Will curing disease be the end of mankind?

[stacked566]

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]

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....

[MuscleScience]

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]

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.