Ready, Set

Aging is a biologic mechanism, not a natural consequence of time. It is programmed into cells and may have not always have been so. Scientists have recently identified a billion-year-old mechanism that appears to regulate aging in mice and other animals - perhaps even humans. Now this begs the question, why did such mechanisms, why did aging, evolve? Put another way what is the evolutionary advantage to aging and death?

Evolution is based on random genetic mutation and survival of the fittest.The system would favor limiting lifespan so as to make way for subsequent generations as a way to promote genetic adaptation to changing environments. Aging and death then would favor survival of the species as a whole.

But what if a species could learn to manipulate its own genetic apparatus so as insure adaptation perhaps in ways 'nature' could never concoct. What purpose aging then? Good question since this is our fate.

It is highly likely we will learn how to stop or reverse aging. We already know that blocking key steps in the aging mechanism in both animal and human studies reduces the incident of age related illnesses - diabetes, certain cancers, osteoporosis, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, heart muscle degeneration, and macular degeneration. It is likely then that 'curing' the aging process will result in better health, energy, and outlook making living longer pleasurable, providing a 'physical' youth and a brain elastic, energized and receptive to experience tempered only by what we do to each other and the boundless human capacity for self harm.

There probably is no good reason not to extend life and 'cure' the aging process. Here's the thing - this is likely to occur in your or your children's lifetime.

Are you ready?

Doctors All

They wear 19th century costumes, saturate and separate themselves with tradition and noble intent
Drawn to a profession of costume, false prestige and rewards for having a good memory
many lack an intuitive sense of people - a wisdom if you will
I find many of them two dimensional and entirely too level headed
lacking in depth and just as judgmental
They confuse good memory for intelligence and as in many professions reward the ability to dazzle and dance and all that attracts rather than skill and inherent ability
And then there are the few
Those precious few, stunning in their ways, their talents and keenness of mind
Those that possess what can never be taught - those that can make all the difference
Those that I strive to be like
Taken as a whole they do the very best they can
Without them many of you would be lost
Despite their shortcomings, perhaps because of them when taken in context of what they can collectively accomplish
I am oh so glad to know them
Doctors all

No Where To Go But Up

People have been underestimating me my entire life.
Makes for fine ambushing.

The Future of You

Over the next few decades our intelligence will become increasingly non-biological and trillions of times more powerful than it is today. We will witness the dawning of a new civilization that will enable us to transcend our biological limitations and amplify our creativity.
An analysis of the history of technology shows that technological change is exponential, contrary to the common sense "intuitive linear" view. So we won't experience 100 years of progress in the 21st century -- it will be more like 20,000 years of progress (at today's rate).  Within a few decades, machine intelligence will surpass human intelligence; leading to technological change so rapid and profound it represents a rupture in the fabric of human history. The implications include the merger of biological and non-biological intelligence, immortal software-based humans with ultra-high levels of intelligence that will reside within the fabric of space-time itself.
(As paraphrased from unknown author)

An Utter Failure

The last of the US troops have left Iraq.
What they left is an Iraq heavily infiltrated by Iranians, with inadequate protection for those that helped us that we left behind, with deeply divided religious factions hostile to each other, in a backdrop of rampant unemployment, poverty, and a lack of life's basic necessities.
What they have left behind is a ticking time bomb.
When it blows those on the right will point to the ensuing fiasco as justification for staying indefinitely, and an indictment of Obama for having left - instead of what it is - the final last proof that the entire invasion was a mistake and ultimately, an utter failure.

Stay Tuned

Last night the last of the US troops left Iraq.
Over 100,000 lives lost, a million displaced from their homes, at a cost of over a trillion dollars.
Tell me again what we accomplished?
A free Iraq?
A more prosperous Iraq?
A safer world?

10000 years of brutality

Imagine a world where European explorers coming to the Americas were the sort of people who sought out the indigenous peoples and asked them what these lands were called.

A Two Party Mirage

Judging by the quality of the candidates the republican leadership has put in place in the run for president I'm not at all sure they care if Obama wins or loses.
What does that say as to how the republican agenda has fared these last four years?
What does that say about Obama?

Bureaucracy and you

 "Any fool can make a rule, and any fool will mind it"...Henry David Thoreau 

In our lifetimes

There is coming a day where we will possess the knowledge to manipulate genetic machinery in each and every individual cell in our bodies.
As a result aging will be halted if not reversed - no doubt - as aging is in fact a process - a programmed biologic process that can be halted, even reversed.
There is coming a day when in-vivo regeneration of diseased and/or injured organs will be commonplace.
A day when all disease will be cured or at the least halted and cells repaired.
And so there is coming a day where we can expect to live on average 800-1000 years - a life expectancy  based on the odds of suffering a devastating accident.
This is not science fiction. Not wishful thinking. This according to most scientists is fact.
And it very well may occur in your lifetime.
Your lifetime.
Are you ready?

Intensive care: Do no harm

Published: Saturday, December 10, 2011, 11:17 AM

By Guest Columnist Charlie Phillips

Three of 10 males and 2.7 of 10 females will suffer a critical illness before age 65. As our baby-boomers come of age this then represents a paradigm shift in health care delivery in this country. We expect to see huge numbers entering intensive care units in the next two decades, something as a physician specializing in critical illness gives me great pause. It does so not just because of the strain it will place on our resources but the focus it puts on the limitations of critical care medicine itself. Unrealistic expectations as to our ability to heal abound both within the medical community and in the public at large. I see the potential for a lot of unnecessary human suffering, as well as wasted resources, due in large part to these expectations and our approach to critical illness in general.

There is no conquering of disease in critical illness, although many have trouble grasping that - caregivers and the public alike. About the best we can do is promote health - allow the body time to heal itself - and even that we do poorly. Critical illness is in large part an iatrogenic disorder - almost everything we do causing complication and at least some degree of harm in these very fragile patients. This should give pause and insight into the crudeness of our tools and humble - deeply humble. Unfortunately it only too often, does not. Despite persistently abysmal outcomes and the degree of human suffering our interventions cause to all involved - many in medicine and the public at large find a way to remain impressed with the machines, the drugs, the approach to illness - with themselves and their ability to control, to alter, to do. But whether our interventions are influenced by ego or 'kindness' it simply cannot be forgotten that everything we do - everything - has the potential to harm.

Until the day arrives where our tools match the complexity of human pathophysiology and can actually heal we simply must remember how crude our tools and our ability to heal really are. We must always remember we possess the ability to prolong the dying process and to increase human suffering unnecessarily. We are not here to conquer disease, conquer pain, conquer suffering - we are here to - with humility and respect for our limitations - promote health and limit harm. We should do so aggressively and with all our effort when appropriate. But we should also always know there will be times where that will not be enough and to recognize when it is time to stop.

Charlie Phillips lives in Southwest Portland.

Primum non nocere

3 of ten males and 2.7 of ten females will suffer a critical illness before age 65. As our baby-boomers come of age this then represents a paradigm shift in health care delivery in this country. We expect to see huge numbers entering intensive care units in the next two decades, something as a physician specializing in critical illness gives me great pause. It does so not just because of the strain it will place on our resources but the focus it puts on the limitations of critical care medicine itself.

There is no conquering of disease in critical illness. About the best we can do is promote health - allow the body time to heal itself - and even that we do poorly. Critical illness is in large part an iatrogenic disorder - almost everything we do causing complication and at least some degree of harm in these very fragile patients. This should give pause and insight into the crudeness of our tools and humble - deeply humble.

Until the day arrives where our tools match the complexity of human pathophysiology and can actually heal we simply must remember how crude our tools and our ability to heal really are.  We must always remember we possess the ability to cause harm, to prolong suffering and the dying process. We are not here to conquer disease, conquer pain, conquer suffering - we are here - with humility and respect for our limitations - to promote health and limit harm. We should do so with all our effort when appropriate. But we should also always know there will be times where that will not be enough and to recognize when it is time to stop.