It always feels like some form of VR tech comes out with some sort of fanfare and with a promise it will take over the world, but it never does.

  • _cnt0@sh.itjust.works
    10·
    6 hours ago

    A cure for cancer is a perfect example. Research has been going on for a century and cumulatively amassed 100s of billions of dollars of funding. It has failed constantly to find a cure, but our understanding of the disease, treatment, how to conduct research, and prevention have all massively increased.

    Cancer != cancer. There are hundreds of types of cancer. Many types meant certain death 50 years ago and can be treated and cured now with high reliability. “The” cure for cancer likely doesn’t exist because “the” cancer is not a singular thing, but a categorization for a type of diseases.

    • HubertManne@piefed.socialEnglish
      2·
      3 hours ago

      yeah it is like saying a cure for virus or a cure for bacteria. Its like why we don’t have a cold vaccine and flue ones have to be redone every year.

    • baggachipz@sh.itjust.works
      3·
      4 hours ago

      Thank you for helping educate on this. I live in the best time in history to have the cancer I have. I’ll be able to live a pretty full life with what would have been a steady decline into an immobile death, were this 30 years ago.

    • Ash@piefed.socialEnglish
      4·
      5 hours ago

      Yes of course. There are also many types of quantum computer and applications, multiple types of fusion, and cancers.

    • Tar_Alcaran@sh.itjust.works
      7·
      6 hours ago

      Exactly, a “cure for cancer” is like “stopping accidents”.

      There’s still cancer, and there are still accidents. But on both fields it’s much better to be alive in 2026 than in 1926