The Momentum of Modern Medicine
Mankind’s Most Powerful Ally Throughout History
The history of medical traditions stretches back thousands of years as it was observed in some of humanity’s earliest civilizations such as Egypt, India, China, and even Babylon. Let’s not forget about the cradle of western culture, Greece, where the Hippocratic Oath was created all the way back in the 5th century BCE! We have always been locked in a biological arms race with foreign invaders such as bacteria and viruses but we have also wrestled with our own genetic demons: cognitive and physical deficiencies that we have inherited by no fault of our own. Yet, medicine’s most powerful attribute might be something that has no basis in chemistry or biology but rather…psychology.
The Placebo Effect: Puzzling yet Powerful
Mind Field is a Youtube series created by Micheal Stevens (better known to the world by his Youtube account, Vsauce) and with over 14 million subscribers, Micheal has dissected and explored various mathematical principles, scientific topics, and many more educational concepts.
Why am I talking about Vsauce? One episode, in particular, explores a research study he participated in facilitating where children were given a treatment that essentially acted as a placebo.
They were told that the MRI machine and the watch (which the researchers pretended were real and functioning) would cure their various illnesses. The children’s issues varied from chronic migraines to ADHD.
Across the board, the cutting-edge research seemed to indicate that all of them improved, with some being “cured” altogether simply due to their faith in modern medicine.
The first hour explores this episode and includes Michael having a conversation with the head researcher of the project: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0cakXwiZ8s
Holy crap, right?
Religion and Science: Two Peas in a Pod?
This made me wonder about the connection between this powerful psychological idea, the Placebo effect and the recorded accounts of people being healed miraculously in religious contexts.
Pretty please (with sugar on top) do not have a religious war in the comments. This isn’t about which religion is real and yada yada. This is about the role science has adapted in modern society…to many people, the power of science has replaced religion in their minds.
A man in a lab coat (or woman) holding a clipboard seems to instill the same hope people had in priests 500 years ago in modern-day society and the results of this research study strongly indicates this to be true (as I learned in my experience, one should also be hesitant to use to the “p-word” and no, get your mind out of the gutter! I am talking about the word, “prove”).
The Implications for the Future
As medicine, technology, and science advances ever faster and ever further, we need to think about the role morality and research will play in society.
Is it ethical, for example, to lie and manipulate children into believing in fake medical procedures if it inevitably leads to their health improving?
What would happen if further research shows that giving sugar pills can help people without all of those nasty side effects?
Will doctors, scientists, and researchers usurp the role that priests and religious leaders have had in human society for the past thousands of years?
Has scientific advancement already replace the hope and faith people once had in ancient relics and mythological deities?
Most importantly, can this powerful position in society be abused all the same?
Whether you wear a crucifix or a lab coat, all of these questions were bubbling in my confused cauldron of a brain as I watched this documentary, my eyes glued to the screen and my attention transfixed in awe by the truely amazing power and untapped potential of our own minds.
Final Words
There isn’t too much more I can say other than this…
In the throes of history, I can’t help but be excited by the prospect that we have only scratched the surface of modern medicine and by the time my joints ache, my hair is falling out and I am screaming at the local children to get off my lawn (half senile and already on the precipice of death’s door) we will look back at the cutting-edge research that is taking place right under our noses and see how truly far we have come since I was the optimistic, young sap who is excitedly rambling to you now.
I am not going to sit here and pretend that I have the answers to all of these questions.
I just wanted a chance to scream into this bottomless chasm, this endless void that we call the internet and ask the handful of people taking the time to finish my post…what do you think?
