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Comment by JumpCrisscross | Hacker News Reader

I’ve always found it interesting to note that while the list of infectious diseases in humans [1] is long, it isn’t that long.

[1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_infectious_diseases

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That's because that list isn't complete. Doesn't have prion diseases, pseudomonas aeruginosa, balamuthia, macacine alphaherpesvirus 1, raccoon worm, orthohantavirus, and a million unknown bacteria and thousands of rare parasites and viruses.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prion#Diseases

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balamuthia_mandrillaris

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pseudomonas_aeruginosa

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macacine_alphaherpesvirus_1

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baylisascaris_procyonis

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orthohantavirus

Some of them we have no idea how to treat. Prions are 100% deadly.

I hope that soon, aging is classified as a disease, and makes it onto that list.

relevant video, based on a 20-year old fable to reposition the idea of senescence. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZYNADOHhVY

As fun as it sounds, I think aging is what drives humans to progress and evolve. So just in my opinion, I don't think classifying aging as disease is a good idea.

Are we still evolving, since we usually die much after breeding ?

Yes.

How?

We're currently selecting against drug addicts. It might take a few dozen generations to notice the effect

Reducing aging wouldn’t have any effect on that, though?

Ageing is not infectious, so it doesn't make sense for it to be on a list of infectious diseases.

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