Human Microbiome in the Cosmere

[ND103]

First time asking a question here, so i apologise if I'm not in the right place or don't have the right tags etc. 

Reading the sections where Kal was performing field surgery in the way of kings, and the mention of rotspren etc got me thinking about bacteria and viruses and so on. In our world, we understand that bacteria/viruses etc are mostly responsible for illnesses. And at the same time humans have a large number of bacteria in our own bodies (for instance the bacteria in our gut), which we actually need to maintain a healthy life. At least as far as in world understanding of diseases in stormlight goes, it appears that rotspren are involved, not necessarily bacteria or so on (though they may be wrong in world). 

Has there been any WOB around whether or not the different human species in the Cosmere have similar microbiomes to what we have in the real world? And any consideration on the potential impact that the different magic systems might have on the microbiology of the human species.

For instance, we know that with the fifth heightening, anyone on Nalthis is effectively immortal. Does that impact the many different bacteria that inhabit the bodies of such people in any way?

Or on Roshar, if Kal were to be inspired to consider a shard scalpel form for Syl, and use it to treat wounds, could he use that instead of cauterising wounds to prevent disease from spreading in injuries? Or in a situation we'll likely never see on screen, could a shard scalpel(and other shard tools) be used for general surgery? 

And if Rock gets a spren and decides to use it as a shard razor to shave, would that potentially kill all the bacteria living on his skin (a lot of which might be actually beneficial to him)? 

Could you hypothetically cut out a cancerous tumor with a shardblade, and treat that? 

 

I appreciate that the answer for these would likely be - there is probably no significant impact simply because to consider the impact of it all would probably kill the fun of the story itself. But I am curious if anyone has had any thoughts about this/asked Brandon about this?

[Nothing-Ridiculous he/him]

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Questioner

So I’ve heard you talk about a book and as a nurse is really interesting to me, or the idea of the book. It’s the one where viruses not only make you sick but they also give you a super power. So I was kind of wondering on the list of when projects are being...

Brandon Sanderson

I originally called this book Silence Divine and the idea behind this book is—I’m always looking for interesting interesting Magic systems and I came up with an idea of “what if viruses and bacteria evolved in line with the magic on the world so that when you caught the disease you got a power” Like if you catch the common cold you could fly, as long as you have it. But when you get over the cold, you can no longer fly. So they keep you alive to help spread themselves and things like that. So when your immune system beats them you lose the power. The book will be about someone who’s basically like half-counter-terrorism, half-police force, where they keep track of these things because what happens when it moves through the city. Like half-CDC, half-counter-terrorism, half-police force. Where suddenly everyone in the city can walk through walls. What do you do, as the police force, when that happens? And things like that. And they keep special people incubating diseases that have come through before and they keep their immune systems low so in an emergency they can go in and catch a bunch of diseases and stuff like that. It’s going to be really awesome.

And the answer is, I have no idea when I can write this book. It is in the Cosmere, so it’s part of all that, but I have no idea because I really feel, coming off the Wheel of Time, the people who are fans of my work, everyone understands, at least I hope they understand, that the Wheel of Time was something I needed to do. But it did delay people getting things like Stormlight Archive and stuff like that. And I feel like right now I really need to dedicate myself to getting a few books out in the Stormlight Archive before I get too distracted by anything else, such as this, and I write books that are really cool but no one’s asking for, really, at this point. (Except for you so thank you.) So I will eventually write that book. I have toyed several times doing a novella in the world just to get that out of my system. So maybe eventually we’ll do that.

source

This doesn't directly answer your question but it does give an example of invested diseases, i would imagine that many people wouldn't have a very strong immune system and an outbreak of a non-magical disease possibly introduced by world-hoppers could wipe a significant part of the population out, as for shardblade razors I think it would keep the hair from growing back but I don't think it would kill the bacteria on the surface as it isn't actually cutting them and shardblade scalpels I think would be incredibly dangerous if you mess up although I know very little about surgery I could see them being used to remove tumors.

Edited September 3, 2018 by Nothing-Ridiculous

[Steeldancer he/him]

Speaking of surgery, I've been interested in possibly using hemalurgy to perform (very careful) surgery. I wonder if the cancer would have enough of a different spiritual aspect in order to carefully spike it out without killing the patient...

[Dunkum he/him]

So there is a very good chance that the in-world explanation of rotspren causing disease is backwards.  at the very least, even in book there are at least a few people asking the general question of whether the spren are the cause, or if they are just attracted to their various things: so do rotspren cause rot, or are they attracted to it?  and do the mediciens then keep the rotspren away directly, or do they kill bacteria and prevent the rotspren from being attracted in the first place?  it is a somewhat open question at this point.

also, shard-scalpel would probably be a bad idea.  for one thing, it would take 2 cuts, since the first cut would kill flesh, but wouldn't open the body, so you'd need a second cut to be able to see what you were doing.  for a second I'm pretty sure those cuts would never heal (without some investiture working on them, anyway).  as far as a shard-razor killing bacteria on your skin, it seems like it would be possible.

[Nothing-Ridiculous he/him]

The only problem I have with the shard razor is that wouldn't it need to cut the bacteria? which I don't see a as feasible.

[Dunkum he/him]

2 minutes ago, Nothing-Ridiculous said:

The only problem I have with the shard razor is that wouldn't it need to cut the bacteria? which I don't see a as feasible.

it would have to, yes.  I don't think it is impossible for a shardblade to do that.

[Nothing-Ridiculous he/him]

Do we know if there's a limit to how sharp a shardblade can be?

[CrazyRioter she/her]

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Questioner [PENDING REVIEW]

Do Shardblades cut as well as like an ideal wedge in a perfect world or better than that?

Brandon Sanderson [PENDING REVIEW]

I would say better than. Because they can cut the spirit, too. The soul.

source

So they basically are at Theoretical Maximum Sharpness. Though their size also limits how finely you can cut things with them.

[Ripheus23]

17 hours ago, CrazyRioter said:

So they basically are at Theoretical Maximum Sharpness. Though their size also limits how finely you can cut things with them.

There was an itch in my mind that Shardblade sharpness wanted me to scratch... it was memories of the Subtle Knife from His Dark Materials.