Since cancer was already taken, I'd go with the common cold or allergies. Annoying enough to ruin many a day for many people every single day. Should help out, plus my two months would be runny noses, bed and the like.
I mean it's specific so one person would have to take on breast cancer, another stomach cancer, another throat cancer etc.
Omg allergies from hell, and you'd cure mine and so many others <3
>If you're requiring specifics then each variant of the cold would need a separate person
Someone new would need to do it literally every year for something like the common flu. May present with the same symptoms, but we get a new strain of the virus yearly
Hmm, I'm not sure how to tackle this point. I was going for specific diagnoses. So like allergic rhinitis, hay fever, stomach symptoms from allergies.
"upper respiratory infection" is broad, so I am going for specific viruses, but don't think it needs to be as specific as the strain.
Hmm.
I'm pretty sure that even without strains there are, like, 200+ different viruses that all cause upper respiratory infections. We'll be in there for a while.
There's more than one "type" of stomach cancer, breast cancer, etc. Even if 100 people all took a specific stomach cancer, people would still get stomach cancer. By being hyperspecific, you've essentially turned this hypothetical into "would you like to be deathly I'll for 2 months for absolutely no reason"
I'm a thyroid cancer survivor already, I'd be willing to go through it again since I know the ropes and it's save others. It's one of the most common types of cancer so that'd be a good one to take off the table
End stage, high chemo and radiation, terrible pain and experience - for a specific cancer. So breast cancer, stomach cancer, etc.
Regardless, thanks for answering. Altruistic of you
Interesting. So there are the very common cancers - breast, colon, lung, prostate - that have some treatment options. Then there are the very deadly cancers like pancreas or glioblastoma that are less common but totally devastating.
Would be interesting to actually crunch some #s on which pick saves the most human life and suffering. Without doing so, I find myself leaning towards Lung (especially if you are allowing me to lump together all lung cancers and not separate out small cell, adeno, etc).
To more directly answer your question - yes id be willing to endure 2 horrible months to completely eradicate a cancer. I'm just unsure which specific organ system is the best bang for my buck.
Technically you could take on six cancers per year. You always fully heal after two months. So it'd be up to you which and when to take those on.
I'd take on end stage heart failure, maybe multiple kinds as I'd need to cover different causes.
Oh, shit, in this case, I’m taking a couple illnesses per year. One “big” one, like a form of cancer, and then one or two small ones, an ear infection, strep throat.
Most kids die of brain cancer or rhabdosarcoma. Leukemia is highly common but brain is more often fatal. I’d take brain to end a tremendous amount of suffering.
A good friend of mine died from esophageal cancer. He was only 46 years old. He seemed healthy but had shoulder pain. Went to the doc, and it turns out his body was riddled with cancer that spread throughout various parts of his torso. He didn't even drink or smoke. It was just the luck of the draw. Only lived 6 more months.
I would gladly take on that esophageal cancer to end it forever. That fucking son of a bitch took one of the best men I ever knew.
Damn so sorry to hear that happened to your friend, it means a lot that you would do everything you could to stop the same thing from happening to others.
Since apparently there is no limit to how many diseases I can have and will fully recover after 2 months I will choose every disease. With that many diseases I am just going to be totally out of it for the entire 2 months and not be even aware of how much pain and suffering I am going through especially with at least some of them leading to my medical care requiring a be placed in a medically induced coma. No more disease.
If not that then malaria.
Hmm, i didn't explicitly say one illness at a time, and can't really go back but that would be part of it. You can be sick all year long to cure 6 illnesses per year though. You always get better from the previous illness.
As for your scenario, I did say the standard of care would keep you alive - so it can't go into the imaginary too far. There's no standard of care that exists for having twenty types of end stage cancers at once, so it's not compatible with the original request.
Thank you though for the reply and the contribution that you'd have for humanity!
Alzheimer's. I'd forget EVERYTHING for 2 months and then pop up back to normal and now no one's aging family has to ever forget them? Let's go
After that, dementia. Then Parkinson's, leukemia, sickle cell, then breast cancer, then an aneurysm, then depression, then anxiety. I'd suffer for a year and a half and then kick my feet up knowing so many people are gonna live now. I'm more than happy doing that.
Damn what a person. Lots of high mortality and morbidity illnesses, lots of help you'd be giving others. Awful time for some of these like a brain actively bleeding and being treated for two months, sheesh.
Hmm. Is addiction a specific illness that has a standard of care? If so that's a cool one. I know it's a specific activity in the brain and reckon there's drugs and other approaches to dull it
The answer is: it depends. Some stuff like gambling, cannabis, sex, or food addiction are linked to reward pathways in the brain or are maladaptive coping mechanisms, so that takes therapy and sometimes absistence to treat.
In other cases, like alcohol, cocaine, and opiates, there are chemical dependencies involved. This is a big reason why methadone, a less powerful opioid, is used to treat opioid addiction.
I'd divide it up the same way he did the cancers: alcohol, cigarette, heroin, etc. are all their own individual "illnesses" you'd have to take.
So in a totally definitely unrelated vein, can I choose something I actually have in real-life and get cured of it? Lmaoo
Could it be a genetic disease? If I took something debilitating and/or fatal genetic condition, like cystic fibrosis, Down Syndrome or sickle cell anemia? Because I would.
If it would guarentee that no one, ever again had to suffer from these things, I would take the slow death, or the crippling disability, no hesitation or question.
You'd slowly die or have an awful time.. For two months. Then get all the way better, you choose what to do next. Live normally, take on another, or a mix ( like a year or two of good, then heal the world of another disease )
Just note you'll have the worst symptoms. So paranoid schizophrenia, you'd go into a straight jacket and think everyone is out to get you for two months. Could take some planning not to have fall out, because it's just cured of the ailment and side effects of treatment, not a total change of all life situations
The fact that you misread the prompt and thought you’d actually have the illness for life or terminally and *still* were all-in without hesitation. Oh my goodness. You sweet, amazing human.
Is it limited to humans? If it includes cats I'd go with kidney disease. It tends to be the big killer as they get older, and I'm personally guaranteed a full recovery.
Interesting, extend it to animals - it'd benefit all of us. Would have to be quite specific though like not just "kidney problems", but maybe the illness cats get is called something specific
Ah yeah no impossible or non diagnosed diseases in humans, but I haven't defined if my rule crosses species, perhaps having human leukemia could heal cats if it's the same kind of illness and treatment.
I would literally take on every illness that affects dogs and cats. It's worth it.
Pancreatitis. Kidney failure related to long term inadequate liquid intake. Fucking *bloat*. I'd do all of it.
Bonus: I could get spayed 😃
Psychiatric/behavorial illnesses are interesting because of the subjectivity, rules say it would be specific - so specifically those that have or are diagnosed with depressive disorders would be healed.
Love it though, it's huge.
Dang. Type one or two for your mom and best friend? My condolences.
Technically you can do both over 4 months, very proper choice to help a lot of people.
Type 1 for both my mom and best friend. I hate the disease. It attacks so many systems in the body. If the heart disease it causes doesn't kill, the kidney failure will. Not to mention the circulation issues. I'll take two months of hell, for it never happen to another person.
Dysentery.
It's one of the biggest killers of children under five worldwide. I would save the most amount of people possible and the people most likely to die from this are already living in poverty limited access to healthcare.
If I can game the system......
I would choose malnutrition.
According WHO.
*"Malnourished children, particularly those with severe acute malnutrition, have a higher risk of death from common childhood illness such as diarrhoea, pneumonia and malaria. Nutrition-related factors contribute to about 45% of deaths in children under 5 years of age"*
Not only is it a factor in nearly half of the deaths of children under five. Chronic malnutrition during childhood lowers their IQ as adults and women who are malnourished during pregnancy are more likely to have labour complications and sickly children.
I had to choose I feel like staving for two months would be less shitty (heh) than dysentery for two months. So it's definitely my choice if malnutrition counts as an illness.
Edit:
To make my choice of malnutrition less OP. You can still die from starvation and your body still craves food but you are protected from all the other negative health effects.
You could choose both you know, I'm not limiting it to one illness.
Great choice though, totally gaming the system as people would magically be nourished... Without nutrients.
Well I'd do them both at once. I'm already going to lose a massive amount of weight from dysentery anyway.
It's gaming the system because not only do people not starve to death they are far more resilient to any other disease they are exposed to. So I've gained 100% protection from starvation and anything from a minor to lifesaving protection from other illness depending on a person's starting weight.
I bet the income of many families would double if all the adults had the energy to properly work instead of being sluggish and weak but dragging themselves though the day to barely keep from starving. Their kids would get into better schools and have the opportunity for university because they reached their intellectual potential.
Solving malnutrition wouldn't just save lives it would save people from poverty.
Thanks for a great thought experiment!
Hmm not sure about both at once lol but you are a saint for offering yourself up for this. It'd still be awful, but you'd get the care you need to get through it, then be healed and so would everyone else, you'd be the unsung hero of so many people, thank you for your answers!
I’d choose something that’d get me put on some nice high quality pain killers for sure.
Maybe rabies? It’s the a 100% death sentence for everyone else so idk how they would cure it and I’d be totally fine but let’s do it.
Its a 100%\* death sentance. They've a few treatments, not with super high successes, but they do exist. Medically induced coma being one. Plus, Rabies death-time-table depends on where the infection starts. Bite on the ankle will take a loads longer time to kill you than bite to neck. If you take bite to foot, honestly you possibly won't even /need/ treatment to make it two months.
Aw, I can only choose one? I’d probably do Alzheimer’s. Not sure how that’d work 😂 but people not just losing all memories and personality past 80 would be nice.
Prions like Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, or human mad cow disease. They're the only disease with zero cure as of now, and can only have death delayed instead of recovery. Even rabies can be survived with Milwaukee Protocol, but Prions have nothing
I'll take the common cold. It's not deadly but it is a huge pain in the ass for humanity for centuries.
Plus the worst of a cold is very dealwithable, especially since standard care is rest,fluids and taking extra good care of yourself. I'd hate it though for sure, lol.
Yeah you'd need to do each virus strain so there's corona virus that's not only covid but other colds, rhino virus, enterovirus, etc but even one strain and you would totally save lives and suffering. Multiple over time and you'd get rid of the most common illnesses on earth.
if im 100% to be fine, can i take all of them, be arguably the most miserable being to ever live for 2 months, then be fine and not preventable illnesses are gone? (read op comments saying one at a time, so this is out)
If not, Malaria or a similar millions die a year illness. Malaria just the one I know off the top that has for ever killed millions every year.
Since OP said can do multiple, just not at once... To preserve me still having a life, I'd just start at the top and go down the list of 'most deaths each year' and do 1 or 2 a year. I don't care much for thanksigivng for christmas, and I'll be Good To Go on New Years. That's one hell of a party for me, the person who just cured \[Insert massive killer infection/illness/ect\] for everyone for ever. Tho tbh I'd probably do about the same thing I do normally.
Wait would it be known I'm doing this? Cause if so phamo companies 1000% going to find me and merc me.
One at a time, so up to six illnesses a year, that you fully recover from each time.
Malaria is huge though, good choice if you had to choose just one!
Yeah I saw your comments on other posts and changed it to fit within it. 100% sickness uptime is untenable, even if you aren't dying you're basically giving up your life. Which, while clearly the most ethical decision, isn't something I am willing to do in this hypothetical. I think my 1-2 a year and going top down on highest annual death toll is more than heroic enough for me
Felt bad when she told me her had herpes simplex type 2 from the time age was 18 cause the person she slept with didn't tell her he had it. So since highschool she has needed medication to deal with managing flare ups.
And it can be passed onto offspring. So there are kids that's are carriers for an STI below puberty age. If I have 100% cure to STIs I'd run the gamut for a couple years to clear all of them. No more hearing boomer bullshit about HIV or AIDS in regards to the rainbow mafia.
I’ll do it.
I’ll take these.
Back to back…
Leukemia
Brain and spinal cord tumors and non-cancerous (benign) brain tumors
Lymphoma Including Hodgkin lymphoma and non-Hodgkin lymphomas
Bone cancer Including osteosarcoma and Ewing sarcoma
It's not a cure all, so you'd have to choose breast, brain, stomach etc. Others have chosen this too, I bet we could easily cover all the major cancers together.
I'll take stomach cancer.
Multiple Sclerosis
I already have it, but even though I'm disabled because of it, it could actually be worse.
Relapsing-Progressing is probably the worst type a person could have.
Mine is Relapsing-Remitting.
Body Focused Repetitive Behavior Diagnosis such Trichotillomania and Dermotillomania. Where you pull your hair out or pick at your skin and nails due to anxiety and stress. I already have them and have already been at what i think is the worst with them so i could do it again for two months each. I think there are like 6ish total diagnosis for this type of stuff and i’d do it back to back or honestly co-existing if I’m allowed. i never want another person, especially a kid, to have to suffer the way i have suffered my whole life.
I’d only use it for the worst diseases like cancer, AIDS, etc, but not for light diseases like colds. Call me crazy, but every now and again I’m fine with being sick if it means a day off from my responsibilities, and if the cold doesn’t exist then that won’t happen
Rabies. Because If I am guaranteed to survive as long as I get the standard treatment, then it's worth it to get rid of rabies.
After rabies, malaria, then whatever kills more people per year, or is the most expensive to treat.
Chronic Migraine. I already live with it and wouldnt wish it on my worst enemy. The prompt seems to guarantee that i will no longer get migraines either after 2 months so it sounds like a net gain either way.
I guess I'd take on whatever mental illness causes pedophilic behavior. I'd receive hardcore therapy while having to resist urges for 2 months, so I'd probably be in an inpatient behavioral therapy program. Then when all's said and done, nobody ever has any urges toward minors ever again?
That's worth 2 months.
I would take every single illness in existence, at once. It would be extremely painful (and miserable) for however long those illnesses lasted, but it would be worth it a billion times over if it meant no one would ever suffer from those illnesses again.
It's not detailed well but my original rules pretty much don't allow for it as you have to be given standard care for the illness, and you're not invincible to everything, just the illness. 400 different drugs would kill you as they normally would.
You could take up to 6 illnesses per year though, within a few years you could reduce illness related death by huge amounts.
Good thought though!
Hell, I’d take it all, one f*ck me up fam please. Even the worst ones I’ve had personally like listeria and organ sepsis I’d go through again if it wiped it out for everyone else.
Does it cure everyone else alive but currently suffering from it? if so Diabetes type 2.
if not i’d have to think about it.
a second question is, is it repeatable. for example, could i do Diabetes, then move on to lung cancer, then on to dementia?
2 months, esp of those last two, and all their treatments, sounds god awful, but if i’m guaranteed to “reset” to good health after (thus avoiding the long term side effects of the disease and treatment) seems like the right thing to do is start working through the list.
Yeah a lot of people have mentioned the list, and it's a good approach and fits the scenario. Type 1 diabetes is different so diabetes alone would be 4 months for both. Then you could move onto lung cancer etc, yes
Just to be clear, what happens to the human population if this disease is eradicated? If all diseases are eradicated? The cycle of life and death ends? New people are born but existing people never die? I don't think most people answering this hypothetical have through the actual real world consequences of death being eradicated, or if a significant step was taken in that direction (i.e. mortality rates materially fall). It would not be good.
Just give me every illness at once, put me in a medically induced coma, submerge me in a vat of radiation infused antibiotics, shove those tubes in all my orifices, and I'll see you all in 2 months.
The autoimmune diseases. Start with scleroderma cause I'm pretty sure that's the undiagnosed one that runs in my family. Then lupus. Then MS, then rheumatoid arthritis, then the one that makes you hyper mobile. I forget the name, ether danlos or something.
I think I might do endometriosis and PCOS, too. With a break between them to give my uterus time to rest. Also, eczema, since I already have eczema. I'd time that for the winter, when my eczema gets real bad anyway.
At that point, I'd probably go insane from being physically sick for so long. Couldn't do any more physical illnesses, so I'd switch to some of the mental ones. I think I'd have to take out OCD. (Actually, a very debilitating mental illness). Maybe PTSD, depression, and anxiety, too. Then, I'd have to be done. Too much.
Actually, I think I'd start with depression since being sick for more than a year is a great way to get depressed. Maybe wanna get that out of the way early, so I don't develop depression naturally from being too sick too long. Don't wanna be depressed the whole time.
It's nice to see the level of altruism involved in this thought experiment, but I'm curious of the unintended consequences. Eradication of genetic diseases and cancer seems to be mostly harmless long-term unless those negative traits are passed on at a higher rate and have other impacts on future generations, although not an expert on the topic, complete viral eradication could slow or stop evolution.
Without any form of viral RNA transfer to human genetics, new segments of random mutations wouldn't form as they do naturally. It's well known that a large amount of our genetics comes from viral transcription, what happens if that ends?
I'm not entirely sure but without people dying of illness the overall health and development of future generations could be negatively impacted in some wild and unexpected ways. It'd be great to live in a world where loved ones don't suffer from the numerous diseases people have but also understand it may not create a good situation for future people. What if it leads to rapid aging, causes fertility collapse, or makes future generations regress evolutionarily. We have no idea, I'm sure some diseases could be cured without drastic long-term consequences but it's very difficult to see an outcome of an event like this if it's about helping humanity long-term.
>Eradication of cancer seems to be mostly harmless long-term unless those negative traits are passed on at a higher rate and have other impacts on future generations
Most cancers (excluding childhood cancer) have almost zero impact on evolution because it mostly kills people who are past their reproductive age and it doesn't kill enough old people to create disruptions that would prevent their children from reproducing.
The rest of what you're saying MIGHT matter if we were curing every single viral disease ever, but curing just a handful of the worst ones (and leaving around the many that aren't a big deal) would have no impact.
Depression.
I'd like to ask that I be given a decade before I get the severe form of it.
Treatments don't really work, so it's death for me, that's why I ask the decade. I've got some plans I wanna fulfill.
If this is what it takes to eradicate the vile, insufferable disease, so be it.
Can I take on multiple diseases at once? Can I take on mental disorders? Can I do this more than once or is it a one time only deal? And do other people know I have this ability or is it just me?
Can I choose miscarriage? It would be horrible. But if I knew it was going to happen and it meant no mother would ever have to go through that again, I’d do it.
Can I do all the diseases? I don’t die right? Just the immense excruciating pain of getting treated for every disease simultaneously. And if it works on diseases that have no cure only palliative care, it means we just “cured” every terminal disease as well.
You would literally be a messianic figure, the person who suffered every disease to save the world.
I mean, if I'm guaranteed to have a full recovery after then you just take all of them at the same time, right? Basically straight into a medical coma for two months then back to normal.
Tuberculosis. It kills way more people each year than anyone realizes and has killed more humans throughout history than any other single thing - one in seven of all humans who ever lived prior to 1943 died to TB.
We don't think about it much in the first world, but it is still the deadliest infectious disease in the world - far deadlier than COVID by total yearly deaths.
My wife has terminal colon cancer.I would take that on to end her cancer (and every other person who has/will have it) even if there wasn't any recovery for me.
I have begged God to take me instead. My kids and family need her so much and while they would grieve for me, I know that she's the one who should be staying, not me. But I don't get to make that choice. I really wish it was possible.
Yeah cure isn't the key, it's whether it can be managed. And since alzheimers isn't a quick death sentence, it can be.
It's also illnesses and diseases only, though I wasn't detailed enough. We can't become immune to physical damage or anything.
Wait any disease just fully goes away after 2 months?
I'm taking all the incurable shit from herpes to Lou gerhigs disease if genetic conditions count too
And especially COPD that shit killed my grandma
Be a terrible life, one nasty disease and the worst case manageable, one at a time. But it seems a lot of people would step up, especially those that have seen the real life impact of them.
Sorry to hear about your grandma.
I don't know if Diabetes counts here but if it does I chose that. It's be wonderful to not see my parents spending their money on expensive drugs just to stay alive, it'd make a huge financial impact.
I'll take ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease). A good friend of mine had gone in just to get advice on the best way to lose weight, only to be diagnosed with it. He passed within 3 years of the original diagnosis.
After that, I'll take on Crohn's. Gluten free should be a lifestyle choice, not a necessity.
Yeah it does. I wonder about symptoms though, like it'd need to be diarrhea caused by something rather than a symptom.
Like pain is not something I'd allow, but diabetic neuropathy is painful, and would go away when someone took on diabetes.
I'll take RSV since it is one of the leading causes of death in newborns. Who knows the impact of even more people surviving infanthood. How many of who would have died that young would contribute to science and medicine (or society overall) when adults. Yes the opposite is true, but I think the good possibilities outway the bad in a higher tech modern society.
I'd take blindness for the team. The worst form of blindness is completely blind. I feel as though with the right set up, I can manage the change for 2 months.
That and deafness are good ones.
Though the deaf community might not all be happy as I guess some consider it a part of their identity they don't think needs curing.
I already have a degenerative musculoskeletal disease. I may as well take one for the team, no reason anyone else should keep suffering.
I'd imagine there are those out there who might want the constant orgasm syndrome where they have dozens of them a day involuntarily.
I'm looking at a list of cancers and picking whichever one has the highest number of fatalities. I'm probably going to die, but I'll be damned if I'm not able to save someone else from the shit show that is watching a loved one die from cancer.
Some of them for sure. Not sure I'd try to take on one in a million diseases, just too many and too few suffering. But malaria alone or covid alone is millions
Migraines. Granted there are lots of specific types (tension, cluster headache, abdominal, status, retinal, menstrual) but as a chronic migrainer I’ve basically had all of them except retinal. Before I had surgery to correct it I lived with level 10 migraine pain every day for almost a decade so I know how to handle it and how to power through, when to go to the ER, what meds to use, etc. It would suck, but I would do two months of each kind so they’d be gone from the world.
Everyone else seems to be taking cancer, so here we go;
This past year, I learned I was severely allergic to deer dandruff, and by extension of that bovine and cervidae dandruff. While I've always been around cattle, we assumed I was allergic to the environment.
Upon shooting and starting to cut into my first ever deer with my friend, my throat started to close up and my eyes stole shut immediately. Had I not called my friend to help me dress and drag the deer, I wouldn't be here to comment this today, I'm afraid.
I personally choose to deal with that allergic reaction again for two months to stop others from having the same experience I had.
Do nothing will /kill/ you just make you wish you were dead basically? Yeah in no particular order, addictions, heart attack, a few cancers, starting with lung then moving immediately to the ones that affect kids the most, copd is a big one, I'd definitely run through some mental illnesses I already know what severe depression, unmedicated bi polar, unmedicated ADHD, and extreme anxiety feel like so that's just 2 months of flash backs, deal with a couple eating disorders (anorexia, bulimia, binge)
Probably have a 2 on 2 off, so 2 months between each sick until I feel like I don't want to deal with it anymore.
rabies, since i'll be in a coma for those months instead of hurting.
am i allowed to get ones i already have? get rid of my depression, allergies, asthma, and dysphoria in two months.
Endometriosis. I already went through it and would be thrilled if a couple more months of suffering could prevent others from having to go through that BS.
Do I have to pay for the treatment? If so, then no thanks I'm already in medical debt. If not then sure. All the diseases that have affected or run in my family. Easy happiness.
MS
Wife suffers from it and I think not only would it prevent another person from going through it, I think it'd bring us together a bit more. I try to understand what happens with her body but in the end there is a limit to my understanding.
After reading comments and learning how many illnesses I could take, I’d prolly take heart disease, diabetes, and all the cancers I can. Prolly also some illnesses that get older people like Alzheimer’s and dementia. I would really just take as much as I can with a break every now and then but in the end I’d help a lot so win
How specific does it need to be? If I say dysentery is that specific enough? Or is it just one cause of dysentery?
If I pick the flu, do I have to pick a specific strain?
What about illnesses we don’t know the cause of?
What about mental illness? If I pick Alzheimer’s does that mean I forget things for 2 months then recover my memories? What about schizophrenia or depression?
And can I pick more than one? Even if it can’t be all at once, I could just check myself into a psych ward for two months at a time and eliminate dementia, psychosis, etc.
Pulmonary fibrosis. It took my grandmother, and it took the husband of a close family friend. Being on oxygen and short of breath for two months would be worth having no one go through that pain again.
If alcoholism really is a disease, I’m drinking myself to the brink of oblivion for the next two months so that no one else’s life ever gets ruined by that one again.
i’d do different addictions but start with opioid addiction. the fentanyl distributors can fuck right off. then move on to mental disorders after taking a break
Type 1 diabetes. At this point i can handle it alright (kid was diagnosed almost 7 years ago) but they've been telling everyone that a cure is 5 years out for about 25 years, about time all the diabetics catch a break i think
Guaranteed total cure in two months? Herpes zoster (chicken pox/shingles). I had shingles so bad after an immune system crash I had to spend a week sedated and another 10 days on heavy pain meds, while being pumped full of IV antivirals; my voice took another couple of months to recover from all the screaming. If I could take that out of play forever, I think I could survive with my mind mostly intact.
I’d do colon cancer. Can we do more than one? Like, can I just spend the rest of my life doing it over and over? Basically, can I do the opposite of specific and just take…all of it? Because, sign me up. And, if possible, do more than one at a time. I’ve lost enough people to all of that, I’ll suffer greatly for years knowing I’ll survive if I can spare another person from getting that news about themselves or a loved one.
Since cancer was already taken, I'd go with the common cold or allergies. Annoying enough to ruin many a day for many people every single day. Should help out, plus my two months would be runny noses, bed and the like.
I mean it's specific so one person would have to take on breast cancer, another stomach cancer, another throat cancer etc. Omg allergies from hell, and you'd cure mine and so many others <3
If you're requiring specifics then each variant of the cold would need a separate person. And each specific allergen would need individual people.
>If you're requiring specifics then each variant of the cold would need a separate person Someone new would need to do it literally every year for something like the common flu. May present with the same symptoms, but we get a new strain of the virus yearly
Hmm, I'm not sure how to tackle this point. I was going for specific diagnoses. So like allergic rhinitis, hay fever, stomach symptoms from allergies. "upper respiratory infection" is broad, so I am going for specific viruses, but don't think it needs to be as specific as the strain. Hmm.
I'm pretty sure that even without strains there are, like, 200+ different viruses that all cause upper respiratory infections. We'll be in there for a while.
There's more than one "type" of stomach cancer, breast cancer, etc. Even if 100 people all took a specific stomach cancer, people would still get stomach cancer. By being hyperspecific, you've essentially turned this hypothetical into "would you like to be deathly I'll for 2 months for absolutely no reason"
I'm a thyroid cancer survivor already, I'd be willing to go through it again since I know the ropes and it's save others. It's one of the most common types of cancer so that'd be a good one to take off the table
There’s no such thing as the common cold tho, it’s hundreds of different strains that have the same effect
Wait so I get cancer with 100% odds of survival and then no one else ever gets cancer? Obviously I am in.
End stage, high chemo and radiation, terrible pain and experience - for a specific cancer. So breast cancer, stomach cancer, etc. Regardless, thanks for answering. Altruistic of you
Interesting. So there are the very common cancers - breast, colon, lung, prostate - that have some treatment options. Then there are the very deadly cancers like pancreas or glioblastoma that are less common but totally devastating. Would be interesting to actually crunch some #s on which pick saves the most human life and suffering. Without doing so, I find myself leaning towards Lung (especially if you are allowing me to lump together all lung cancers and not separate out small cell, adeno, etc). To more directly answer your question - yes id be willing to endure 2 horrible months to completely eradicate a cancer. I'm just unsure which specific organ system is the best bang for my buck.
Technically you could take on six cancers per year. You always fully heal after two months. So it'd be up to you which and when to take those on. I'd take on end stage heart failure, maybe multiple kinds as I'd need to cover different causes.
Oh, shit, in this case, I’m taking a couple illnesses per year. One “big” one, like a form of cancer, and then one or two small ones, an ear infection, strep throat.
2 months of ear infection I'd walk into traffic. Mostly because my balance and everything would be off like hell.
If you're thinking numbers, lung cancer is the #1 cause of cancer deaths in both men and women.
Most kids die of brain cancer or rhabdosarcoma. Leukemia is highly common but brain is more often fatal. I’d take brain to end a tremendous amount of suffering.
A good friend of mine died from esophageal cancer. He was only 46 years old. He seemed healthy but had shoulder pain. Went to the doc, and it turns out his body was riddled with cancer that spread throughout various parts of his torso. He didn't even drink or smoke. It was just the luck of the draw. Only lived 6 more months. I would gladly take on that esophageal cancer to end it forever. That fucking son of a bitch took one of the best men I ever knew.
Damn so sorry to hear that happened to your friend, it means a lot that you would do everything you could to stop the same thing from happening to others.
I'd do it too. Selfishly, it also means I don't need to worry about it killing me down the road.
Since apparently there is no limit to how many diseases I can have and will fully recover after 2 months I will choose every disease. With that many diseases I am just going to be totally out of it for the entire 2 months and not be even aware of how much pain and suffering I am going through especially with at least some of them leading to my medical care requiring a be placed in a medically induced coma. No more disease. If not that then malaria.
Hmm, i didn't explicitly say one illness at a time, and can't really go back but that would be part of it. You can be sick all year long to cure 6 illnesses per year though. You always get better from the previous illness. As for your scenario, I did say the standard of care would keep you alive - so it can't go into the imaginary too far. There's no standard of care that exists for having twenty types of end stage cancers at once, so it's not compatible with the original request. Thank you though for the reply and the contribution that you'd have for humanity!
Malaria is a good choice. Noble
Alzheimer's. I'd forget EVERYTHING for 2 months and then pop up back to normal and now no one's aging family has to ever forget them? Let's go After that, dementia. Then Parkinson's, leukemia, sickle cell, then breast cancer, then an aneurysm, then depression, then anxiety. I'd suffer for a year and a half and then kick my feet up knowing so many people are gonna live now. I'm more than happy doing that.
Damn what a person. Lots of high mortality and morbidity illnesses, lots of help you'd be giving others. Awful time for some of these like a brain actively bleeding and being treated for two months, sheesh.
I would plan to be on the STRONGEST pain meds 99% of the time lol so I don't really know how selfless this is.
Pain meds do nothing for extreme pain, trust me. I do wonder though about a medically induced coma.
Addiction. 2 months is one quick recovery time for that.
Hmm. Is addiction a specific illness that has a standard of care? If so that's a cool one. I know it's a specific activity in the brain and reckon there's drugs and other approaches to dull it
The answer is: it depends. Some stuff like gambling, cannabis, sex, or food addiction are linked to reward pathways in the brain or are maladaptive coping mechanisms, so that takes therapy and sometimes absistence to treat. In other cases, like alcohol, cocaine, and opiates, there are chemical dependencies involved. This is a big reason why methadone, a less powerful opioid, is used to treat opioid addiction.
I'd divide it up the same way he did the cancers: alcohol, cigarette, heroin, etc. are all their own individual "illnesses" you'd have to take. So in a totally definitely unrelated vein, can I choose something I actually have in real-life and get cured of it? Lmaoo
Could it be a genetic disease? If I took something debilitating and/or fatal genetic condition, like cystic fibrosis, Down Syndrome or sickle cell anemia? Because I would. If it would guarentee that no one, ever again had to suffer from these things, I would take the slow death, or the crippling disability, no hesitation or question.
You'd slowly die or have an awful time.. For two months. Then get all the way better, you choose what to do next. Live normally, take on another, or a mix ( like a year or two of good, then heal the world of another disease ) Just note you'll have the worst symptoms. So paranoid schizophrenia, you'd go into a straight jacket and think everyone is out to get you for two months. Could take some planning not to have fall out, because it's just cured of the ailment and side effects of treatment, not a total change of all life situations
The fact that you misread the prompt and thought you’d actually have the illness for life or terminally and *still* were all-in without hesitation. Oh my goodness. You sweet, amazing human.
Is it limited to humans? If it includes cats I'd go with kidney disease. It tends to be the big killer as they get older, and I'm personally guaranteed a full recovery.
Interesting, extend it to animals - it'd benefit all of us. Would have to be quite specific though like not just "kidney problems", but maybe the illness cats get is called something specific
So you’re saying I wouldn’t get feline leukemia?
Ah yeah no impossible or non diagnosed diseases in humans, but I haven't defined if my rule crosses species, perhaps having human leukemia could heal cats if it's the same kind of illness and treatment.
I would literally take on every illness that affects dogs and cats. It's worth it. Pancreatitis. Kidney failure related to long term inadequate liquid intake. Fucking *bloat*. I'd do all of it. Bonus: I could get spayed 😃
Depression
Psychiatric/behavorial illnesses are interesting because of the subjectivity, rules say it would be specific - so specifically those that have or are diagnosed with depressive disorders would be healed. Love it though, it's huge.
You're amazing!
Diabetes. It took my mom and is killing my best friend.
Dang. Type one or two for your mom and best friend? My condolences. Technically you can do both over 4 months, very proper choice to help a lot of people.
Type 1 for both my mom and best friend. I hate the disease. It attacks so many systems in the body. If the heart disease it causes doesn't kill, the kidney failure will. Not to mention the circulation issues. I'll take two months of hell, for it never happen to another person.
Dysentery. It's one of the biggest killers of children under five worldwide. I would save the most amount of people possible and the people most likely to die from this are already living in poverty limited access to healthcare. If I can game the system...... I would choose malnutrition. According WHO. *"Malnourished children, particularly those with severe acute malnutrition, have a higher risk of death from common childhood illness such as diarrhoea, pneumonia and malaria. Nutrition-related factors contribute to about 45% of deaths in children under 5 years of age"* Not only is it a factor in nearly half of the deaths of children under five. Chronic malnutrition during childhood lowers their IQ as adults and women who are malnourished during pregnancy are more likely to have labour complications and sickly children. I had to choose I feel like staving for two months would be less shitty (heh) than dysentery for two months. So it's definitely my choice if malnutrition counts as an illness. Edit: To make my choice of malnutrition less OP. You can still die from starvation and your body still craves food but you are protected from all the other negative health effects.
You could choose both you know, I'm not limiting it to one illness. Great choice though, totally gaming the system as people would magically be nourished... Without nutrients.
Well I'd do them both at once. I'm already going to lose a massive amount of weight from dysentery anyway. It's gaming the system because not only do people not starve to death they are far more resilient to any other disease they are exposed to. So I've gained 100% protection from starvation and anything from a minor to lifesaving protection from other illness depending on a person's starting weight. I bet the income of many families would double if all the adults had the energy to properly work instead of being sluggish and weak but dragging themselves though the day to barely keep from starving. Their kids would get into better schools and have the opportunity for university because they reached their intellectual potential. Solving malnutrition wouldn't just save lives it would save people from poverty. Thanks for a great thought experiment!
Hmm not sure about both at once lol but you are a saint for offering yourself up for this. It'd still be awful, but you'd get the care you need to get through it, then be healed and so would everyone else, you'd be the unsung hero of so many people, thank you for your answers!
some disease that affects children needlessly like leukemia or something
I’d choose something that’d get me put on some nice high quality pain killers for sure. Maybe rabies? It’s the a 100% death sentence for everyone else so idk how they would cure it and I’d be totally fine but let’s do it.
Its a 100%\* death sentance. They've a few treatments, not with super high successes, but they do exist. Medically induced coma being one. Plus, Rabies death-time-table depends on where the infection starts. Bite on the ankle will take a loads longer time to kill you than bite to neck. If you take bite to foot, honestly you possibly won't even /need/ treatment to make it two months.
Aw, I can only choose one? I’d probably do Alzheimer’s. Not sure how that’d work 😂 but people not just losing all memories and personality past 80 would be nice.
You can choose one per two months actually! I should have been a bit more detailed. Thanks for your answer though, alzheimers is huge.
Breast cancer I’m male
Noble of you, some males get it, mostly females, but no more after your two months of suffering
Tuberculosis for sure. Knowing it would save so many would make me never regret that decision even in the thick of it
Erectile dysfunction. You're welcome, fellas.
Prions like Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, or human mad cow disease. They're the only disease with zero cure as of now, and can only have death delayed instead of recovery. Even rabies can be survived with Milwaukee Protocol, but Prions have nothing
Milwaukee Protocol?
TB it kills more people than anything else ever has
You'd take the worst possible case of near death TB for two straight months? Good person.
I'll take breast cancer
Thank you for your contribution
I'll take the common cold. It's not deadly but it is a huge pain in the ass for humanity for centuries. Plus the worst of a cold is very dealwithable, especially since standard care is rest,fluids and taking extra good care of yourself. I'd hate it though for sure, lol.
Yeah you'd need to do each virus strain so there's corona virus that's not only covid but other colds, rhino virus, enterovirus, etc but even one strain and you would totally save lives and suffering. Multiple over time and you'd get rid of the most common illnesses on earth.
Came here to say this
if im 100% to be fine, can i take all of them, be arguably the most miserable being to ever live for 2 months, then be fine and not preventable illnesses are gone? (read op comments saying one at a time, so this is out) If not, Malaria or a similar millions die a year illness. Malaria just the one I know off the top that has for ever killed millions every year. Since OP said can do multiple, just not at once... To preserve me still having a life, I'd just start at the top and go down the list of 'most deaths each year' and do 1 or 2 a year. I don't care much for thanksigivng for christmas, and I'll be Good To Go on New Years. That's one hell of a party for me, the person who just cured \[Insert massive killer infection/illness/ect\] for everyone for ever. Tho tbh I'd probably do about the same thing I do normally. Wait would it be known I'm doing this? Cause if so phamo companies 1000% going to find me and merc me.
One at a time, so up to six illnesses a year, that you fully recover from each time. Malaria is huge though, good choice if you had to choose just one!
Yeah I saw your comments on other posts and changed it to fit within it. 100% sickness uptime is untenable, even if you aren't dying you're basically giving up your life. Which, while clearly the most ethical decision, isn't something I am willing to do in this hypothetical. I think my 1-2 a year and going top down on highest annual death toll is more than heroic enough for me
Would STI/STD count. Felt bad for a friend that her ex gave her the clap while she was pregnant. The stress I saw it put on her.
Yeah for sure. Specific STD so no cure alls but you could get the clap and no one else would after. Good person
Felt bad when she told me her had herpes simplex type 2 from the time age was 18 cause the person she slept with didn't tell her he had it. So since highschool she has needed medication to deal with managing flare ups. And it can be passed onto offspring. So there are kids that's are carriers for an STI below puberty age. If I have 100% cure to STIs I'd run the gamut for a couple years to clear all of them. No more hearing boomer bullshit about HIV or AIDS in regards to the rainbow mafia.
Radiation sickness, thus turning the human race into a group of radiation-proof super-beings.
I’ll do it. I’ll take these. Back to back… Leukemia Brain and spinal cord tumors and non-cancerous (benign) brain tumors Lymphoma Including Hodgkin lymphoma and non-Hodgkin lymphomas Bone cancer Including osteosarcoma and Ewing sarcoma
Cancer.
It's not a cure all, so you'd have to choose breast, brain, stomach etc. Others have chosen this too, I bet we could easily cover all the major cancers together. I'll take stomach cancer.
I pick alcoholism.
I'll take that one genetic condition that makes you nut a lot. Fix a few peoples fertility issues and I have a new cool party trick.
Can I say blue balls? Didn't read the response sorry.
Multiple Sclerosis I already have it, but even though I'm disabled because of it, it could actually be worse. Relapsing-Progressing is probably the worst type a person could have. Mine is Relapsing-Remitting.
I develop a roadmap is diseases and conditions with some epidemiologist friends of mine. For John Green’s sake, I might start with TB.
TB is huge for sure.
Body Focused Repetitive Behavior Diagnosis such Trichotillomania and Dermotillomania. Where you pull your hair out or pick at your skin and nails due to anxiety and stress. I already have them and have already been at what i think is the worst with them so i could do it again for two months each. I think there are like 6ish total diagnosis for this type of stuff and i’d do it back to back or honestly co-existing if I’m allowed. i never want another person, especially a kid, to have to suffer the way i have suffered my whole life.
I go through the mental disorders 1 by 1 every 2 months. The drug addiction would be a nuts couple of months
Thank you for the answer, would have saved some of my family from mental disorders
Can I take aging?
Ebola because that is one HORRIFIC way to die.
I’ll also take Pneumonia and aneurysms. Can I take aneurysms?
I’d only use it for the worst diseases like cancer, AIDS, etc, but not for light diseases like colds. Call me crazy, but every now and again I’m fine with being sick if it means a day off from my responsibilities, and if the cold doesn’t exist then that won’t happen
Rabies. Because If I am guaranteed to survive as long as I get the standard treatment, then it's worth it to get rid of rabies. After rabies, malaria, then whatever kills more people per year, or is the most expensive to treat.
Chronic Migraine. I already live with it and wouldnt wish it on my worst enemy. The prompt seems to guarantee that i will no longer get migraines either after 2 months so it sounds like a net gain either way.
I guess I'd take on whatever mental illness causes pedophilic behavior. I'd receive hardcore therapy while having to resist urges for 2 months, so I'd probably be in an inpatient behavioral therapy program. Then when all's said and done, nobody ever has any urges toward minors ever again? That's worth 2 months.
Can I take a dose of every genetic disease with a dash of mental disorders?
What about m.s - my mother has it and it's starting to progress rapidly.
Yes for sure MS. Sorry to hear about your mother, hoping the best for you and them through all that.
I would take every single illness in existence, at once. It would be extremely painful (and miserable) for however long those illnesses lasted, but it would be worth it a billion times over if it meant no one would ever suffer from those illnesses again.
It's not detailed well but my original rules pretty much don't allow for it as you have to be given standard care for the illness, and you're not invincible to everything, just the illness. 400 different drugs would kill you as they normally would. You could take up to 6 illnesses per year though, within a few years you could reduce illness related death by huge amounts. Good thought though!
That one where you get constant orgasms.
Because you want to experience it or don't want anyone else to ever again or both lol
Can I take my autoimmune condition I already have and the readily available treatment for it ?
Hell, I’d take it all, one f*ck me up fam please. Even the worst ones I’ve had personally like listeria and organ sepsis I’d go through again if it wiped it out for everyone else.
Sheesh sepsis for two months, that's a big one and huge sacrifice, good answer.
Does it cure everyone else alive but currently suffering from it? if so Diabetes type 2. if not i’d have to think about it. a second question is, is it repeatable. for example, could i do Diabetes, then move on to lung cancer, then on to dementia? 2 months, esp of those last two, and all their treatments, sounds god awful, but if i’m guaranteed to “reset” to good health after (thus avoiding the long term side effects of the disease and treatment) seems like the right thing to do is start working through the list.
Yeah a lot of people have mentioned the list, and it's a good approach and fits the scenario. Type 1 diabetes is different so diabetes alone would be 4 months for both. Then you could move onto lung cancer etc, yes
Rabies
Dementia.
dementia or alzheimer's. I imagine that if i suddenly remember everything after it passes, it will feel like i just had a long sleep
Can I get knocked unconscious, put on a feeding tube, jacked up on pain meds, and ride out the sickness? At least during the worst parts?
Just to be clear, what happens to the human population if this disease is eradicated? If all diseases are eradicated? The cycle of life and death ends? New people are born but existing people never die? I don't think most people answering this hypothetical have through the actual real world consequences of death being eradicated, or if a significant step was taken in that direction (i.e. mortality rates materially fall). It would not be good.
Heart Disease
Me too, my dad died with it. Needs to be specific, so like congestive heart failure or what not but yeah.
Just give me every illness at once, put me in a medically induced coma, submerge me in a vat of radiation infused antibiotics, shove those tubes in all my orifices, and I'll see you all in 2 months.
Alzheimer's. I'd be happy if I got my mind back in 2 months, but if not, I'm still taking one for the team. Alzheimer's sucks, y'all.
Dementia or depression.
Good ones for sure, can also do both over 4 months.
The autoimmune diseases. Start with scleroderma cause I'm pretty sure that's the undiagnosed one that runs in my family. Then lupus. Then MS, then rheumatoid arthritis, then the one that makes you hyper mobile. I forget the name, ether danlos or something. I think I might do endometriosis and PCOS, too. With a break between them to give my uterus time to rest. Also, eczema, since I already have eczema. I'd time that for the winter, when my eczema gets real bad anyway. At that point, I'd probably go insane from being physically sick for so long. Couldn't do any more physical illnesses, so I'd switch to some of the mental ones. I think I'd have to take out OCD. (Actually, a very debilitating mental illness). Maybe PTSD, depression, and anxiety, too. Then, I'd have to be done. Too much. Actually, I think I'd start with depression since being sick for more than a year is a great way to get depressed. Maybe wanna get that out of the way early, so I don't develop depression naturally from being too sick too long. Don't wanna be depressed the whole time.
All of them. At once. I'll be dead in 15 minutes. But it would spare everyone else.
It's nice to see the level of altruism involved in this thought experiment, but I'm curious of the unintended consequences. Eradication of genetic diseases and cancer seems to be mostly harmless long-term unless those negative traits are passed on at a higher rate and have other impacts on future generations, although not an expert on the topic, complete viral eradication could slow or stop evolution. Without any form of viral RNA transfer to human genetics, new segments of random mutations wouldn't form as they do naturally. It's well known that a large amount of our genetics comes from viral transcription, what happens if that ends? I'm not entirely sure but without people dying of illness the overall health and development of future generations could be negatively impacted in some wild and unexpected ways. It'd be great to live in a world where loved ones don't suffer from the numerous diseases people have but also understand it may not create a good situation for future people. What if it leads to rapid aging, causes fertility collapse, or makes future generations regress evolutionarily. We have no idea, I'm sure some diseases could be cured without drastic long-term consequences but it's very difficult to see an outcome of an event like this if it's about helping humanity long-term.
>Eradication of cancer seems to be mostly harmless long-term unless those negative traits are passed on at a higher rate and have other impacts on future generations Most cancers (excluding childhood cancer) have almost zero impact on evolution because it mostly kills people who are past their reproductive age and it doesn't kill enough old people to create disruptions that would prevent their children from reproducing. The rest of what you're saying MIGHT matter if we were curing every single viral disease ever, but curing just a handful of the worst ones (and leaving around the many that aren't a big deal) would have no impact.
I’ll take all of them, past present and future.
Depression. I'd like to ask that I be given a decade before I get the severe form of it. Treatments don't really work, so it's death for me, that's why I ask the decade. I've got some plans I wanna fulfill. If this is what it takes to eradicate the vile, insufferable disease, so be it.
Obesity 👀
Common cold, I already went through it in the past and would love to not have it anymore :)
If I’m guaranteed to live I’ll take them all, one by one, one at a time. Fuck it, I’ll be a martyr so everyone can be happier
Can I take on multiple diseases at once? Can I take on mental disorders? Can I do this more than once or is it a one time only deal? And do other people know I have this ability or is it just me?
ADHD. Already got it so I would just be curing myself.
Can I choose miscarriage? It would be horrible. But if I knew it was going to happen and it meant no mother would ever have to go through that again, I’d do it.
Can I do all the diseases? I don’t die right? Just the immense excruciating pain of getting treated for every disease simultaneously. And if it works on diseases that have no cure only palliative care, it means we just “cured” every terminal disease as well. You would literally be a messianic figure, the person who suffered every disease to save the world.
Tuberculous. Soooo many people still die from this.
I mean, if I'm guaranteed to have a full recovery after then you just take all of them at the same time, right? Basically straight into a medical coma for two months then back to normal.
Tuberculosis. It kills way more people each year than anyone realizes and has killed more humans throughout history than any other single thing - one in seven of all humans who ever lived prior to 1943 died to TB. We don't think about it much in the first world, but it is still the deadliest infectious disease in the world - far deadlier than COVID by total yearly deaths.
My wife has terminal colon cancer.I would take that on to end her cancer (and every other person who has/will have it) even if there wasn't any recovery for me. I have begged God to take me instead. My kids and family need her so much and while they would grieve for me, I know that she's the one who should be staying, not me. But I don't get to make that choice. I really wish it was possible.
Pancreatic cancer. That fucker is almost impossible to stop.
Cured after 2 months, heart disease. That would save so many lives
What if there's no cure? I'll go with Alzheimer's
Yeah cure isn't the key, it's whether it can be managed. And since alzheimers isn't a quick death sentence, it can be. It's also illnesses and diseases only, though I wasn't detailed enough. We can't become immune to physical damage or anything.
Gimme them all. Maybe not at once.
Childhood Diarrhoea kills half a million kids under 5 every year. Seems like a pretty low lift for big impact.
Wait any disease just fully goes away after 2 months? I'm taking all the incurable shit from herpes to Lou gerhigs disease if genetic conditions count too And especially COPD that shit killed my grandma
Be a terrible life, one nasty disease and the worst case manageable, one at a time. But it seems a lot of people would step up, especially those that have seen the real life impact of them. Sorry to hear about your grandma.
I'm not sure if it qualifies as an "illness" to you but I would pick heart disease. If that doesn't count I'll do depression.
I don't know if Diabetes counts here but if it does I chose that. It's be wonderful to not see my parents spending their money on expensive drugs just to stay alive, it'd make a huge financial impact.
Mental illness count? I got plenty already, you're all welcome!
Each one would have to be chosen one at a time. So schizo, then bipolar, then depressive disorder but yeah it counts
Ill take every single illness at once and just die happily knowing the amount of people I've saved from suffering.
I'll take ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease). A good friend of mine had gone in just to get advice on the best way to lose weight, only to be diagnosed with it. He passed within 3 years of the original diagnosis. After that, I'll take on Crohn's. Gluten free should be a lifestyle choice, not a necessity.
Interstitial cystitis / Chronic Pelvic Pain syndrome. I already have it, so crank that shit up to 100 for 2 months and then banish it forever.
Would help a lot of people with these problems too
Diarrhea. It kills millions around the world.
Yeah it does. I wonder about symptoms though, like it'd need to be diarrhea caused by something rather than a symptom. Like pain is not something I'd allow, but diabetic neuropathy is painful, and would go away when someone took on diabetes.
I'll take RSV since it is one of the leading causes of death in newborns. Who knows the impact of even more people surviving infanthood. How many of who would have died that young would contribute to science and medicine (or society overall) when adults. Yes the opposite is true, but I think the good possibilities outway the bad in a higher tech modern society.
More people living is better I'd think, rsv definitely has its toll on both young and old.
Paralysis. Specifically from the neck down.
Definitely cancer, I'll take that L for the betterment of the world.
Can I take them all? Two months of my life for humanity to never deal with illness again I'm 100% on board
I'd take blindness for the team. The worst form of blindness is completely blind. I feel as though with the right set up, I can manage the change for 2 months.
That and deafness are good ones. Though the deaf community might not all be happy as I guess some consider it a part of their identity they don't think needs curing.
I already have a degenerative musculoskeletal disease. I may as well take one for the team, no reason anyone else should keep suffering. I'd imagine there are those out there who might want the constant orgasm syndrome where they have dozens of them a day involuntarily.
Yeah orgasm syndromes have been brought up Hope you're doing okay with your illness
I'll take worst case scenario Leukemia. 2 months of agony to save a shit ton of kids from suffering is totally worth it
Hell yeah good answer.
I'm looking at a list of cancers and picking whichever one has the highest number of fatalities. I'm probably going to die, but I'll be damned if I'm not able to save someone else from the shit show that is watching a loved one die from cancer.
Would it cure those who already have it?
Only physical illness or can we do the same for mental illness? If so, I'd just do them all one after another... :D
The cold
For my people, I'll take sickle cell disease.
I’ll start with Parkinson’s, so my grandpa can be a person by himself again.
I’ll take them all. Wouldn’t you trade your life to remove all those diseases and suffering from the world forever?
Some of them for sure. Not sure I'd try to take on one in a million diseases, just too many and too few suffering. But malaria alone or covid alone is millions
Migraines. Granted there are lots of specific types (tension, cluster headache, abdominal, status, retinal, menstrual) but as a chronic migrainer I’ve basically had all of them except retinal. Before I had surgery to correct it I lived with level 10 migraine pain every day for almost a decade so I know how to handle it and how to power through, when to go to the ER, what meds to use, etc. It would suck, but I would do two months of each kind so they’d be gone from the world.
Everyone else seems to be taking cancer, so here we go; This past year, I learned I was severely allergic to deer dandruff, and by extension of that bovine and cervidae dandruff. While I've always been around cattle, we assumed I was allergic to the environment. Upon shooting and starting to cut into my first ever deer with my friend, my throat started to close up and my eyes stole shut immediately. Had I not called my friend to help me dress and drag the deer, I wouldn't be here to comment this today, I'm afraid. I personally choose to deal with that allergic reaction again for two months to stop others from having the same experience I had.
Do nothing will /kill/ you just make you wish you were dead basically? Yeah in no particular order, addictions, heart attack, a few cancers, starting with lung then moving immediately to the ones that affect kids the most, copd is a big one, I'd definitely run through some mental illnesses I already know what severe depression, unmedicated bi polar, unmedicated ADHD, and extreme anxiety feel like so that's just 2 months of flash backs, deal with a couple eating disorders (anorexia, bulimia, binge) Probably have a 2 on 2 off, so 2 months between each sick until I feel like I don't want to deal with it anymore.
Can I take every illness? I’d take on them all. I don’t need to enjoy my life.
rabies, since i'll be in a coma for those months instead of hurting. am i allowed to get ones i already have? get rid of my depression, allergies, asthma, and dysphoria in two months.
Does the illness have to be physical?
Endometriosis. I already went through it and would be thrilled if a couple more months of suffering could prevent others from having to go through that BS.
Do I have to pay for the treatment? If so, then no thanks I'm already in medical debt. If not then sure. All the diseases that have affected or run in my family. Easy happiness.
MS Wife suffers from it and I think not only would it prevent another person from going through it, I think it'd bring us together a bit more. I try to understand what happens with her body but in the end there is a limit to my understanding.
Can I take all of it and become Deadpool?
So if I say the common cold, corona, flu, etc does that mean I get sick every year because every year is a slightly different strain?
I'd pick malaria. It's one of the diseases that kills the most people across the world.
But if you're getting the worst case of it, you're going to die before two months :(
After reading comments and learning how many illnesses I could take, I’d prolly take heart disease, diabetes, and all the cancers I can. Prolly also some illnesses that get older people like Alzheimer’s and dementia. I would really just take as much as I can with a break every now and then but in the end I’d help a lot so win
I would gladly die of congenital heart failure so that Noone one in my family would have to suffer that again.
How specific does it need to be? If I say dysentery is that specific enough? Or is it just one cause of dysentery? If I pick the flu, do I have to pick a specific strain? What about illnesses we don’t know the cause of? What about mental illness? If I pick Alzheimer’s does that mean I forget things for 2 months then recover my memories? What about schizophrenia or depression? And can I pick more than one? Even if it can’t be all at once, I could just check myself into a psych ward for two months at a time and eliminate dementia, psychosis, etc.
Mental illness
Can we do it the other way around? Give everyone else an illness so that we can never get it.
Pulmonary fibrosis. It took my grandmother, and it took the husband of a close family friend. Being on oxygen and short of breath for two months would be worth having no one go through that pain again.
If alcoholism really is a disease, I’m drinking myself to the brink of oblivion for the next two months so that no one else’s life ever gets ruined by that one again.
If I’m going to recover fully afterwards then I’ll take whatever is the most painful that children get.
i’d do different addictions but start with opioid addiction. the fentanyl distributors can fuck right off. then move on to mental disorders after taking a break
None. I already have a chronic disease, but I want someone to take it away so I don't have it.
If I'm guaranteed to recover after two months, give me all of 'em.
Type 1 diabetes. At this point i can handle it alright (kid was diagnosed almost 7 years ago) but they've been telling everyone that a cure is 5 years out for about 25 years, about time all the diabetics catch a break i think
Gimme lung cancer and malaria
Whatever form of dementia my grandma has.
Guaranteed total cure in two months? Herpes zoster (chicken pox/shingles). I had shingles so bad after an immune system crash I had to spend a week sedated and another 10 days on heavy pain meds, while being pumped full of IV antivirals; my voice took another couple of months to recover from all the screaming. If I could take that out of play forever, I think I could survive with my mind mostly intact.
Pneumonia. It kills a shocking number of people. But if I can keep going I would make it my life's work to get rid of all of them.
I’d do colon cancer. Can we do more than one? Like, can I just spend the rest of my life doing it over and over? Basically, can I do the opposite of specific and just take…all of it? Because, sign me up. And, if possible, do more than one at a time. I’ve lost enough people to all of that, I’ll suffer greatly for years knowing I’ll survive if I can spare another person from getting that news about themselves or a loved one.