Internet MD

One thing we can count on is that our world is always changing. We wouldn’t even recognize our own home town if we saw a picture of it a hundred years ago. Back then people somehow found a way to live without computers, cell phones or Blackberries. We cannot imagine what it would be like to communicate solely by letter sent through the U.S. Mail and wait at least 30 days to receive it to find out what was happening with our friends and relatives a few states away. Now, of course, we can email them in the far corners of the world and they get the message in seconds.

Looking back just twenty years, technology was a whole different animal than it is now. The last two decades have seen tremendous strides in technological advancements. Remember cassette players? They were replaced by CD’s and then mp3 players. Televisions that used to be considered big screen at 28″ and weighing in at 50 plus pounds have morphed into high definition screens of 50″ or more and weigh less than 30 pounds. It is obvious that the world is changing as I write this.

We often think of technological advancement in terms of all the electronics that are around us to entertain and educate us. But there have also been huge advancements in medicine in the last couple of decades. Scientists are learning new things about diseases and searching for treatments every day. Scientists with funding from both private and public sources have made tremendous advances in the health care field.

We know far more about infectious diseases such as AIDS and more about diseases of the central nervous system such as ADHD and Alzheimer’s disease. There are still diseases in the world where medical knowledge is severely limited even more where no cure has been found. There are so many different types of diseases, infections and abnormalities affecting people around the world, it is very probable that we will never know all there is to know about what they are and how to treat them. We do know, though, that science is always evolving and someday, medicine will catch up to many of these unknown and/or untreatable afflictions.

For those diagnosed with cancer, AIDS or Alzheimer’s disease it is certainly important that we continue researching and working to improve medicine and searching for cures. Every year millions of Americans die suffering from infections or diseases, many well before they should have. That means that families across the United States suffer the loss of relatives or loved ones because there wasn’t a sufficient cure for their diagnosis.

There’s no doubt about it that companies like Sony and Verizon are investing millions of dollars each year in researching new technology so they have the newest and best product available on the market. Smart phones and high definition TVs have certainly been evolving at an incredible rate. It is amazing to live in a time where we have the technology to send emails from our phones or see something live on TV happening a thousand miles away. With all this booming technology we ought to be able to find a cure for things like HIV/AIDS and Alzheimer’s disease.

You have probably been at the checkout counter of a major department store and been asked if you would like to donate a dollar to cancer research or Jerry’s kids, or some such charity whose goal is to help fund medical research. You will hear many no’s or not today’s from customers in line in front of you. Just think, though, if they did donate that dollar and if you did the same and everybody in line followed suit, perhaps the astonishing breakthroughs that have taken place in the technical gadget market would occur in the medical research field as well and we could all keep our loved ones longer.