THE ENTERPRISE
Every now and then, I take the time to think about what the future might hold for us all. One of those times was last Friday when I toured a new Center for Medical Education and Innovation at Riverside Hospital, here in Columbus. Some of its technology only exists in 1-2 other places in the US.
I saw a state of the art conference facility, in which there were a suite of "Operating Rooms" containing (6) mannequin like "almost-human" bodies (4 adults, 2 kids). These lifelike, plastic skin coated replicas, also interact with a sophisticated computer system and programs which equip them to have a beating heart, give off vital signs like those seen on the monitors in hospital rooms (Pulse rate, blood pressure, Oxygen intake, etc.). In fact they replicate most functions and reactions of a real human. They can blink, bleed, cry, slobber, urinate, and generally react like human would to a huge number of biological stimuli and the associated medical treatment, including the right and wrong outcomes of drug injections, treatment practics, etc. (using, of course computer-coded syringes instead of real drugs.) They even can represent simulated wounds, limb amputations, and much more.
I saw a demonstration of a heart catheterization in which you could feel the resistance and vibration of the catheter as it was inserted and watch it's progress on a large fluoroscopic (computer) screen overhead, just as if it was really happening--because in one sense, it is. Then the Doctor demo'd a balloon angioplasty and insertion of a stent. These "almost-real" people forms were equipped to be defibrillated, injected, operated on, and much more. In another room, using a different simulation system for just part of the body, I saw a gall bladder removal through minimally invasive (endoscopic) surgery, along with how the system recorded errors in technique, etc..
The doctors, residents and interns can now learn and "practice" on these "almost-real" simulated people, but not run the risk (or stress) of learning from their errors on a real person. The work is recorded on computers and digital video, where it can be viewed by others, replayed to critique the technique and errors and studied for improvement in techniques (just like they do in big league sports)! This is huge progress in the medical profession's ability to teach the "practice of medicine" in such a way that it really is "practice" for interns and residents (and experienced Docs requiring re-certification.)
When I came home, I started reading about the projects at DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) where their efforts are sort of the inverse of the ones I had just seen. These scientists are actually working on enhancing the human body and its performance, its healing capability, its endurance and much, much more. While the immediate goal is to create more effective soldiers, the broader implications and applications of such research are mind-boggling. Check out these concepts: Pain Control (vaccine); Limb Regeneration (blastemas-regeneration buds); Control Bleeding (mind control and nanotech magnets); Sleep-Free Soldier (brain chemistry). And that doesn't consider all the unmanned-Robotic Device programs. Folks in this world talk about the GRIN technologies, which are Genetic, Robotic, Information, and Nano-based efforts.
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FYI: The first time in history a soldier surrendered to a Robot was in Gulf War I when 5 Iraqi soldiers waved a white flag at an unmanned air vehicle. The first instance of a human being "incinerated" by a robot was in Yemen in 2002, when a Predator (unmanned air vehicle) fired a Hellfire missile at an al Qaeda leader's SUV.
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Novelist Dale Brown, a former Air Force pilot, wrote about an aircraft flown by mind control (Flight of the Cheetah) almost 10 years ago. In 2004 a paralyzed man whose neurons were being monitored by computer sent the first email, using only his thoughts. His more recent books feature exoskeleton suits that permit humans to perform extraordinary feats. Exoskeletons are a DARPA project--right now. The fiction and the fact are converging fast.
The point I am making is that on one hand science is creating human replicas and simulations to advance the care of humans. On another, it is seeking ways to either enhance the performance/endurance of humans or supplement them with implants, exoskeleton suits or complete unmanned robotic "soldiers" (perhaps in DARPA's case, with the opposite intention--to fight and or kill enemies!)
Writer Joel Garreau tells about much of this in his May 30, 2005 FORTUNE article "Perfecting the Human" and (I suspect more of it) in his book RADICAL EVOLUTION. I haven't read it, so I can't relate any more except that it will probably boggle my un-wired, un-implanted and largely conventional mind.
If you believe that the acceleration of technology marches on (and I do) then the advances and change of the past 20 years will be squeezed into the next 10-12, and those of the last 50 years, into the next 15. It's coming fast. Are you ready?
Best, John
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