Bit of interest for you all

OK, I was reading about bacteria, viruses etc last night, dont laugh or pity me its really rather interesting when explained in layman terms. A couple of worrying issues became apparant, mainly that bacteria and viruses ALWAYS WIN in the end and we aint doing alot about it.

We all know about the 'superbug' that is having a laugh at hospitals but this is the tip of a very big, and still growing, ice berg. As well as the existing problems it appears that the HIV virus could be growing resiliant to a mosquito's metabolism, meaning that they will carry the virus!

The big problem with all this is that we are becoming increasingly vunerable to these bacteria and viruses. Its been many, many years since a new antibiotic was developed compared to the many anti-d's that are produced. However the biggest problem is that 70% of all western antibiotics are used in cattle feed . Its likely that most of us meat-eaters have consumed large doseges of antibiotics without knowing it, even organic meat could contain anitbiotics.

I cant help but think that this is just another example of how we are really storing up alot of trouble for the future generations. Sadly, I cant see an answer.

 

basicly humanity is farked. if the microbes don;t get us then we'll kill each other over the last dregs of oil. if neither of those then we'll roast thanks to a missing bit of the atmosphere or choke on out own noxious gasses. maybe the movies have got it right and a meteor or aliens will wipe us out however it;'s almost certain - given mankinds current path that we'll be lucky if the ants aren;t running things in a few thousand years.
this also kind of touches on something that occurred to me during my walk this morning. most animals devote a huge part of their time to energy, food, warmth, etc. and hence survival is the number 1 priority except for a short time when procreation and the rearing of young is top dog. for humans the aquisition of a bmw and widescreen tv is top priority ... not a good survival trait

it's all blair and bushes fault by the way.
cheers


julian.

 

I think it may be quicker than a few thousand years. What a waste of evolution.

 

Julian: I think its marketings fault personally. Unless theres something even more sinister behind Nike and Matel? Thats a scary thought.

T-Bone: Yes its disgusting isn't it, just feeding the animals anti-biotics to help prevent the spread of disease. I think its meant to affect the colour of the end product or something which is why some steak looks pink when it should be a dark red.

 

'We're all doomed Captain Mainwaring.'

Bob

 

Anex, this is one of the issues I feel quite strongly, I am loathe to criticise the food industry and farmers, as they put good food on our plates, but quite frankly, they fill it full of chemical shite.

I believe one of the reasons for meat being bright red is that they don't hang it like they used to for fear of hygiene and all that, people demand?????? this thing we hear from the makers all the time...freshness and perfect looks, and don't want 3 week old meat.

thing is, traditional methods slow growing, hanging, produce tastier, tender meat, and again we are paying the same amount for the cheap stuff and the normal stuff is considered luxury.

Alas, now stuff is fed full of steroids to grow fast, full of anti disease stuff, its all a recipe for poor meat, and we get it.

Have you noticed egg yolks looking pale yellow, no longer deep orange? they are not like they used to be.

 

thats one of the reasons we switched to overpriced organic eggs a long time go, nice fluffy orangey yolks, just like when I was a boy, well worth the extra.

 

No, but I only buy free-range eggs.

I think there's a lot of scary junk in what we eat, as evidenced by the sudan-1 thing (and I suspect that was more dangerous than we were lead to believe, because cigarettes are far more carcinogenic...).

As for storing up trouble... It's a race, it always has been. Once genetic techniques improve enough we may be able to fight disease in a way it can't respond to. Of course, there are those who say such techniques are wrong, but when it comes down to their choice between that or death, I suspect the typical selfish instincts that humankind has will rise.

The idea of HIV spread by mosquitoes is not one that bears thinking about. The likelihood that HIV was a condition created by man in the fight against smallpox also shows that we often don't know what we're dealing with... No doubt genetic modification techniques will carry similar risks.

 

on a similar note i saw in this weeks radio times one of their reviewes state that he was against space exploration as it had no real purpouse. with items like this making up the human race is it any wonder we dine on chemical shite, drink poorly recycled piss and breathe something our great great grandparents wouldn;t recognise as air?

btw. my few thousand year estimate was to allow the ants time to evolve into beings capable of screwing up the remains of the planet we leave for themselves.
cheers


julian.

 

Of course space exploration has no purpose. Neither does particle physics. Or molecular chemistry. In fact, science itself is a sham to keep people like me in a job, because the machines just invent themselves.

 

For obvious reasons the successful virus/microbe is the one that doesn't kill it's host, really nasty ones that kill the host can't spread so well as they quickly have nowhere to go. The past century has been atypical as thanks to antibiotics we have been secure from many diseases. OTOH humanity survived nicely for many 1000's of years before they were discovered and will continue to survive even when the medicines don't work anymore. People will just get used to death and disease being part of daily life again.

The big wars won't be over oil as we can easily do without it but we can't live without water. Some of the old soviet states are already daming rivers for power schemes or to safe guard water supplies for themselves..... then those countries further down river no longer get any. China is pumping vast quanties of it's undergroung fresh water supply up to water the new cities and farms, it will eventually run out.
Luckily I have a well in the back garden and with careful planning when buying, what is now an inland dwelling will be a more valuable seaside property when Global Warming gets going

 

"First world" countries such as the USA and australia have problems with water also. We have our regular hosepipe bans.

Currently there's too many people for earth to sustain I think. Long term perhaps 2-3bn can be sustained (I'm sure there's a few phd theses on the subject), but as it is there are too many.

 

blah blah blah yakkidy shmakidy - water shmater, oil, shmoil,

We will be screwed far far before any crisis hits us! the money ppl will hurt before we do - there will be plenty of watrer and oil left - but the companies responsible for providing it will be priced out of the supply chain - pply with $$$eg(Beckham/owen/rooney (****in girl beater that he is - just liek that wanker gazza - dont get me started)) will be buyin essentials for a couple of years after we have wasted away!

 

Aaaah - but if Beckham, Rooney et al are left, it'll be just like the end of the Hitchiker's guide, all the really useful people (ie, people like us that actually WORK for a living instead of pratting around with a gas-filled orb on astroturf or similar) will all die from a superbug contracted from a dirty hospital...

HiV via mozzies? Now THAT'S worrying - VERY worrying. I always said Nature'd find a way to kill us off before we totally shaft the planet - maybe that'll work quickly enough? Mind you, sunken nuclear warheads on the Russian sub Consomolets (spelling?) will have leaked all their radiation into the sea and killed all living organisms long before that happens. And if that doesn't happen before 2023, we'll have global starvation, so I'd not look too far ahead folks!

 

Whilst HIV would kill many, I would have thought that for some reason there will be people who have a resistance to it for some reason, and thus we evolve.

 

T-bone - there are a few, but very few. And whilst they are resistant to it, they do carry it.

 

i once read a story (by david brin i think) that was based on the theory that humans were actually a composite of millions of viruses that we'd evolved to co-operate with. the central story was about a guy who'd discovered a new virus that we'd almost adapted to which made people more compassionate. this was it's method of spreading, you see compassionate people give blood.....

it's on line...
http://www.davidbrin.com/givingplague1.html

cheers


julian

 

Compassionate people give blood? I give blood, but I'm a cold hearted b*stard!

I've heard of only TWO documented cases of people who are resistant to (but carry) HIV, but there's probably more...

I've often wandered how long the mutation in the genes that causes my Nance-Horan syndrome has been around, as there can't have been that many people who were almost totally blind running around during prehistoric times (I have sight (some!) thanks to a cateracts op).

 

But we all carry trillions of bacteria and viruses and most of us live very happy with the ever present good v evil battle going on in and on us. If there are people immune to it then at least theres hope.

 

Dom - I too only know of two cases... one prostitute in Kenya and one gay man in california. It does suggest that it's an incredibly small %age of the population, but in that case it may be easier to find what gives rise to the immunity.