Posted by clint878 on November 6, 2006, at 20:27:49
In reply to Re: wait a second? » linkadge, posted by Squiggles on November 6, 2006, at 15:56:00
Someone used the word "irreversible" when referring to such things as cognitive damage caused by bipolar disorder, or lithium toxicity, or so forth.
I wouldn't give up hope in this case, no matter how bad your mother seems. The reason is that the definition of "irreversible" changes over time. For example, fifty years ago, there was little hope when someone lost a limb. Now, we reconnect the nerves to a prosthetic and people actually regain their sense of touch.
Probably within ten years, there will be treatments developed to not only restore cognitive function in impaired people, but also to improve it above "normal" levels in ordinary people. In forty years, my guess is that people will look back at the smartest people today and think they were horribly dumb.
There are some who say that all we need to do is stay alive until the next advance, and then again to the next advance, and so on, until you live forever. Regardless of how realistic that is, there is likely to be significant progress in dealing with presently "irreversible" damage.
poster:clint878
thread:699922
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20061104/msgs/701067.html