjects from someone who did not have one or two years of
> >  calculus? He could read a lot and with no calculus he would still sit in
> >  the middle of the woods. He could be great practitioner, but without big
> >  enough knowledge equivalent he would not even be able to understand why
> >  this worked in his case and why it may or may not work in some other
> >  cases.
> >

> <snip>
> 
> Medical fraud is a huge business. Just look in your spam mailbox!
> 
> You have a big problem sorting out valid information from the torrent
> of scams, frauds, misleading ads, exaggerated benefits,
> publicity-seeking nutters or people with a book or potions to sell
> you.

Yep, I have to fight so hard every day, to not enlarge my rick (or kick, 
or f1ck, or...). But it helps to remember, if I did it, they would send me 
even more photos of those princesses, and in my country one can only marry 
once at a time. So I don't want to break the hearts of the others and 
because of this I reject enlargement (but gently). Then, they send me 
those financial offers - aha! another trick to make me more manly and put 
me in a situation when I will have to break hearts!

But seriously, I'm afraid medical scam of today will look benign tomorrow. 
Nowadays, there are established institutions that can refute claims made 
by all kinds of false researchers. So all that goes through the fishing 
net is rather small, "enlargement medicine" (there is no law that can 
protect stupid people from believing whatever dream they want come true).

> There are already self-help groups on the internet for specific
> diseases. e.g. cancer, arthritis, old age, etc. where patients discuss
> what might help each other.

I am all for this. But I somewhat doubt that internet and urgent need can 
produce better results than studying and practicing a subject for longer 
time.

Guys finding lithium treatment for ALS were very, very lucky pioneers. And 
as I wrote, they were thinking by themselves, learning and studying by 
themselves. I can drink for them and their continuing good fortune. They 
will need a lot of it, because, as article says, they have tried many 
other means with either nothing or negative outcome.

After some sleep, I have come to my own list of possibly the best medical 
inventions (up to now, at least). In no particular order:

- use of chloroform
- libraries full of books and journals
- the whole line of devices and procedures used for looking and operating 
inside of patient (roentgen, mri, ultrasonograph, arthroscopic surgery)

Internet per se is not on the list, but for me it is just an extension of 
a library. And, as in ancient pre-internet times, people were discussing 
ideas by writing books and articles, now they use internet too. Nothing 
that couldn't be done without it, it is just easier and faster, I think.

Well, ok, there is one thing - robotic surgery via the net (and directly, 
too). Happens more and more often, great idea. But it could be done with 
dedicated cables, too, so again internet simply makes it easier (there 
were TV transmissions across continents in times where computer was 
considered something fancy). But, actually, this is not internet anymore - 
just some "internet 2" thing.

Gene therapy, when it finally starts delivering, will probably easily 
make it to the top.

Regards,
Tomasz Rola

--
** A C programmer asked whether computer had Buddha's nature.      **
** As the answer, master did "rm -rif" on the programmer's home    **
** directory. And then the C programmer became enlightened...      **
**                                                                 **
** Tomasz Rola          mailto:tomasz_rola at bigfoot.com             **