h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Last nite i was sitting having a cigarette and a bottle of stella when in my relaxed state i realised i was killing myself, i then began to scare my self with statistics, 1 in 3 people in britain will contract cancer in there lifetimes, 5300 people die every year in britain from cancer, others victims (i dunno if thats the right word) do not have the same quality of life afterwards, i then wondered if there was ever goin to be a cure for cancer, y'know like a "well mr smith here a course of anti-cancerines, take 3 pills a day over a week before meals and youll feel right as rain after the course".

i then began to think about the war, and how its adding to these deaths and wasting money, bombs can cost anything from $2.000, to $50,000 (or was it $500,000 i forget) guns, ammo, artillary, infantry troops's rations and armour and unfortunately coffins body bags and medical supplies.

then to stop people feel sorry for the people they wanted to kill in the first place so they pay millions to rebuild the citys they destroyed

i am coming to a point dont worry.

then there is billions spent on sending (and losing) unmanned probes to mars, etc.

millions spent on buldings that are used for a few months then shut down (im looking at you millenium dome)

any way them other examples are irrelevant im jus being pedantic, but it seems f**king stupid to me that so much money is wasted on selfish greedy wars, then on cureing what i think is the biggest killer around at the moment (i mean i in 3 people that must mean...excuse me i dont know maths so this is a wild stab 3 in ever 9 people die of this disease in britain) if a little fraction that money the governments waste on world "peace" and the others i mentioned and focused all the minds there wasting on war on this problem we may have a cure by now

now im jus boring yall babbling and going on a tirade, no doubt a bunch of ya will shoot me down with real facts and maths i cant begin to grasp.

ah, do I see the telltale signs of an idealist before me?
You're right, it is fing stupid. And then factor in all those millions of people whose live on this planet leaves much to be desired. Human selfishness and power hunger I'm afraid.
I'd disagree on the space exploration, I think that is something very important since it isn;t just academic, but could provide new resources, new technology (it already has done that) and one day it should also provide new environments for humankind to live in.

indeed i wasnt saying space exploration is a waste of time resourses etc i just mean the botched ones like the recent mars one that aint been found, that was a waste of billions

All right then, just send the successful ones. Dont bother with the botched ones and save all that money!

Donald

hahaha lol very witty, remind me to ue that one myself some time

Actually, the one we lost only cost £60 million IIRC, which is very probably why we lost it. And remember that its much more expensive mothership was (and still is) entirely successful.

When I've seen conversations with this sort of title in the past, they always conclude with human nature. As long as we continue to be human, we will always be jealous of our neighbours, always try to take that little bit more than we are entitled to, and always end up fighting. We ALL do it, no matter how self righteous we think we are. Therefore the huge cost of the military is inevitable. Sadly human evolution has not kept pace with civilisation and technology.

What about the idea of prevention rather than cure? O.k, so smoking isn't the only thing related to cancer (God knows,everything is these days), but improving your own lifestyle, including stopping (better still, not even starting) smoking, can reduce your chances of gettng cancer quite significantly. Improving your diet goes some way towards it as well, as does regular exercise.

Now, I'm not preaching- I'm not the fittest, healthiest person I know by any stretch- nor am I saying you haven't got a point about the wars thing- waste of money and life entirely, but sometimes you just don't have a choice. How can you realistically become a pacifist country when the rest of the world is building up their armouries? You'd be pretty much be lining up to be first on the conquest- list.

So yeah, making a few lifestyle changes such as giving up smoking would reduce your chances of getting cancer (as well of those around you, incidentally) and have the added benefit of adding a couple of coins to your weekly disposable cash supplies (to spend on healthier supplies such as... alcohol and cheeseburgers ).
If EVERYONE (or most people) gave up, less people would get cancer in the first place. This would not remove the problem of treating cancer as smoking is obviously not the solitary cause, but it would free up some resources, the shortage of which are as much a problem as the lack of funds.

As for the Millenium Dome, well we can view that as an example of human achievement- a metaphorical kick up the arse to tell ourselves to pull ourselves together and start thinking things through before blindly putting up buildings that run, at a loss, for a few months and then get shut down...

As for space exploration... the research that goes on in preparation for space missions has actually fast- forwarded a large number of general, every day items (crisp packets are the first that come, incongruously, to the mind), including medicine. In fact, space- based research facilities actually make some research (including chemical and medical) that much easier as you don't have any complications introduced by gravity.

O.k, I've waffled for long enough now

TK[1]

hmm i mean i got no beef with war, just warring untill cancer is cured hmm seemed heartless

i just think its completely pointless to be fighting to tell the truth i dont even know why there is a war on at the moment is it for oil? revenge, or the good fight to end terrorism?

i think i read that in this latest batle in frajajujaja (sp?)
600 rebels have died and 17 of the coalition/allies/our guys w/e have been killed, sounds like a waste of ammunition, why dont we just get all the cash wasted on bombs and get it changed to pennies? then carpet bomb them with the copper coins, then collect the coins back and split it with the iraqis or whatever (shows how in touch i am) half on rebulding there mud huts or w/e and half on the cure for cancer*




this idea is a new twist on a maddox idea check it at www.maddox.xmission.com

nicely put mr sir temporal, as you may have guessed i aint the smartest when it comes to the situation in iraq, (heck as most of you know from my postings i aint the smartest dude, period, in fact im a dumbass) and this whole thread was based upon my toasted musings.


its just something that never has made sense to me, i mean god forbid i ever get cancer, i dont know what id do, and i aint thinking bout this cure for cancer for my own selfish ends i.e im smoking i know ill get cancer i dont want to stop smoking (lie) and i dont want to die so i want a cure for when it happens, but a cure for cancer is a hell of a lot more important then some bloody oils wells or the such..

any how im gonna stop drivvelling on you all now hate me for the penny dig and besides im sposed to be taking this call

I'm not the most knowledgable person when it comes to politics (the driving force behind wars, unless you count religion...), but I do know that it takes two to tango, and whilst that goes for fighting a war, it also is true for /not/ fighting one- you've got to trust everyone else not to attack you before you take the money away from preparing for a war, no matter how honourable your intentions are. And everyone else is thinking the same thing. World peace simply isn't possible while humans are around.

A cure for cancer is more important for the people with cancer. I know that's harsh, but you can see it's true. I know it's important, but a cure for cancer won't help the majority of the country to be able to drive to work, and won't give any country a major economical advantage over another, whereas an oil well will.

I'd like to see a cure for cancer as much as the next person- the thought of getting it terrifies me more than the thought of dying. But there are a hell of a lot of people knowingly increasing their chances (and other people's) of getting cancer. It's a bit like trying to find a cure for being overweight rather than just eating less cheeseburgers. Yes, I know it's not as simple as that, but the sentiment's there.

TK[1]

strangly enough peter pan said death wil be a great adventure, a sentiment i stand by, im more scared of old age, cancer and being alone then dying itself. but i have seen too many people get/die of cancer to be happy knowing that there aint to much of a drive to find a cure it seems these people are more interested in finding out what gives you cancer then what cures it i remeber reading somewhere chip pan fat and burnt toast give you cancer avoid em. mlah

"it seems these people are more interested in finding out what gives you cancer then what cures it"
Well, prevention is said to be better than cure. And perhaps cure is the wrong word anyway, since there is increasing evidence that various of the cancers (eg. lung cancer) have a genetic component. If you don;t have the faulty gene(s) you are far, far less likely to get that cancer (some reports suggest you wont get it at all).
Hence trying to understand it.

hmm i heard that too, but then i dont particularly want to believe that all the men in my family have the cancer gene. hmm i shoulda just left cancer outta this and ranted bout the pointless-ness of war

Surely prevention's better than cure? And anyway, the drive to find out the causes is a large part of the need for a cure. You can't just accidentally tip the contents of two test tubes together and expect there to be a magic cure when the smoke disappears. You need to research the condition, to understand why it does what it does before you can stop it doing it, and part of doing that is finding the causes cause.

Yep burnt toast and chip fat can increase your chances, but eating fruit can help tip the balance the other way(tomatoes are especially effective at reducing the risk of testicular cancer, I understand). Generally, anything involving free radicals that can interact with certain cells and cause them to grow out of control (a tumor) is carcinogenous, and antioxidants (such as those found in fresh fruit and veg) reduce your risk by providing the free radicals something to react with other than one of your body's cells. Runaway tumor growth can also be kick-started by high- energy particles, such as those available when exposed to radiation.

My point is there are a lot of possible causes, but also certain measures you can take to reduce the risk (which also, coincidentally, contribute to generally better health anyway).

The trick with a cure is finding a way to halt and reverse this out of control cell division- at the moment the most effective method is cutting it out. Radiation therapy can kill the cells and stop them reproducing. Both these methods are fairly inexact and difficult to perform 100% effectively. There is research happening, but most of it is funded by charity. I agree that there should be greater government funding, but you can argue that case with other things such as HIV and AIDS- the truth is there are a lot of things battling for funding, and many of them are just as important as any other.

TK[1]

"You can't just accidentally tip the contents of two test tubes together and expect there to be a magic cure when the smoke disappears."

What? Next thing you'll be telling us that all those weird shaped glass bottles and smoking funky coloured liquids aren;t needed!

case closed

glad to know my nads should be fine i eat nothing but tomatoes

acctually could some one explain to me what the current war is about?

Good question. Are we even officially 'at war' at the moment?

TK[1]

hmmm suppose they could be names petty skirmishes

The War in Iraq was officially over about a year ago, the War on Terror is presumably ongoing as is the War on Drugs. The War in Iran seems set to be the next one, but the jury's still out as to whether something nasty will happen in the Middle East.

Terribly depressing.