by Tdarcos » Fri Feb 25, 2022 10:27 am
odyssia76 wrote: Thu Jan 20, 2022 3:10 pm
The real truth is that we have no idea why some people get these diseases and some don't. All we know is that smokers are more *likely* to get cancer and obese people are more *likely* to get diabetes.
Ma'am, "we" do know "why", we just don't know "how." There are a small number of people who have the gene that makes them either immune to any cancer or not susceptible to lung cancer. The rest of us do not have this gene. Or possibly the inverse, they do not have the gene for succeptibilty to cancer while the rest of us do. There are a very small number of people who can use heroin, get high, and if they stop, they don't suffer withdrawal. They either have a gene that makes them not succeptible to withdrawal or do not have the gene that has it.
Until recently - as in maybe 10-5,000 years ago - almost everyone became lactose intolerant as an adult. The common consumption of milk by adults eventually caused most of us to stop receiving the gene that causes lactose intolerance.
Syphilis used to be a horrible disease, causing pus-filled sores and killing within
weeks of infection. Over time, both man and the disease mutated. We became more resistant (and developed antibiotics) and syphilis became less virulent. Now, it's possible for someone to carry syphilis for a lifetime and not even notice, except that they are a carrier and will spread it to anyone with whom they have unprotected sex or share hypodermic needles.
This change is a normal course, every entity wants to survive, and a parasite that is stupid enough to kill the host fails, as it dies with the host. "Smarter" as in having better chances to survive and multiply, either become more benign or even symbiotic with the host. The bacteria in your gut that digest your food for you are an example of a very successful organism. Not only do we feed them, but we survive long enough to reproduce and transmit them to our offspring. We both need each other to live.
odyssia76 wrote: Thu Jan 20, 2022 3:10 pm
Neither diabetes nor obesity is a choice, though, so being judgy about them is ignorant.
My obesity led to my wearing out my knees, which put me in a wheelchair. The near universal practice I have seen is people are usually very kind to a handicapped person. They'll get things off a high shelf in a store, they'll pull stuff out for me if I can't reach, and in one case, I wanted to purchase a soda at a store, but it was an old one with a step at the entrance. I asked one of the customers to tell the shopkeeper I wanted to buy a soda and would he come out once he finished, to help me, and they did, and then when he had no more customers, he came out.
Nobody even thinks to blame a cripple for being that way. I realize the vast majority of people have empathy and will help an obviously handicapped person, probably on the order of thinking "there but for the grace of god go I."
[quote=odyssia76 post_id=126513 time=1642716656 user_id=2729]
The real truth is that we have no idea why some people get these diseases and some don't. All we know is that smokers are more *likely* to get cancer and obese people are more *likely* to get diabetes.[/quote]
Ma'am, "we" do know "why", we just don't know "how." There are a small number of people who have the gene that makes them either immune to any cancer or not susceptible to lung cancer. The rest of us do not have this gene. Or possibly the inverse, they do not have the gene for succeptibilty to cancer while the rest of us do. There are a very small number of people who can use heroin, get high, and if they stop, they don't suffer withdrawal. They either have a gene that makes them not succeptible to withdrawal or do not have the gene that has it.
Until recently - as in maybe 10-5,000 years ago - almost everyone became lactose intolerant as an adult. The common consumption of milk by adults eventually caused most of us to stop receiving the gene that causes lactose intolerance.
Syphilis used to be a horrible disease, causing pus-filled sores and killing within [i]weeks[/i] of infection. Over time, both man and the disease mutated. We became more resistant (and developed antibiotics) and syphilis became less virulent. Now, it's possible for someone to carry syphilis for a lifetime and not even notice, except that they are a carrier and will spread it to anyone with whom they have unprotected sex or share hypodermic needles.
This change is a normal course, every entity wants to survive, and a parasite that is stupid enough to kill the host fails, as it dies with the host. "Smarter" as in having better chances to survive and multiply, either become more benign or even symbiotic with the host. The bacteria in your gut that digest your food for you are an example of a very successful organism. Not only do we feed them, but we survive long enough to reproduce and transmit them to our offspring. We both need each other to live.
[quote=odyssia76 post_id=126513 time=1642716656 user_id=2729]
Neither diabetes nor obesity is a choice, though, so being judgy about them is ignorant.[/quote]
My obesity led to my wearing out my knees, which put me in a wheelchair. The near universal practice I have seen is people are usually very kind to a handicapped person. They'll get things off a high shelf in a store, they'll pull stuff out for me if I can't reach, and in one case, I wanted to purchase a soda at a store, but it was an old one with a step at the entrance. I asked one of the customers to tell the shopkeeper I wanted to buy a soda and would he come out once he finished, to help me, and they did, and then when he had no more customers, he came out.
Nobody even thinks to blame a cripple for being that way. I realize the vast majority of people have empathy and will help an obviously handicapped person, probably on the order of thinking "there but for the grace of god go I."