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by melling 3590 days ago
You're giving me anecdotal information that spans over 20-30 years? Yeah, I'm optimistic that by 2050, we'll be much better off. In the meantime, 7-10 million worldwide will die every year from cancer. We're racing to get self-driving cars to save a lot fewer people.
2 comments
karmajunkie 3590 days ago
Its more than anecdotal information. In the last few years 11 new treatments have been approved for stage III and IV cancers that are immune-mediated, which includes melanoma, one of the fastest growing (in terms of incidence) as well as most aggressive cancers.

But the real truth is that cancer isn't a single disease. Treatments move slowly because its a host of different diseases which all exhibit the same symptoms of unrestrained growth and cellular immortality. So yeah, a lot of people are going to die of a lot of different diseases. "Curing cancer" isn't going to happen, because "cancer" isn't one single (or even a few) things to cure.

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melling 3590 days ago
'cancer isn't a single disease ". That's covered in the video, and it well-known by everyone? The immunotherapy drugs are in the video too. There were certainly a few successes but it sounds like we have a bit of work. It's one of the cancer moonshot projects:

http://www.cancermoonshot2020.org

Do you have to survival rates for the various cancers. That's the benchmark, right?

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karmajunkie 3590 days ago
I don't know if I think survival rates are the best metric for judging progress here. The ones I'm most familiar with are melanoma's, but those are also a factor of many things besides treatment options. The only thing I can think of that its a good metric for is 'people not dying'.

I also don't know if 'cancer isn't a single disease' IS well known by everyone. In this crowd perhaps, but certainly not the population at-large.

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mhurron 3590 days ago
> I'm optimistic that by 2050, we'll be much better off. In the meantime, 7-10 million worldwide will die every year from cancer

That's sort of how progress and improvements work, they benefit those that come later.

> We're racing to get self-driving cars to save a lot fewer people

And those people working on cars are probably don't have the skills or drive to deal with medical research. That not everyone on the planet is working on what you believe they should be means nothing.

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melling 3590 days ago
No one said people should switch jobs. You are filling in the wrong blanks. Thinking outside the box doesn't come easy for you?
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mhurron 3590 days ago
And what other meaning does "We're racing to get self-driving cars to save a lot fewer people" have in this context?
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melling 3590 days ago
Many people are excited that self-driving cars could potentially save a million lives a year, which will be an incredible achievement.

We need that sort of excitement and effort for cancer research. Eventually 40% of Americans will get cancer, for example:

http://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/understanding/statistics

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