Dellusions of grandeur

Science and technologies and zipping along at lighting speed. There is a book titled  something along the lines of "Life at the speed of light". The concept is that if you know the DNA sequence (E.g. a deadly viral outbreak in remote part of the planet), you can either send the samples for sequencing the nearest sequencing facility. The sequence data can be send electronically (satellite communication = at the speed of light) to another facility who will synthelize DNA/RNA eventually proteins to make vaccine against the organism (with emergence of RNA vaccine technology, protein translation could be dispensable).

Genome engineering has become a very accessible technology, where you can edit genomic sequence at will, giving rise to the discussions of designer babies or curing most of genetic diseases. All these are wonderful technologies that will change the world. However, many times the discussions on these technologies and mired in fantasy and fiction and it gives the illusion of complete understanding, and even the ability to fix the biological errors.  The reality is that, we know very little about how life work and how the complexity of the diseases can be tackled.

For example, I know of a number of people with breast cancer. It is a form of cancer where significant developments have happen. The mortality has plummetted a lot and newer treatment regimens are coming forth. Btu still, a large fraction of cancer is treated with combinations of classsic chemotherapy (that can kill pretty much all cells in our body, but cancer cells are more vulnerable) and radiation therapy, that blast the tissue with ionizing radiations. Patients has to go through so much pain (both emotional and physical). Even with all the available tools, it is hard to propose an accurate diagnosis and treatment plans. If the tumor has spread to other organs, then all the bets are off, unfortunately. Cancer is a common example, and famous (notorious) for its difficulties. But it is just the tip of the iceberg. 

Non-life threatening, but very inconvenient conditions are most often not even discussed. It is almost given that if you have conditions like tinnitus or vertigo, you are pretty much your own. The medical science many be able to treat the symptom, but do not completely understand how such conditions develop in the first place and what corrective steps can be taken.

Everyone is trying. Everyday new knowledge is being created. Are we doing the right science? Are we doing something that illuminate things that we previously not known? These are the questions scientists should ask about the tasks they are picking up. If we look back in another 50 years, we would be surprised by the primitive state of the current state of affairs in medical technologies.

(Image courtesy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grandiose_delusions#/media/File:Cat_and_lion_in_mirror_illustration.svg)