Reality Askew

I read something the other day that said we were almost at the point where people could control things by thinking of them.  For instance, you place a device on your head and it reads your brainwaves/electronic pulses and when you think “play music” it could translate that and actually tell a media device to play.

Now take that a step (more like jog) forward and why couldn’t we develop a device that can read someone’s thoughts from a distance?  At first this would likely be pictures or interpretations of pictures and sounds based on patterns the devices detect.  This would likely be accomplished with the use of some sort of directed laser (love lasers :) ).  Actually the first prototypes would probably need more than one laser triangulated on target.  Future versions would be able to do the same thing using some sort of spread spectrum thing based on cranial shape, size, etc. If you combined the laser aspect with say maybe inverse sound waves you might get a better resolution of picture/sound?

Imagine the implications this would have on human intelligence gathering (HUMINT) by a country’s intelligence apparatus.  Actually kind of scary if you think about it.  Maybe this is one of those things that shouldn’t be.

Then again what an amazing tool for law enforcement.  Instead of hooking a suspect up to a stupid lie detector machine (archaic and ancient) they could just sit them in a special room, ask them questions and see what the person remembers of the incident.  Not only could they ascertain someone’s guilt or innocence but they could also pull that one piece of critical information from a witness, say a license plate that the witness didn’t even remember seeing.

The worst part is once this is a reality, someone will ultimately figure out how to reverse the damned thing and push pictures, sound (false memories) out to people rather than collecting it. Bad thing.

I was thinking today about diagnosing a patient and how it would be cool for doctors to wear some sort of Google Glasses type device linked to a computer.  The headset could have a heads up display showing the vitals like heart rate, blood pressure, etc. Of course it would also monitor commands given by the doctor and show contraindications where appropriate.  For instance a doctor might order a certain drug be administered and the computer would compare that against medications the patient was taking.  Then if it found a problem it could vibrate and flash a warning on the screen.
Speaking of voice commands, the doctor could instantly call up symptoms of any disease and ask the computer to compare that to those of the patient.  All the while watching the results or progress on his heads up display.
Such a system could also theoretically show a surgeon the appropriate place for an incision.

Even better the system might pull up images from previous surgeries the patient had to compare any changes.
Of course this would be a dream come true for a Dentist.  The system automatically overlaying past images over real-time captures.  Take that a step further and imagine the patient smiling into a camera at home and having the computer recommend adjustments to braces or signing off that things look good. Remember images coming from across town from a remote camera would appear live in the same headset thing.
Now take it a step further and the headset camera could help a surgeon map out an area of cancerous material, superimposing over it in varying colors to indicate boundaries.

Watched a movie last night where a guy is stabbed and it got me to thinking, why couldn’t we create a substance that you could literally pour onto a puncture wound to not only seal it but do rudimentary repairs as well?  So the sealing part is simple enough, heck with enough superglue you could close just about any wound, but that’s not what I’m proposing.  Instead create a solution with an intelligent matrix that would seek out the disconnected tissue/organs and pull them back together.  Okay saying that sounds nuts but think about it for a second.  Everything in the body has a unique structure.  Kidneys are kidneys not just because of their shape but because of a certain structure on a molecular level.  Why couldn’t a compound be created that could flow into a wound and do simple repairs?

If nothing else how about something that would stop the flow of blood.  Now there’s a nice segue, maybe the short term answer isn’t to fix the damage but to simply stop the blood loss.  The substance in question could simply react with the blood and cause it to instantly coagulate.  Of course how do you stop it from simply coagulating ALL of the blood in your system?  What would make it stop right inside of the broken/damaged vessels?  Maybe the bodies own reaction to such damage could be the inhibitor.  The body tries to do essentially the same thing right?  Blood vessel is damaged so it moves to close it off if possible.  Our wonder sludge could simply trigger on that process and halt stoppage where and when the body directs it.  Of course the next request/requirement would be a substance or device that could quickly reverse the effects.  So a doctor for instance could simply move around the damaged area and undo the fix as needed, then repair that portion and move on to the next.

Why every six months do I have to go to the Dentist to have my teeth scraped and prodded for an hour?  Can’t we come up with a mouth wash of some kind that could simply go in and dissolve the plague without damaging the gums or teeth?

How will history view our current state of medical care?  My thought is they will stare in open mouthed disbelief at pictures of surgeries which to them will seem nothing short of barbaric.  I would imagine a conversation a few hundred years from now might go something like this, “They actually cut into people?!”  Would they be so wrong?  Don’t we essentially use sharpened pieces of metal to cut people open and then literally sew them back together?  Have you seen a hip replacement lately?  They literally use a drill to auger out the bone.  It’s all very medieval looking.

So what is the answer?  Well for starters I think we will see a huge move toward the use of some type of nanobots.  Imagine finding out you have lets say cancer.  Your doctor has already mapped out your specific body chemistry and physiology.  He then orders a custom designed injection filled with millions of nanobots.  These nanobots are programmed to find and attack any cancerous cells.  Once finished the nanohealers would simply be deactivated or die off after a set period of time and the body would absorb them.

The possibilities are almost endless when you think about it.  How many lives would be saved if these micromedics could clean out clogged arteries, do minor repairs to blood vessels, heart valves, etc.  On that note, imagine they could be injected with small electrical receptors, encapsulate someone’s heart and if needed provide a small electrical charge to keep it pumping correctly.  This would be much more effective that a modern pacemaker.  Replacing them every six months or so could be as simple as another injection.  Better yet, what if they recharged themselves from the beating of the heart or by some sort of heat transference thing?

Of course this same principle could be used for something like for instance appendicitis.  A surgeon would use a device no bigger than my smartphone to guide the nanobots to the inflamed appendix where they would perform set routines to remove/repair it.

What about something simple like broken bones?  How about the same nanobots weave a mesh like covering over the bones and position them back in place and then hold them there while they heal?  On their way there they might also release a substance directly into the nervous system to temporarily numb the limb.  These repair bots could be simply programmed with your bodies physiology from before the injury and then be directed to put the pieces back in place.

Take the whole concept a step further and have nanobots positioned throughout the body to monitor key system functions like heart, lungs, kidney, etc.  When they noticed a fluctuation, they could alert your doctor directly or save the information and relay it to your doctor at the next visit to establish a pattern of say impending renal failure.

How small could they be and still provide a service?  If they were small enough, could they for instance provide an electrical bridge across a damaged portion of the brain to restore certain synaptic function?

I can just see it now, the body might start developing a resistance to the nanobots and you could only have a certain percentage of your total body mass that could be nanobots.  I’m sorry patient X but you already have .001 saturation of nannites and your body can’t host more.

Accelerated Healing

The other day I got a cut on my finger and looking at it I wondered why don’t we have a way of accelerating the healing process?  What exactly happens when the body heals itself?  Once we know that, then isn’t it possible that we might be able to speed that process up?  Imagine a device that you have in your medicine cabinet that would allow you to wave it over a small wound and have it heal almost instantaneously.

Cancer

Cancer scares the hell out of a lot of people and for good reason, but currently our most effective way to combat it is to literally inject poison (chemo) into the host body.  Wouldn’t it be great if a person could go have some blood drawn and a compound be produced that would target the specific cancer cells but not damage the good cells?

Fountain of Youth

Of course the holy grail of medicine is the fountain of youth.  People hate the idea of death and go to great length to stave off the impending doom.  To me the solution is similar to the above healing of wounds.  First we have to identify what exactly happens that causes the body to degenerate then develop a way to slow that process down.  I don’ t think immortality is anywhere in the foreseeable future but if we could learn to slow down the effects of aging then I could see us living to be several hundred years old.  Say for instances if aging is due to cell degradation?  Then what if we could surround the cell with some sort of protective membrane?  This would come in the form of an injected substance that would cause the body to form a barrier around the cell like a shield.  Just a thought.

Interestingly enough, this would have a huge effect on the planet as overpopulation would be a negative consequence of this.  Could we produce enough food to feed everyone for hundreds of years.  Prisoners might elect to be put to death rather than waste away in a cell for centuries.

Of course the offshoot of this extended lifespan would be great for interstellar space travel and might help us develop some sort of suspended animation type sleep chambers.