Stephen Hawking to turn 70, defying disease

[giberson]

Hate to raise a cynical tone, but in all likelihood his his longevity is mostly due to him having money. I expect, that in most cases patients with similar motor neurone diseases, their money simply runs out--unable to afford ongoing medications, care and new treatments, they die from the disease they simply can't afford to treat.

[parfe]

>in all likelihood his his longevity is mostly due to him having money.

I think you mean "Socialized Medicine"

"I wouldn't be here today if it were not for the NHS," [Hawking] said. "I have received a large amount of high-quality treatment without which I would not have survived...."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/08/12/stephen-hawking-ent...

[jsdalton]

My view is perhaps even more cynical than yours: I think his longevity is primarily due to luck. He also, if I understand correctly, has a different variant of ALS that doesn't progress as quickly. While money might have been a necessary precursor to his achieving such longevity (I doubt he would have made it this far had he not been wealthy), ALS has taken the lives of many, many people poor and rich alike.

My stepfather died a few years ago from ALS, and he was fairly wealthy and motivated to fight the disease. Unfortunately, at this stage in our understanding, you can throw all the money and effort at the disease you can muster, but you're not going to beat it.

[gldalmaso]

His longevity might also stem from psychological factors, after all he still has the (afforded) means of remaining a productive person, whereas a patient that can't talk or move, much less do productive work, might fall into an increasing depressive mood and that has biological repercussions.

[gerggerg]

If you hate to do it than whats the point? The dude may have the care and the luck to keep him alive but he's also continued to produce jaw dropping work without being able to move much more than his eye balls. He can't eat or defecate or walk or wave or even make facial expressions but has contributed relentlessly to cosmology, theoretical physics, and the education thereof.

Regardless of the reasons why he is surviving, he deserves to survive like everyone else. And in the face of the most possible adversity has made the universe a different place to humans and turned countless individuals into skyward dreamers.

[rmc]

For the record (since some USA newspapers were reporting the opposite), Stephen Hawking is from the UK with the NHS (what can be called 'socialized healthcare' in the USA, and 'public health system' in EU).

[jganetsk]

I suspect you are greatly overestimating the power of money in managing motor neurone disease.

[rudiger]

There's evidence that "brain activity" can slow the progression of neurological disorders, particularly those that selectively affect motor neurones. I'd argue that Hawking's incredible utilization of his brain, staying active as a theoretical physicist, has helped to keep his disease from overwhelming him.

[rokhayakebe]

his longevity is mostly due to him having money

You are mostly wrong. It is due to his will to live. Even if I could afford it, I know I do not have the mental strength to go through a life in such situation.

[ams6110]

You are wrong. There is very little that medicine can do for ALS sufferers. With more research, perhaps this will change, but for now money has very little bearing on the outcome of this disease.

[harold]

I've often wondered if his sense of purpose, and ability to continue working are what have contributed to his longevity. Certainly inspiring to see what he has accomplished in his lifetime so far.

[astrodust]

His mind is travelling at relativistic speeds, so he's actually only forty years old.

[robin_reala]

My dad died of MND in 2003 after a fairly short length of time, somewhere in the region of 3.5 years after diagnosis. I put Dr Hawking’s longevity at least partially to being happy to work completely in his brain. Conversely, my dad was a very phsyical person and always had some project to build on the go. When that was taken away from him he seemed diminished.

Incidentally, he did try to carry on coding using Dragon Dictate, but it was painful to watch. I wonder if speech recognition has come on any since then? Apple’s Siri seems fairly remarkable although I haven’t had a chance to use it yet. Is anyone on HN coding by speech?

[dorianj]

Conversely, I wonder if his extraordinary luck of being the only known long-term survivor of ALS has pushed him to accomplish more.

[gerggerg]

If you haven't seen it yet, his most recent show on the Discovery channel is incredible. It includes a lot from his previous writings but some new stuff too and it's all set to pretty stunning effects and a great soundtrack reminiscent of scifi movies from the 70s and 80s. You can check it out here:

http://dsc.discovery.com/tv/stephen-hawking/

and the whole series is on netflix. It's truly amazing. Don't miss it.

[mitchellhislop]

His discussions and examples for why we wont be able to travel back in time are perfect for explaining the concept for people. He manages to communicate such high level stuff in such a great way on that show (well, always, but the show is much more approachable to the masses).

[teju]

I think it's a combination of top notch care and an engaged mind. Even the medical establishment is acknowledging the connection between state of the mind and health (placebo effect research).

On a lighter note, here is something the great physicist cannot fathom: http://news.yahoo.com/women-mystery-british-physicist-hawkin...

[ckayatek]

I did ALS research in grad school and his case seems to be an outlier. Generally ALS is late onset (55+) and rapidly lethal (<3 years expected survival). That being said, early onset cases are often slower to progress and if I remember correctly his onset was in his late 20s, which is very early. There are really no medications or treatments that are effective for ALS, no matter how much money you have.

[helmut_hed]

As a native South Carolinian, I encourage everyone to read the comments on the original article, and compare them in tone, content, and relevance to those posted on HN.

[veidr]

OK. Top-voted comments from the site:

1. "...making a killing on hypothetical theories... pie in the sky science. I'm sick and tired of these theories... Lying to keep the global warming cash cow rolling..."

2. "When Hawking stands at The Great White Throne Judgement and asks why he (Hawking) is being cast into the Lake of Fire, Jesus will tell him... blah blah blah"

4. "I think that Mr Hawking is going to be in for a big surprise when he is standing before the throne of God..."

Etc. etc. etc.

Comparing tone, content, and relevance, I'd say three to nil HN. Was that your point?

[sukuriant]

Expound upon that.

[TWSS]

What this points out to me is how little we know about ALS/MND. The majority of those diagnosed die within three years, but a handful can survive for decades.

Do bulbar onset ALS patients live longer than limb onset? What about those with familial ALS? Were patients who die sooner exposed to an environmental trigger? ALS is significantly more common among military veterans than the general public - why, and is their survival rate better or worse than civilians?

I love that Dr. Hawking has survived so long. He contributes to awareness of ALS and gives patients hope. But I sometimes wonder if it's a sadistic, unrealistic hope and if his longevity decreases the urgency of the need for research into causes and treatment of a disease that is a death sentence for the majority of those diagnosed with it.

[ckayatek]

I can answer some of your questions. The longevity and age of onset of patients with familial ALS is partially dependent on the mutation they harbor. That being said, genetic background is an important contributor. Fortunately or unfortunately, familial ALS isn't common enough to have significant statistics on the matter. To my knowledge there is no solid proof that environmental factors play a role in ALS. I'm fairly certain some will be discovered, but to date specific factors that enhance or prevent ALS are not known. On the issue of veterans, it is thought that the enhanced physical activity may be the cause for the increased risk of ALS, though the increase is merely 2 fold and once again the statistics are poor. If I remember correctly, this increased risk was present for both combat veterans and those that didn't see any combat. Once again outcomes are identical with the civilian population.

I don't believe that his longevity decreases the urgency for research into the matter. However, compared with disorders such as Alzheimer's disease, cancer, and heart disease, which combined will affect some large percentage of the population, the 1:1000 lifetime risk for ALS makes it somewhat insignificant.

[Splines]

I wonder what his life would have been like had he not have ALS?

[JacobIrwin]

Such a remarkable human being - I hope someone can help speed up his ability to communicate. If this does not happen, we may miss out on a lot of great wisdom Hawking has to share (during the [what is sure to seem like a] short remaining he has left).

[mathattack]

As a society we are lucky to have both his intelligence and patience for all these years.

[WhatsHisName]

Has anyone proven that he has ALS? That is, are there proven genetic or other markers that can correctly diagnose the disease? For example does he have a defective super oxide dismutate or heme oxygenase one?

[sun123]

It raises the age old question again. I sometimes think how people achieve so much.

May be being immobile saves his energy from distraction and helps leaves time to think about black holes.

[pavel_lishin]

> May be being immobile saves his energy from distraction and helps leaves time to think about black holes.

So that's what the couch guy in college was doing with his time.

[blasterford]

I know it's going to be a very unpopular opinion here, but I find it hard to see the worth in thinking about black holes and other physics/astronomy questions.

Is the large hadron collider really worth the money?

Can someone highlight some real world advances that this sort of thing provides? eg will it make holographic TVs possible or hoverboards?

[michaelcampbell]

He's the intellectual version of Chuck Norris.

[Mordor]

He'll outlive us all lol

[shingen]

Is there a good reason why he isn't the intense focus of technology dedicated to reading brain signals to action results through a computer + display?

There are already functional systems that paralyzed people have used to communicate through on-screen selections in that manner. Surely Stephen Hawking can acquire the technology and afford the upkeep. Hell, surely MIT or someone out there would build a custom rig for him and focus on constantly improving it to get more productivity out of his marvelous brain while he's still here.

[bitwize]

True, I think the Hawkman is awesome, but his longevity in the face of disease probably has a lot to do with him being a groundbreaking physicist whom society deems valuable enough to keep alive at great cost.