Can Computers Replace Doctors?

It would begin with a “digital nervous system”: inconspicuous wireless sensors worn on your body and placed in your home would continuously monitor your vital signs and track the daily activities that affect your health, counting the number of steps you take and the quantity and quality of food you eat. Wristbands would measure your levels of arousal, attention and anxiety. Bandages would monitor cuts for infection. Your bathroom mirror would calculate your heartrate, blood pressure and oxygen level.

Then you’d get automated advice. Software that could analyze and visually represent this data would enable you to truly understand the impact of your behavior on your health and suggest changes to help prevent illness…

Many situations would still call for professional medical attention, of course, but in most cases you wouldn’t need to make a costly trip to the doctor’s office. If you were not feeling well, a lifelike avatar on your smart phone would use natural-language processing to listen as you described your symptoms and then would translate them into medical jargon. After consulting a diagnostic supercomputer, the avatar would ask you to run a few quick medical tests at home.

Full article on the next big technology-driven revolution: “consumer health.”

 

Comments (6)

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  1. Greg says:

    Computers will never completely replace doctors.

  2. Neil H. says:

    Intriguing. But just as the Internet has probably caused more paper to be used, this type of system will probably increase, not decrease, the demand for doctors.

  3. Devon Herrick says:

    This is an interesting concept but we would need years of data across millions of people to understand the specific impact lifestyle behaviors have on health.

  4. Brian says:

    There have been a few movies that have depicted this. A problem could arise when people become too reliant on the machines and don’t bother going to the doctor, and then the computers can’t pick up on other things that might be wrong with a person’s body more long-term. I suppose it depends on how good the computers are.

  5. Murugesan says:

    It is the best time to make some plans for the future and it is time to be happy. I’ve read this post and if I could I disere to suggest you few interesting things or tips. Perhaps you could write next articles referring to this article. I disere to read more things about it!

  6. emmanuel says:

    computers can replace human