Counter battery fire!
Sandcasters: Weapons Free!
Mark Cook quips:
>As for the rest of the argument, I (of course) agreee with you.
>Convincing Scott is another matter all together.
Of course... :-P V!
To which Eric S. adds:
> Scott, of course, is the TML equivalent of a pitbull with lockjaw.
Smilie when you say that, son. :-) V!
> I think the bottom line of this discussion, is that it's Mike's world
> and he is going to do what he damn well pleases.
As I already said to Mike, this is true.
> My proposal would be contolled growth of normal tissue by the person
> requiring the organ/appendage. It requires knowing how cells reproduce
> and differentiate, and controlling this. However, with our current
> understanding of tumor cells, this should be within the next 50 years.
> Give the patient a shot, he grows an arm, no chance of rejection, and
> it's his, same architecture as the original. Ditto for internal organs.
That's true. And would work for non vital organs. But remember, we're
talking about how to do it as cheaply as possible. Now, if I read Mike's
planet correctly, replacing NON-vital organs would be quite a luxury.
You don't NEED a leg to survive. You don't need BOTH kidneys to survive.
If you can do without said organ, you're just gonna lose it on Pallique
and hobble through life known from now on as "Peg".
(Margret is probably a common name there... :-)
Well, the only time they ARE gonna give you that surgery would then be
when it IS that single vital organ that's got the cancer. Correct? But
you don't run around for long with no liver even if one *IS* starting to
grow. In such cases you are gonna either need to pull an organ out
of someone, or pull it out of a vat, or go on (expensive) life support
equipment until such time as your own liver can handle it's appointed
task.
Thus, I think your solution is not the cheapest given the circumstances
given in Metlay's ground rules for the world. Homegrown stuff is just
not gonna be an option. If you need it, you'll need it faster than
you can grow it And if you don't need it.... As John Lennon said in
_Help!_ while brandishing a saw, "You haven't used that finger in the
last hour!"
> However, talk of organ replacement is kind of silly for problems like
> hepatitis or cancer. Medicine at TL14 is working at the cellular level to
> repair problems before they happen.
As Mike said early on, Pallique's TL is not 14 in regard to medicine.
That's one of the things you have to swallow to get this world to work.
- --
Scott 2G Kellogg
Too much talk
And not enough action
Do you know anybody gettin' satisfaction?
Everybody's wondrin' `bout the crowd's reaction
And the world gets better by a VERY small fraction... -- Paul Revere