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Heh, "cure" is a forbidden word for pharmaceutical companies. They don't want to "cure" anything--or else they would not be able to keep you on their patented and trademarked drugs for the long term. They want you to remain alive, but sick and of poor health, so they can keep selling you medications that "mask" the symptoms you're having.

- Cure an ailment... no further medications or treatments required. This means no more money for the pharmaceutical companies. Excellent for the sufferer, though; they may be able to return to good health, no longer need to blow money on expensive prescription drugs, and just be happier and feel better in general.
- Hide the root cause of disease and require treatments and medications to keep their symptoms at bay and to feel even remotely normal... the victim (of the disease, and of the companies...) is now double-f*cked, while the pharmaceutical companies are laughing all the way to the bank. Gotta love capitalism! Hey, I'm sure Steve did--look at all the $$$ that guy made. Add the nasty side effects synthetic chemicals tend to have on humans (and other animals and even plants, for that matter), and really, you're triple-f*cked.

I was semi-shocked for about five seconds when I read this, but not really. Why else would he step down? It was obvious Steve and Apple were hiding something, and it was obvious that his health was declining. I was actually expecting it. I can't stand Apple as a company though; their walled garden nature, their stupid-looking shiny white bare and curved product designs, and their over-rated and over-priced portable devices. I'm hoping this means Apple will dwindle as a company once again, and change their selfish ways. As it is, they're a bunch of selfish, arrogant pricks, and I'm getting sick of hearing about their iCrap and their ridiculous lawsuits against other companies.

Edited 2011-10-06 07:46 UTC

The man is a limited creature, my friend.

Cancer will be never be cured completely, sad but true.

Cancer is basically when your own cells start to attack your own body, thereby completely ignored by your own immune system.

Those rogue cells can be created at any time, but some products can increase the chance of the creation of such cells (chemicals, radiation, cigarettes).

But even without those products, there is chance that your body makes a mistake and creates cancer cells, and that chance only increases when we get older.

Cancer is part of life, and it's nature's way to make sure that everything that lives, will eventually die...

I hope you're wrong about that. Unfortunately, the future is not much brighter than it was 20 years ago.



This isn't entirely true. Take it from someone who has survived cancer; my immune system went batshit-crazy throughout the ordeal. One of the ways my oncologist measured the status of treatment was my white blood cell count.



I don't disagree with you about external accelerators, but let's face it: Cancer has been around since complex living beings first started roaming the earth. We will be dealing with it for as long as humans exist. Not to mention, pretty much any animal is susceptible.



I wouldn't be surprised if the "cure" for cancer also turned out to greatly increase longevity.



Well if we never died physically I'm pretty sure our minds would eventually go insane. I think the current average lifespan is a bit shorter than it should be though; many people (like Jobs, though age had little to do with his death) die at the pinnacle of their achievements, and so many times you hear the sentiment "I hope I live long enough to ________ ".

Then again, the longer we live (especially if we remain virile in later years) the more overpopulated the planet becomes. It's a precarious balance and I fear we are tipping the scales in a negative direction. Of course, the last thing I want to see is a morally bankrupt solution like eugenics, forced sterilization, artificial limits on childbearing, and so on. I just hope we can find a way to sustain the human race while simultaneously finding ways to live longer and healthier lives.

I think it's way too early to make that kind of prediction. There are a lot of new therapies which are adding years to peoples' lives that didn't exist a decade ago. More people are surviving breast and prostate cancer than ever before. Little by little, every advance counts.

Big ups to Mr Jobs. My sympathy too goes out to his loved ones. It is too young! A quick remark though re: 'no progress on cancer' - I've lost some very dear relatives to cancer including some really nasty ones, mesothelioma and pancreatic cancer too, so understand the shear frustration many suffer. I've also worked in cancer research and can assure you an awful lot of very dedicated people have worked long hard hours to understand the (wide wide) variety of cancers and possible therapies - and this may dishearten some, but the truth is, there will rarely be any 'cures' for any cancer types, just better therapies.. ..though there will be those! It's not a 'disease', ..it's when the very very complicated machines that our bodies are aren't quite working perfectly ..it's just part of life ..and death I'm afraid. sorry to get sciencey there. RIP!

Today, I've had a course on a very promising way to burn tumors that is already in the testing stages. Don't know if it was voluntary.

Edited 2011-10-06 13:19 UTC

I agree with you about anger over it, but the unfortunate truth is that cancer as a whole can never be completely eradicated. Cancer is a mutation of cells, and you cannot stop mutations. Some mutations are beneficial (how else does evolution work), but most are harmful, and those are cancers. It's possible to treat, and maybe even cure a cancer on an individual, but it will never be possible to have a blanket cure or prevention. Sad, but true.

But you can theoretically alter the rate of mutation and its malignant effects.