Will curing disease be the end of mankind?

**Flagg** · 01-29-2008, 05:06 PM

Recently i'd done a stand up argument and written an essay on the negatives of Vivisection for college. And it got me thinking.....what will happen when one day, we can cure anything and everything with Medical Science? Sounds quite rosy but it got me thinking it wont be. The population will go through the roof and barring accidents and murders, people will only die of old age. I can see billions upon billions of people living in squalor as we try to find yet more space to home everyone. Then destroying more land to feed everyone through intensive farming, destroying more land to build homes... it's going to be shit and I reckon this future will only be about a hundered years away.

**MuscleScience** · 01-29-2008, 05:18 PM

According to some sociologist the world populations will start to level out around 9.5 billion. If you plot out similar species population growth trends you see a sigmoidal growth curve. Eventually though demand will outstrip resources, when this happens with other species the population crashes tremendously. If you ever have to do another presentation on that look up a term called carrying capacity. It is an environmental ecology term used to describe how much a particular environment can sustain healthy populations before the populations outstrips resources.

**Pooks** · 01-29-2008, 05:23 PM

Why would we die of old age?
We'll cure old age long before we cure all other diseases

**Lexed** · 01-29-2008, 05:41 PM

Originally Posted by Pooks

Why would we die of old age?
We'll cure old age long before we cure all other diseases

i agree people are always trying to beat the time clock

**Flagg** · 01-29-2008, 05:55 PM

Originally Posted by MuscleScience

According to some sociologist the world populations will start to level out around 9.5 billion. If you plot out similar species population growth trends you see a sigmoidal growth curve. Eventually though demand will outstrip resources, when this happens with other species the population crashes tremendously. If you ever have to do another presentation on that look up a term called carrying capacity. It is an environmental ecology term used to describe how much a particular environment can sustain healthy populations before the populations outstrips resources.

Sounds interesting, i'll be studying Environmental Science later this year so i'll give that a read.

And Pooks, doesnt that still worry you? This quest for perfection and immortality we're striving to become. We are literally walking ticking time bombs.

**Pooks** · 01-29-2008, 05:59 PM

Originally Posted by Flagg

Sounds interesting, i'll be studying Environmental Science later this year so i'll give that a read.

And Pooks, doesnt that still worry you? This quest for perfection and immortality we're striving to become. We are literally walking ticking time bombs.

Maybe it will require getting some sort of state-sponsored license, and a waiting list before you could have a kid... (wait till someone gets killed in a duel or crime-related death penalty or something)

but other than that, I see no probs with living forever and living well forever LOL hehe

**Tock** · 01-29-2008, 09:41 PM

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soylent_Green
A little bit of Soylent Green every day will solve every problem

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c25tTzGJmcs

**sooners04** · 01-29-2008, 10:39 PM

The world is not that over populated YET. If you put every person in the U.S. in the state of Texas, it would be less crowded than New York City. There is plenty of room here in the U.S. China on the other hand might be a problem. There is always new diseases coming out, remember in the late 70's early 80's nobody heard of HIV. Now its a household name.

**JuicedUpCanuk** · 01-29-2008, 10:40 PM

The worlds population now is allmost to much to handle , one day soon the worlds gona wipe her self clean of the parasite that is called human kind .

**xlxBigSexyxlx** · 01-29-2008, 10:53 PM

its these damn illegals

thats gonna be the end to mankind

**stacked566** · 01-29-2008, 11:28 PM

Originally Posted by MuscleScience

According to some sociologist the world populations will start to level out around 9.5 billion. If you plot out similar species population growth trends you see a sigmoidal growth curve. Eventually though demand will outstrip resources, when this happens with other species the population crashes tremendously. If you ever have to do another presentation on that look up a term called carrying capacity. It is an environmental ecology term used to describe how much a particular environment can sustain healthy populations before the populations outstrips resources.

This is only true if there is competition for resources, or too many of the same species trying to fill the same ecological niche. It will never happen because it's not even the fact that we have disease that limits human growth populations. It is that our cells do one of two things (can't prove one way or the other at this point. 1. Our cells have a finite time in which they can replicate, once cessation has occured, we cannot recover from insults to the immune system (which happens everyday), vascular injury (happens everyday on a microvascular level), etc etc. Or, DNA breaks down after so many years of translation and transcription, causing less proteins to be synthesized for structure and life necessary functions. You could take a person, with the best genetics, and place them in a bubble. Feed them exact nutrients their entire life, and they'll still die before 100years old 9 times out of 10. There will be no ecological crisis.

As a side note, there are some disease we will never find cures for HIV, metastizing cancer, the common cold, etc etc.

**qualityclrk1** · 01-29-2008, 11:34 PM

Originally Posted by stacked566

This is only true if there is competition for resources, or too many of the same species trying to fill the same ecological niche. It will never happen because it's not even the fact that we have disease that limits human growth populations. It is that our cells do one of two things (can't prove one way or the other at this point. 1. Our cells have a finite time in which they can replicate, once cessation has occured, we cannot recover from insults to the immune system (which happens everyday), vascular injury (happens everyday on a microvascular level), etc etc. Or, DNA breaks down after so many years of translation and transcription, causing less proteins to be synthesized for structure and life necessary functions. You could take a person, with the best genetics, and place them in a bubble. Feed them exact nutrients their entire life, and they'll still die before 100years old 9 times out of 10. There will be no ecological crisis.

As a side note, there are some disease we will never find cures for HIV, metastizing cancer, the common cold, etc etc.

whats make you believe we'll never figure out a way to cure HIV or the cold...they said the same thing about polio....

**Voice of Reason** · 01-29-2008, 11:41 PM

Every species has their era next in line is the insects. Then after they had their time, I could only think a recycle towards one celled organisms then the dinosaurs etc. etc ... its the cycle of life on Earth.

No need to think about it tho unless your into finding the ballpark date this will happen, but we got plenty of time before insects take over...
No worries, be satisfied...

**domeyeahaigh** · 01-29-2008, 11:59 PM

wow..that made me really think...but... i notice that a lot of medicines have bad sad effects...it seems like you cover one thing up with anothing thing that is covering something else up..i try to stay as natural as possible..

**MuscleScience** · 01-30-2008, 12:10 AM

Originally Posted by stacked566

This is only true if there is competition for resources, or too many of the same species trying to fill the same ecological niche. It will never happen because it's not even the fact that we have disease that limits human growth populations. It is that our cells do one of two things (can't prove one way or the other at this point. 1. Our cells have a finite time in which they can replicate, once cessation has occured, we cannot recover from insults to the immune system (which happens everyday), vascular injury (happens everyday on a microvascular level), etc etc. Or, DNA breaks down after so many years of translation and transcription, causing less proteins to be synthesized for structure and life necessary functions. You could take a person, with the best genetics, and place them in a bubble. Feed them exact nutrients their entire life, and they'll still die before 100years old 9 times out of 10. There will be no ecological crisis.

As a side note, there are some disease we will never find cures for HIV, metastizing cancer, the common cold, etc etc.

We are competing for resources: food, energy, materials ect.

I dont follow your logic that this concept of finite life span of cells is not proven. Most cells have a programmed cell death when chromosomal telemeres decrease in lenght at a certain point. Cancer cells are the only know immortal cells that can avoid this.

**Flagg** · 01-30-2008, 03:31 AM

Originally Posted by stacked566

This is only true if there is competition for resources, or too many of the same species trying to fill the same ecological niche. It will never happen because it's not even the fact that we have disease that limits human growth populations. It is that our cells do one of two things (can't prove one way or the other at this point. 1. Our cells have a finite time in which they can replicate, once cessation has occured, we cannot recover from insults to the immune system (which happens everyday), vascular injury (happens everyday on a microvascular level), etc etc. Or, DNA breaks down after so many years of translation and transcription, causing less proteins to be synthesized for structure and life necessary functions. You could take a person, with the best genetics, and place them in a bubble. Feed them exact nutrients their entire life, and they'll still die before 100years old 9 times out of 10. There will be no ecological crisis.

As a side note, there are some disease we will never find cures for HIV, metastizing cancer, the common cold, etc etc.

I wouldn't be so sure on that, Stem Cell research is truly a revolutionary breakthrough. Stem Cells are like blank slates, and will keep growing indefinitely until they are specialised to do something. Potetionally they could be grown into entire organs.

Tock: I've heard of Soylent Green, it's quite a frightening look at the future.

Voice of Reason: There is some truth in that, organisms do seem to go through life cycles, I don't think insects will be next in line to be dominant, it will probably be reptiles or sea life again. If diseases or epidemics wont be the end of us, then a huge mass extinction will, like an Ice Age or simultaeneous volcanoe eruptions. Check out a series called "The Future is Wild"...it looks at what life on earth could be like in millions of years time.

**Kärnfysikern** · 01-30-2008, 10:59 AM

The richer a population becomes the less kids gets born. If everyone on earth gets rich enough that all disease can be wiped out I dont think overpopulation will be much of a issue.

The only resource humanity realy needs is energy, if we have energy we can produce everything else. Produce fertilizers, grow crops, build anything ect. There is no real limit to the energy available from nuclear power and renewables. The challange is to expand those energy source in a quick enough pace.