Dear Doctor vs. Cogenitor

[bluedana]

1. The Valakians had no clue what was causing the pandemic.

I don't remember any character saying this. Do you have a quote handy?

Sorry, no quotes, but I do have this:
-- The Valakians didn't tell Phlox what was causing the pandemic. He discovered the cause himself.
-- The Valakians were so desperate they sent people into deep space in pre-warp ships knowing they were at risk of falling ill and dying before finding anybody. That is a very expensive use of resources.
-- Phlox tells Lucas 50 million lives are at stake (not sure whether that is the population or just the sick, but it still sounds like a pretty huge crisis either way).

Actually, I recall the same scenario as Gaith at episode's end...that the Valakians' extinction was by no means a certainty, considering that the medicine Phlox gave them would improve their situation. (The medicine itself might give the Valakians information to aid in their research.) Archer acknowledged how determined the Valakians were to develop a cure, or a means to go off-planet to search for a cure. I don't remember anyone concluding that they were doomed.

The medicine Phlox gave them only eased the symptoms, it didn't prolong life, so it didn't really improve their situation in terms of survival.
And I'm sure Phlox and Archer found the supposition that the Valakians might "outlive us all" very comforting. But I don't think that deep down they believed it. If they did, why not just give them the cure and spare the Valakians all that suffering and death?

The medicine Phlox provided would ease their symptoms (including, I would think, the breakdown of the body as well as the pain) for at least ten years, giving them a longer window in which to develop the cure. Logically, although this isn't spelled out in the episode, they could expect to use the research to further their own quest for the cure.

 

[Gaith]

JiNX-01, as the penicillin example demonstrates, scientific progress is not linear. It'd be entirely feasible withing the episode's reality for a lone, brilliant Valakian scientist to find a cure seventeen days after the Enterprise's departure.

 

[Hopeful Romantic]

The medicine Phlox gave them only eased the symptoms, it didn't prolong life, so it didn't really improve their situation in terms of survival.

No one in the episode says that using the medicine won't prolong life.

There are plenty of drugs that ease symptoms of a progressive disease, and as a result, not only improve the quality of life, but prolong life as well. Insulin and HIV/AIDS drugs come immediately to mind.

 

[I am Surak]

JiNX-01, as the penicillin example demonstrates, scientific progress is not linear. It'd be entirely feasible withing the episode's reality for a lone, brilliant Valakian scientist to find a cure seventeen days after the Enterprise's departure.

As much as it pains me to agree with Gaith on anything, he is right. The miracle of scientific progress is not only not linear but often more like a maze of unrelated events and discoveries.
The reason we as Americans are blessed with so many improvements in health and technology is the fact that we spend money like a drunken sailor on every scientific subject in any direction. The maligned studies you read about in the press when so and so university gets a grant to let's say study whether cows dream in color are actually part of the giant knowledge base we accumulate. In this cow study there may be three sentences and one halftruth speculation that lets somebody else in a different field have an idea that yet another scientist picks up for further study in his field.....
I am sure that the Valakians will be fine.