I have cancer, but thanks to modern medicine, in terms of health it may be no big deal. The surgeon will use a scalpel to remove a thin layer of tissue from the floor of the mouth along with a tiny bit of the connection to the tongue. Then a laser will cauterize it, minimizing bleeding, killing microorganisms that stray from my mouth into the wound, and sealing off nerve endings, reducing soreness. The surgeon has asked me several times not refer to this as a "slice & sear". Since the odds are the cancer is encapsulated, they will send me home with pain killers and antibiotics and after a week or two that will probably be that.
But it takes a truckload of advanced technology to make this no big deal. Before anesthesia was first invented in the 19th century, the shock and pain of the operation might have killed me (assuming a pre-anesthesia dentist or doctor could have diagnosed the problem at this early a stage). Today's anesthetics have much lower odds of killing me that ether would have. Similarly, large scale commercial production of antibiotics was an early 20th century invention. Lasers only became useful for medical procedures beyond eye surgery in the late 20th century.
People like Derrick Jensen who want to eliminate technology want to let me, along with billions of other people, die. Since extreme anti-tech sentiment is small but with an intense following it is worth engaging a bit.
Xposted from Grist:
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