(gcf2010) dr. michio kako :" future of health care "
TRANSCRIPT
Future of Health Care Future of Health Care
� Dr. Michio KakuProfessor of Theoretical Physics
� City Univ. of New York
� His best-seller, Physics of the Impossible, is now a the Impossible, is now a TV series on the Discovery/Science Channel: Sci Fi Science.
� Co-founder of String Field Theory
� Author: Hyperspace, Visions, Parallel Worlds.
Health Care in the Future?Health Care in the Future?
� We are facing a train wreck in slow motion.
� In the west and Japan, a declining birth rate,
increasing life expectancy, and low
immigration levels. Other nations will follow.immigration levels. Other nations will follow.
� Partial Solution: High Technology
� ** Robotics
� ** Nanotechnology
� ** Human Body Shop
� ** New diagnostic and computer technologies
� Why is
Japan
spending so
much on
robots?
� Ans. These
are robot
nurses,
because
Japan’s
population is
aging so fast.
� Robotic
surgery –
less invasive
– more
accurate –
reduces
recovery recovery
time for
patient – cuts
hospital costs
enormously
NanotechnologyNanotechnology
� The future will look like the movie Fantastic
Voyage.
� Smart Pills will perform surgery from the � Smart Pills will perform surgery from the
inside
� Nanoparticles will zap cancer cells.
� Portable MRI scanners will become the
“Tricorders” of Star Trek
Computers inside the body Computers inside the body
smaller than an aspirin pill.smaller than an aspirin pill.
Nanoparticles which can Nanoparticles which can
detect and zap cancer cells detect and zap cancer cells
� The
Tricorder
from Star
Trek – can
analyze any
disease or
substance –substance –
� Portable
MRI
scanners
will
become
tricorders
DnaDna chips chips –– allow allow you to you to
scan for scan for scan for scan for cancer cancer cells cells within within
minutesminutes
Smart toiletsSmart toilets� Smart toilets
will scan for cancer cells years before a tumor forms – your bathroom in the future the future will have more computer power than all the hospitals of today.
Human Body ShopHuman Body Shop
� From your own cells, scientists today can
grow
� Heart valves� Heart valves
� Blood vessels
� Bone, Noses, Ears
� Bladders
� Windpipes
� Next: Livers and hearts
Growing Human BladdersGrowing Human Bladders� Today, we can
grow skin, blood, heart valves, blood vessels, bone, noses, ears, from your from your own cells. The first human bladder was grown in 2007. Next: the human liver and pancreas.
Future of the InternetFuture of the Internet
� In the future, all medicine will be on the
internet. Today, we can communicate via
PC and cell phones. In the future, the PC and cell phones. In the future, the
internet will be in our glasses and contact
lens.
In the In the
future, the future, the
internet internet
will be in will be in
our our our our
glasses glasses
and even and even
contact contact
lenses.lenses.
� In
Direct BrainDirect Brain--Computer Computer
InterfaceInterface
� A direct connection
between the brain of a
stroke victim and a
laptop is possible – the
paralyzed person can paralyzed person can
learn to play video
games, send e-mail,
and control objects by
sheer thought.
An “Encyclopedia of Thought”An “Encyclopedia of Thought”
� One can “read” your mind by laboriously compiling a correspondence between certain MRI patterns and known thoughts. In this way, one can crudely “read” the thoughts of another. This can already be done with lies, and with simple objects.
The Human Genome Dictionary: The Human Genome Dictionary:
3030,,000 000 words with no definitionswords with no definitions
� All of us will have a CD with all our genes on it –an owner’s manual for our body –our body –Biologists will use this to create “super-rice”