Frenemies

"The enemy of my enemy is my friend"

An ancient Indian concept that has been applied and proven through history in geopolitical terms and high school spats alike. If I don't like Bob and Jim doesn't like Bob ergo Jim and I could be friends with the common bond being that we don't like Bob. On a larger scale, Great Britain was at war with Germany, Russia was at war with Germany, ergo, Russia and Great Britain could be "friends" in their war against Germany. This of course unravelled eight minutes after Germany capitulated and the Cold War began so this "friendship" lasted only as long as it was beneficial to both parties. I think in the end, "friends" may be the wrong word to use in a geopolitical way, allies being more appropriate since friends don't usually work against each other as ruthlessly and efficiently as Mother Russia and England did. Not sure about me and Jim though.

This concept caught my attention the other day in an article about fighting infections and viruses. A somewhat radical approach to fighting a super bug with a virus. How interesting it must be to the scientific world to use this kind of approach to a drug resistant virus...could this approach provide a new way at looking at treatments? And I say new but really it's not that new...phage therapy has been around for 100 years but it has taken a back seat to drug therapy. Well, certain kinds of drug therapy I guess. Lobbyists and government puppets ensure that "legal" drugs are protected whilst other options of the more natural kind are an invitation to a penal colony...ugh

Don't get me wrong here, I actually don't have a bone to pick with the pharmaceutical industry per se. I think there has been tremendous good from the work that scientists have provided over the years. Think polio as the quintessential example of this good work. But there are issues to be sure when life saving treatments are at the mercy of the almighty dollar and share holder returns. The search for cures for the sake of cures is often shunted for the pursuit of the almighty greenback. I'm not a communist by any means but I do believe that there are areas where the greater good has to take precedence over profit. It is profoundly disturbing when a very small concentrated number of people control 98% of the wealth in the world....or whatever the damn number is. Anyway, don't get me started on that.

I guess the point is that we need to ensure that science is left to do science for the betterment of society in general. The eradication of small pox; dwarf wheat to help feed millions that couldn't before...these are examples to aspire to and one feels like they are more under attack everyday...especially when one thinks of Drumph and his stupid decisions in his first 100 days. Cutting funding to the EPA and trying to renew coal mining? This denier of global warming will tell you the no one cares for the environment more then him but his actions speak volumes. The ass hole.

Speaking of Drumph and enemies...would it not be natural for Mexico and Canada to band together to stand up against that crap flinging ass hat douche bag? Let the fuck wad build two walls for all I care...at some point we'll probably need one to keep the Americans out but in the mean time we can better serve our collective needs by joining up with Mexico in a united front against his protectionist ideas.

See how easy it is for me to get sucked into the vortex of fundamental stupidity with that douche bag? Back to the science and discovery thing. Go back in time 25 years and show yourself what you carry in your hand with your smart phone...the entire history of the world and a shitload of cat videos at the touch of a few buttons. One couldn't imagine that unless you were Elon Musk or somebody like that. And that's the point...no one can tell you what a discovery will yield in the future and that's why un-directed science is so important. Pose a hypothesis and let future unfold before you. But let us not throw out the past in a blind rush to the future. Everything old is new again and that is why leeches are used in medical procedures to help healing and smoking pot is helping in treatment of anxiety.

So be the enemy of closed minds and hearts. Find commonalities with other enemies of those things and make them your friends. Resist.

Ciao
D