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ChristianKl comments on Brainstorming new senses - Less Wrong Discussion

28 Post author: lululu 20 May 2015 07:53PM

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Comment author: ChristianKl 21 May 2015 02:03:02PM 3 points [-]

I want to detect cell growths of the type that could become cancerous and so on.

That's useful information to have but I would be fine with a device that gives me that information and displays the information to me.

There's little additional value from getting the information as a sense.

Comment author: lululu 25 May 2015 06:34:51AM 1 point [-]

Also note that most pre-cancerous and even post-cancerous cells are dealt with easily by the immune system. Its a very small minority of cancer cells that escape, you would end up just driving yourself crazy by sensing/noticing each one. This is why they aren't recommending mammograms, pap smears, or prostate exams as much or for as wide an age range as they used to, for young and healthy immune systems, treatment has worse outcomes than just letting the body do its thing.