XENOBOTS, YAY OR NEY? My response to the ecoTrain QOTW
Have you ever watched the series Outlander, or one of those movies around the 1700-1800s that show you how medicine used to be practiced? Looking back on it now some of it looks barbaric, and half the time they get the diagnosis completely wrong. A shining example would be the practice of Trepanning, that is drilling holes into someone’s skull. They thought that their medical problems were due to evil or bad spirits! Or Blood-letting, which was based on the idea that sickness was merely the result of a little bad blood. Or how about the use of Mercury! Mercury is notorious for its toxic properties, but it was once used as a common elixir and topical medicine. The ancient Persians and Greeks considered it a useful ointment, and second-century Chinese alchemists prized liquid mercury, or “quicksilver,” and red mercury sulfide for their supposed ability to increase lifespan and vitality.
I could go on of course, but it is pretty clear that we have come a long way since then, and the last 300 years have brought incredible advancements in medicine, diagnostic tools (the MRI scanner is as a game changer today, just as the Stethoscope was in the 1800's. In the last 100 years we have discovered entirely new fields of science such as genetic engineering, gene therapy, antibiotics etc. Doctors today would blow someone’s mind if they went back in time to the 1800's with their knowledge and tools.
The favourite medicine of choice these days for common illnesses is antibiotics. Whatever bug or disease you have, there’s usually an antibiotic you can take to treat it if its a bacterial infection. Unfortunately, the efficiency of antibiotic use is declining quite worryingly, with bacteria able to evolve 1000;s of times faster than we can, they have already evolved natural resistance to many antibiotics. There are some infections that are out of control and can almost not be treated today, with MRSA(a serious skin infection AKA Nosocomial Infection), prevalent in most hospitals around the world. At this time, there is only ONE antibiotic left that can treat MRSA bacteria, and its just a matter of time before that one becomes useless.
What is very surprising for some people to learn is that, even today, modern medicine has virtually nothing to offer for many viral infections, including the most common virus of all, the Flu virus. There are some options today for prevention vaccines but they are only effective in around 70%-80% of cases, and there are MANY viruses that have no vaccine for them. When you go to a doctor with a virus, they may well end up just prescribing you antibiotics just in case and mainly to make you feel better that you got some medicine. Modern medicine could surely use some better options for Viral issues... unless of course you practice Natural Medicine, in which case there is a whole range of options available to help your boost your immune response. Your body is the best thing we have to fight viruses, and so keeping it in balance and strong can be enough to ward of any illness.
Where Do We Go From Here?
There are some emerging technologies that could help save the day, at least in theory. I say this because when we bring in new technologies and ideas we should always be cautious and look at all the knock on effect of using it. I was just reading @trucklife-family 's post on this QOTW, and she brings up an important point. We shouldn’t use technology to allow us to act mindlessly and without care for ourselves and the world. Xenobots are one example of an emerging technology that could be used in a multitude of ways to benefit our health and even the health of the seas and the air and the earth. They could be released and clean up pollution, degrade plastics naturally, clean up your arteries into pristine condition, heal huge wounds in one tenth the time it takes normally with a Xenobot plaster. The mind boggles at the number of ways they can be used.
A Word Of Caution
The caution that we need to heed is that we don't end up eating horrific diets, because the Xenobots will keep us healthy. We shouldn’t use Xenobots as an excuse to keep dumping toxic waste into the sea, we shouldn’t get lazy, or disconnected from our humanity. WE must work with the flow of nature and her systems and be a part of them. We should not go rogue!
This point is especially important when you bring in a few other emerging technologies. Artificial intelligence combined with Quantum computing are going to be incredible technologies that quite literally shape our future over the next 300 years. It is hard to know today just how far these technologies will take us, but I have a feeling that people in the year 2300 will looks back at our Medicine today in just the same way as we do today looking back at the 1800's. They wont need scalpels in 2300, or human surgeons.. stitches will be obsolete, there will be no more pills.. drugs will administered and targeted by Xenobots.
What Quantum computing and AI can do is to let medicine evolve to another level, one that can only be reached with incredible computing power. Quantum computers will be able to design new drugs that can combat anything, targeted to exactly the bacteria, virus, or cell that you want. In theory Quantum computing could allow new drugs to be created to give you superhuman intelligence, strength and indeed immunity. There is also plenty of scope for the designer drug market to take people to new heights so to speak! I can not even imagine what kind of drugs the kids will make using this technology!
A.I. As A Force For Good
A.I. and Quantum computing can be integrated with what we call smart phones today. These devices will have so many sensors and intimate details on you, from what you ate, where you went, who you met and came into contact with, every thing you said and saw, etc. This data is immense and enough to take diagnosis to the next level. And imagine if all that personal data was combined together in one database? This would let an A.I. driven Quantum computer to be able to even predict just about any disease or outbreak way before we even know anything was happening.
We have barely begun this journey into the future, especially in the field of Medicinal Science. We have a long way to go, and i embrace using new ideas that have such great potential. Sure, there are risks, but mainly in how they are used rather than the technology itself. I hope we grow and evolve as a culture and a race just as quickly as our science does. It is good to see that today our way of thinking and relating to this world and ourselves is changing, and i would say even rapidly!
This post was in response to the ecoTrain QOTW
LIVING Robots are here, they're called Xenobots and it's Unbelievable. Discover what they are and tell us if this excites you or terrifies you?
Isn't it interesting how some of the most important advancements in science and technology are rarely discussed or shared with the general public. Instead we seem oh so preoccupied with more mundane things, like the Corona Virus for example. So on this weeks QOTW we will discuss a topic that could herald the cure to all viruses and illness, and oh so much more. Instead of worrying about the problems, lets talk about some solutions, and if you think it is OK to make new kinds of lifeforms that can serve us in ways that today we can hardly even imagine! Before I post the questions I would like to share with you exactly what these Xenobots are and how they are made!
Did you know that scientists have recently created a completely new form of life? Tiny robots called Xenobots have been designed using advanced supercomputer power and just a few skin and heart cells from a frog. It might not sound like much right now, but let me explain what these Xenobots are... the implications of this new line of science are quite staggering when you start thinking about it!
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I delved into the Xonobots and Quantum Computing field a few years ago, and it's quite fascinating.
This right here is the biggest issue or concern. Will those with the power use it for their own benefit, or will it be for the benefit of humanity as a whole. Unfortunately, historically, humans have succumbed to power and greed, rather than being humanitarian.
Thanks for the throwback 😊
!CTP
Whoa! I had no idea. But, although not as dramatically, if you listen to nutritionists nowadays, they change their theories every few years, sometimes to the opposite of what they were saying before.
I would absolutely agree, most of humanity back at that time still believed in witches and with this knowledge they would have easily marked you as an evil soul that has to be liberated...
Fantastic post! What is surprising is that there are a large number of natural antibiotics that work far better than those from Big Pharma and they are cheap and have no side effects!!!
I wonder if the Xenobots will be miniature versions of the robot from Lost in Space. The perfect robotic companion. :)
Using mercury as medicine is absurd we know today. I guess nobody noticed people dropping dead from the treatment.