5 replies to this topic

[Matt]

Iv'e heard tons of reponse to the recent breakthroughs in korea and the UK and one thing that I have noticed is the story starts off brilliantly and then right when peoples hopes are built up you get certain scientists or bioethicist making a comment on the breakthrough.

Common responses at the end of reports

" But this treatment has a long long way to go and wont be available for the next decade or two "

Response from a scientist pro life guy on bbc news this morning "This does not advance the field much and we are still a long way from seeing medical treatment from these breakthroughs" - Then he goes on about it will lead to cloning humans etc etc ...

Its just very common for articles, reports and other things to come out of science and then downplayed hugely by saying the treatments are decades away or have very conservative time frames.

Does this help and motivate the science to move faster?
Are people just being realistic when they say these stem cell treatments are decades away?

I read many breakthroughs everyday and they always end with a lot of skeptisism, pessimism... or whatever you call it [mellow]

[kevin]

Matt,

It was mentioned that scientists didn't think they would be at this point this quickly, and it is just as certain that things aren't going to slow down because a few deathist and pessimists say it.

Pessimism is just a way of tempering undeserved enthusiasm. Rest assured, when in a few months time they demonstrate increasing ability to direct stem cell differentiation we will hear the same moaning, but the difference is people will be spending money to go where the treatments are. When they come back home and are healthier as a result, no amount of 'well maybe this won't or shouldn't be done' type of talk will be able to prevent the tide of people who want to live from pursuing it.

People are sleepwalking.. hypnotized as Aubrey might say, but they are starting to snap out of it.

[wraith]

I'm generally quite the pessimist, but for some reason I have a feeling that the pace of science in Asia is going to outstrip all expectations, at least with respect to biotechnology. Why? Because they don't seem to have the same ethical barriers. Is this good or bad? I don't know. I does worry me that we (the US) may lose our technological hegemony.

And I think what kevin says is true - "When they come back home and are healthier as a result, no amount of 'well maybe this won't or shouldn't be done' type of talk will be able to prevent the tide of people who want to live from pursuing it."

[Jay the Avenger]

" But this treatment has a long long way to go and wont be available for the next decade or two "

http://news.yahoo.co...e_me/stem_cells :

"I didn't think they would be at this stage for decades, let alone within a year," said Dr. Gerald Schatten of the University of Pittsburgh.

[Matt]

Heres a few words from a leading stem cell researcher in south korea.

SEOUL, South Korea - A leading stem cell researcher said Friday it will be years - and maybe decades - before recent breakthroughs by his team of scientists will benefit humans, but he expressed high hopes that they'll eventually help people with incurable diseases.

http://www.comcast.n.../20/137131.html

Maybe they are so used to having many of their projects fail or being part of a process that is painful slow, they just are not very good at predicting when their work will benifit humans. But as some technologists point out, we are accelerating the pace of progress so we will see these breakthroughs happen much quicker and frequent than most people anticipate.

[Jay the Avenger]

You are right about that Matt. People like giving themselves a little breathing room so they keep their predictions conservative.

I've seen a doctor once make the mistake of predicting that his revolutionary Hair Multiplication would be done and in use in 2000. It hasn't happened, and everybody got pissed at him.

It's just standard researcher-talk that they feed the masses in order to not get their hopes up, and take risks in doing so.