[ExI] the next big thing

[Emlyn]

2009/4/23 Dan <dan_ust at yahoo.com>:
>
> --- On Wed, 4/22/09, Emlyn <emlynoregan at gmail.com> wrote:
>> 2009/4/22 Dan <dan_ust at yahoo.com>:
>> >
>> > --- On Tue, 4/21/09, painlord2k at libero.it
>> <painlord2k at libero.it>
>> wrote:
>> >> But the "big thing" will be the ability to monitor
>> the body
>> >> and its functions / states. What I see is
>> something like the
>> >> BodyBug, but on steroids and implantable. This
>> could very
>> >> well melt with the implantable cellphone
>> immediately or
>> >> after.
>> >>
>> >> The BodyBug and other similar devices (like the
>> Fitbit)
>> >> satisfy another need / want of the people:
>> awareness of
>> >> their body conditions and feedback. A continuous
>> feedback
>> >> beat a sporadic feedback in usefulness.
>> >
>> > A lot of monitoring can be done now.  I wonder if
>> there are many healthy people out there who opt for some
>> sort of frequent >or even continuous body monitoring.
>>  (Certainly, a lot of life extensionists do routine blood
>> testing that goes beyond just >checking cholesterol
>> levels.)  It's be interesting because of the data that
>> could be gained from a a decent population of such
>> >people.
>>
>> Again, I say it's the comms network (the internet + mobiles
>> + etc)
>> that is the real big thing here. Monitoring your own body
>> functions is
>> interestingish maybe but not that big a deal. Aggregations
>> of
>> biometric data gathered in realtime from large populations,
>> you'd
>> think that might revolutionise medicine (more).
>
> That was my point (not claiming any originality here): monitor lots of people and mine the data for patterns.  For instance, what if we minutely monitored thousands of people with the flu or headaches or during normal sleep?  A lot might be learned, including how to do more interventions and what happens "normally" as a baseline for understanding abnormal happenings.
>
> Regards,
>
> Dan

Yes, sorry, it was definitely your point that I was repeating.

I just finished reading Clay Shirky's "Here Comes Everybody", and got
to thinking about "mass amateurization" (that we see professions
disappearing where the 'net+ provides the means for amateurs to
replace them, eg: journalists, and photographers since cheap quality
digital photography). What's the bet that general practitioner doctors
are some of the next against the wall, following mass biometric
monitoring, and whatever comes with that?

-- 
Emlyn

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