Some people take levodopa three times every day. They take it because their brains don't make enough dopamine. Without it, their arms and legs shake, and their bodies are hard to get to do what you want. This is how Parkinson's disease manifests itself - many neurons that produce dopamine have died. But thanks to levodopa, the brain receives synthetic dopamine.
This incredible drug is produced naturally in a large legume plant. The fact that nature made in this plant the very molecule that the human brain lacks does not fit into the head at all. In the first half of the 20th century, we figured out how to make this component chemically, which allowed people to mass-produce it and distribute it to Parkinson patients around the world. The fact that this discovery took place is a merit of our ingenuity and intelligence. When Parkinson's disease was diagnosed 60 years ago, doctors had nothing to offer. Today, people with it can function quite normally, and all thanks to this plant and human intelligence.
But that's not good enough. Whenever a person takes this drug, the entire brain is filled with dopamine. At first, this has a pleasant effect and makes the person more attentive and focused, but it also has negative consequences. Any drug people take, from the THC in marijuana to the caffeine in coffee, have chemicals that bind to receptors in the brain. They either stimulate or inhibit neurons, while triggering a cascade of other effects. For example, when taken regularly, the brain produces additional receptors in anticipation of the drug; therefore addiction arises. Not that it's bad, it's just that the chemistry and structure of the brain is changing.
While the altered structure that results from too much caffeine may not be harmful, other drugs such as synthetic dopamine can. Most people who take levodopa for many years in a row begin to experience a side effect of the drug - dyskinesia, which makes it difficult to control the body. To combat this side effect, other drugs are needed that will further change the brain, which will eventually lead to other drugs that eliminate the negative effects of the previous ones. Eventually, patients will spend most of the day swallowing pills, and the disease will become quite difficult to manage.
In addition, each person's brain is designed differently, and as a result, side effects affect patients differently. So far, the pharmaceutical industry is built around one motto: one drug will suit everyone, and until we get to the point where we have an individual approach to treating diseases, it will be so.
But the biggest obstacle to detecting diseases like Parkinson's or Alzheimer's is the astounding complexity of the brain itself. As James Watson says, “The brain is the final and grandest biological boundary, the most complex thing that exists in our universe. It contains billions of cells connected by trillions of connections. The brain affects the consciousness."
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What to do? It is highly likely that the mechanisms underlying neurodegeneration, from which each of us will suffer to one degree or another, are too complex for us to define. The list of factors that need to be determined in order to decipher all these diseases is endlessly long. Anyway, long enough for a person or even a group of people to make it up. Although we have gone far enough in the treatment of such diseases and are developing new methods, it is not possible to completely cure them in the near future.
The same can be said for some of the riddles that we cannot solve yet. For example, climate change, the origin of the universe or conflicts on the planet. In many ways, human stupidity hinders us.
And that's why the creation of artificial intelligence can be useful. Just as every parent hopes that their child will be smarter than themselves, our hope is to create an artificial intelligence that will be wiser than us and can solve many of the problems of our world.
ILYA KHEL