A German research center has developed a virus that seeks cancer cells and destroys them. Phenomenal!
This is what I don’t understand. Humans are capable of huge feats of problem-solving, right? On May 25, 1961, President John F. Kennedy announced his goal of sending an American to the Moon before the end of the decade. At the time, it seemed impossible. But as creative and ambitious, positive and science-minded Americans, we delivered. We had no answers at all, but we believed in science, hard work, and the infinite possibilities of the human condition. And yet, in these times of even greater potential, we seem negative, and even spiteful of progress and science. We see progress causing problems, and we turn to superstition, instead of solving a whole new host of challenges.
I want to see a leader announce the death of cancer by the end of the decade. Not a near-cure. Not a pretty effective therapy. A complete, quick, easy, inexpensive cure for the most dangerous disease humans face. It doesn’t even seem that far a stretch – not even close to putting a human on another planetoid. We already seem to be making fascinating headway.
I want to see a population of people excited about progress again. Excited about the human spirit. Excited about saving the lives of millions of conscious beings. And, in the meantime, it would also conveniently solve some of our economic problems. It would also teach us new incredible things about human health, what diseases are, and how chemistry can create life as we know it, on this beautiful, lonely, blue marble hurdling through the cold vacuum of space.
