Science is good for some things but I don't see much applicability when I'm visiting a hospital room of a terminally ill person.
84 comments
You would be visiting a lot more terminally ill people without Science
go back to the 4 humors,leeches and bloodletting you dick
Hey, if I'm terminal, I want the best science can offer, even if it's just to offer me a peaceful death.
What? There's no science in the drugs used to ease their pain or prolong their life, or the medical texts their doctor used to diagnose them, or the equipment used to monitor them, or the sterilization techniques used to prevent infections, or the nutritional information on the hospital's cafeteria menu, or the building materials used to construct their room, or the cleaning supplies used to keep it tidy, or the transport you used to get to the hospital? No science at all?
Well, then we've all been wasting a ton of money on R&D for the last, say... several hundred years.
Yeah, what the hell, they're gonna croak anyway, fucm. I only have one question. Can I have their car?
But seriously, folks, at my age I've got more interest in science than spirituality. Think; morphine drip.
No, you probably think prayer is more useful in that situation. My dad just died in the hospital of terminal cancer, and I have this to say to you: Fuck you! Science kept him from suffering unendurable pain for the last several days of his life. I am very grateful that 'science' was there for him. Somebody had come around offering to pray for him, I probably would have thrown them out on their ass.
@davros
Heh, when I first read you comment I read "you" as "your" in your second sentence...
As you can imagine I cringed quite a bit at that!
I see his point. Science can't offer the false hope of a pain-free immortal life. It doesn't offer the cruel deception of another life after your life has ended. No magical absolution from those things we regret.
The heart monitor thingy that goes beep, the plastic tubing that connects the oxygen tank to the patient's nostril, the hypoallergenic mattress, the bed, the stethoscopes, the nursing staff, the specialists, the technicians, the little rubber wheels on the bed, the tiles on the floor, the antiseptics used to sterilize the room, the hospital the room is in, the management system to run the hospital, etc. etc. etc.
What are you, a moron or something?
My best friend was terminally ill from age 7, but managed to hang on until she was 34, and even give birth to a healthy son.
Need any more "applicability?".
Look at how many more cancer survivors we have today as opposed to twenty years ago.
I take it then that this terminally ill patient was lying on the ground, in a cave, wrapped in animal skins, while a Shaman rattled bones and muttered incantations over them?
Science is the reason there are so many illnesses that were formally terminal, we now no longer worrry about
Moreover, you don't see much in a person being able to make that last act of life, dying, with dignity and without pain or distress? You'd rather people died in agony and mental anguish?
You really don't want or need a computer, TV, mobile phone, landline, air travel, fast and comfortable trains, ships with engines rather than sails...?
Are you retarded? Can't you see the benefits science has brought us all?
Pathetic.
Well you see, I dunno about you, but perhaps if I am terminally ill, I may give permission for medical research done on me before and/or after death. This might eventually help lead to a cure to the disease in question. Or perhaps lend my body to a body farm for forensics research or think of some other scientific testing to be done such as donating my organs to save another person's life?
@Xotan
Even ships with sails use science.
Err let me explain better. Wind is a force pushing against the sails moving the boat? Yes, our ancestors used science, despite using cruder methods, but this led to use using better methods.
Edit: Ugh my wording :(
No applicability in a hospital room eh?
No ventilators, cardiac monitors, IVs, medications, scientifically trained medical staff...? No applicability at all?
Hhhhmmm... either the world's stupidest person or a poe.
Davros, Leeches are actually quite useful, when placed properly they can for example be used to save a finger. As they suck blood, they suck the blood through the finger trying to be saved, partly maintaining some circulation giving the finger a chance to heal up enough so it doesnt need to be cut off.
Aside from prolonging their life, making their final days more comfortable, preventing the condition from erupting in other individuals if at all possible, and potentially finding a cure, of course.
Oh, and the heart monitors, the O2 sats, the ventilator, the IV...
Don't forget the pain and anti-emetic medications that help ease their suffering, not to mention the electric controls on the bed that allow them to be adjusted into a comfortable position and the television, which can provide some entertainment if they're still able to watch... the phone upon which they can call their loved ones...
But yeah, other than that, science is totally useless, dude.
You're expecting too much, too soon. The good news is, science and the medical field are continually improving. Trust me, you don't want to go back to the days when it sucked. Nor do you want the world to scrap it altogether and pray over illnesses instead. There's a good reason why trying it yourself is generally discouraged by sane people.
You're right. In fact, the next time you visit a terminally ill patient, ensure that you tell the nurse on staff that you didn't wash your hands, because that "germ" thingy, it's not applicable.
"Science is good for some things"
All things*
"but I don't see much applicability when I'm visiting a hospital room of a terminally ill person."
Disregard that I suck cocks*
"Science is good for some things"
All things*
"but I don't see much applicability when I'm visiting a hospital room of a terminally ill person."
Disregard that I suck cocks*
this on Pharyngula?
PZ Myers wouldn't consider this fuckwit worth crossing the road to piss on if he was on fire.
In the midst of life, we are in death.
Thanks to science women dying of childbirth is rather rare nowadays, while only a hundred years ago each childbirth was a definite risk of dying for women.
Also thanks to science smallpox is all but extinct. But as people are now feeling safe and not being vaccinated at the same rate anymore, it might come back.
Thanks to science I can read this text without being less than one inch from the screen, as I am very short sighted. Not to mention there'd be no computers or internet without science.
Edit. And thanks to science I can change my spelling errors without starting fresh from the beginning of the page, as the ancient monks had to do when copying the Bible, by hand.
science keeps terminally ill people from suffering too badly physically during their last days. Pretty good applicability there.
Also, there are a lot fewer terminally ill people around because of science, and science is getting better and better at treating stuff that would have been terminal and incurable before, And even the terminal cases are living longer on average. All because of science.
Disregarding the obvious advances in medicine seen in the room, what about the central heating, the air cleaning systems, the mecanical bed, the clothing, the electricity? Are they all of no importance?
You'd rather see your friend in a mudhut, screaming in pain, with eyes watering from the smoke of the oil lamp, with boils and blisters on his back from untreated bedsores, freezing or bathing in sweat?
Yeah, and I don't see much applicability to religion either...
and last I checked science is what you study to find cures?
uh mr. clark, I know where in the hospital you can find the applicability of science.
how about THE ENTIRE FUCKING HOSPITAL
Medical science can make the last days of the terminally ill person pain-free and calm. Medical science has probably kept her or him alive much longer than s/he would have lived without science.
Millions of people are spared the terminally ill phase, just because of science. If it wasn't for science, a ruptured appendix would be a certain death sentence, like it was before we could safely operate on the abdomen.
If there were no science, there would be no hospitals.
>> when I'm visiting a hospital room of a terminally ill person. <<
I hope to Koresh, if and when I'm in that spot, that none of these asshats comes in to "visit" me.
Confused?
So were we! You can find all of this, and more, on Fundies Say the Darndest Things!
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