In early times, there were many societies that considered illnesses to be caused by evil spirits that could only be dealt with by using ritual practices performed by a shaman or medicine man. As science progressed to discover microbiology, it was found that many diseases are actually caused by malevolent viruses or bacterial cultures invading the human body and causing damage. Medicine then began to join the battle against these tiny invaders by creating chemical compounds that controlled symptoms or killed the strains of bad bugs that were determined to be responsible for diseases. More time and research soon discovered that the enemy adapted to our efforts to eradicate them from our bodies, and started mutating to become resistant to the various types of chemical compounds we threw at them, and fire up even more harmful strains. In addition to the harmful microbes, there are other types of bacteria and agents that have been found to be both beneficial and even essential to maintaining the balance of human health.
Suspending the current medical approach in curing diseases for the moment, there are a number of intriguing possibilities that surface in examining the nature of these life forms, and the presently accepted approach to dealing with them. Though microbes are definitely a variation from our own physical form, there are some similarities worth noting. It has been observed that all life seems capable of some sort of social structure beyond the scope of individual members of a group, and within the confines of a collective communication with members of like kind. Survival depends on adaptation to hostile environmental changes, and the instinct for survival is intrinsic even in the lowest forms of life. When any sort of life is threatened with eradication, it takes whatever measures are within its capacity to preserve as much of its own kind as possible. This sort of natural function is true for both plants and animals, and has certainly proven equally true for even the microscopic forms of life. For years, modern medicine has approached the cure of diseases by launching attacks against microbes with chemicals aimed at killing the disease without harming the host. As the battle for our own survival continues, medicines intended for controlling illnesses have moved into categories that just treat symptoms while our own natural defenses battle for supremacy, or introducing cures that cause side effects which can be more harmful than the disease.
Every year, people stock up on cold medicines and prepare for injections concocted to immunize against the latest mutations of flu viruses. The forces of human medicine continue forward with trying to discover new ways to kill our competition, and remain true to the seemingly intrinsic force of our nature. Though this approach has proven partially effective, there are many signs that winning battles will not result in an ultimate victory over the diseases that plague our existence. With the current facts confronting us, it is time to consider the possibility that we are using the wrong approach to a lasting solution. As higher forms of life, we realize that uncontrolled disease has the potential to kill us. If we die, all the other life forms that depend on our physical bodies will eventually die as well. As we share the confines of our bodies with all the microscopic life that occupies the same space, it is obvious to human logic that any form of harmful disease is ultimately self defeating, because if the germ wins the war with our natural defenses, they ultimately perish along with the host environment.
Some recent medical studies have discovered that certain types of microbes have the ability to communicate with each other by releasing chemicals that act as a crude form of talking to one another on a collective level. Taking this discovery to the next level, it is possible that microscopic life forms also communicate in other ways as well. In other studies, it has been demonstrated that the power of human visualization used in fighting disease has also had some curative impact in isolated cases, though medical practice tends to discount the benefit of such techniques, except in extreme circumstances. Putting all this information together, it is possible to hypothesize that bacterial and viral colonies may act together in concert to form a collective brain that communicates directives and actions which control the activities of individual members. If microscopic life forms communicate purposeful activity via chemical or energetic means, it may be possible for humans to find new ways to join in on the conversation.
Though it is highly unlikely that microbes communicate in sophisticated ways resembling human thought or language, it is possible that they do communicate in ways that coordinate collective activities like reproduction, recognizing like kind, and locating the resources that help them sustain life. If science can discover how microbes interact with each other, it is possible to find ways to modify these behaviors to alter or confuse microbes in ways that have an effect on how they use our bodies to sustain themselves. This new approach could focus efforts on changing the microbe reproductive cycles, interrupting the recognition of like kind, turning the bacteria or virus cultures against themselves, or altering the recognition of resources they use to sustain life. There is also the possibility of harnessing the adaptive mutation mechanism to create new strains that are harmless or even beneficial to the human system. The future of medicine may well depend on our own ability to use our superior intelligence to communicate a new way to win our age old war against disease.
