h a l f b a k e r yNot so much a thought experiment as a single neuron misfire.
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Everybody gets diseases from everybody else. People sneeze; they cough; you get a cold. Not very nice, diseases having the molopoly on reproduction. What if cures did too?
So, as you shake hands with Anon E. Mus, you catch a cure! Your gonorrhea: gone!
(OK, here's one way to do part of
it: Tackle diseases caused by bacteria using bacteriophage viruses. Its been done. The Russians experimented for a while way-back-when with the technology with great success, and there's still a clinic continuing the work, but the research was dropped in the west with the advent of antibiotics. Given the emergence of drug-resistant bugs, some advocate picking it up again... But nevermind the practical details of actually implementing the scheme; I want cures for everything, not just bacteria.)
Anyway, so as you picture a world rid of disease, free of malaria, of cataracts, of narcolepsy... just imagine... think of all of the fun carriers of STCs could have!
Vaccinate Thy Neighbor
http://focus.aps.org/story/v12/st23
Study finds that you can stop an epidemic in it's tracks by vaccinating only 20% of the population, if you follow a strategy of vaccinating the acquaintances of a randomly selected sample. It exploits the "Kevin Bacon" effect. [krelnik, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 06 2004]
[link]
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Even if you can spread cures this way, the virii, bacteria and other parasites that cause disease will continue to evolve, so you will never rid the world of disease. We are an ever more abundant food source, so we will always be a viable niche for the things that want to feed off us. |
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... or everyone could wash their hands.. But I like this idea a little better.. + |
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Reminds me of an interesting study reported in a recent issue of Physical Review Letters. See link. |
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Live virus vaccines (like oral polio vaccine) work on this principle - you can vaccinate some folks who then pass on the harmless strain to others. This is why oral polio vaccine is still preferred in the third world. |
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I work in Quality Assurance, and I can see applications for the ideas cited in the link. |
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I can usually tell what the problem is going to be before the project is released to Production, and my philosophy of " round up the usual suspects " saves time and money. I'm correct so often it's scarey.... |
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Centuries from now, historians will think that Kevin Bacon was some sort of god of the internet. |
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