Skip to main content

The Darkness of Big Data - IV Medicine



Big Data and Medicine

Even now servers and their machine learning algorithms are digesting as much medical data they can find.  They have now learned to diagnose medical problems at a truly professional level.  One problem confronting the medical community now is whether to accept such diagnoses as the diagnosis.  This is not a little problem. It is a problem with repercussions across all of medicine, from the school to the courtroom.  Let’s look at a few elementary considerations.

Tools will be put in the hands of the medical practitioner and physician's assistant. The patient may not even qualify to see a doctor until after this “procedure.”

The doctor contradicting the diagnosis is put at legal risk.  Medical research and new procedures will be undermined. On the other hand, if the doctor goes with machine learning, he/she has a legal defense built in. 

The medical schools will teach doctors to rely on the software.  This could undermine their diagnostic discipline, making them the tools of the software.  Sure, they will offer comfort and prescribe the recommend medicine. But their self-confidence will be undermined.  They will relax, losing basic sharpness with their fundamental skills.

The drug companies will become fierce competitors to make their new drugs acceptable for diagnostic recommendations. 

One consequence is that new innovations in medicine will be diminished.  Another is that such engines will strongly enhance the "abilities" poor doctors. (This is actually good.)  The poorest doctors will get better; the better doctors will get poorer, or at best extremely more cautious. 
 ---------------------------------
This is the fourth part of a series:
http://used-ideas.blogspot.com/2016/04/the-darkness-of-big-data.html
http://used-ideas.blogspot.com/2016/04/the-darkess-of-big-data-ii.html
http://used-ideas.blogspot.com/2016/04/the-darkness-of-big-data-iii.html 
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Please Comment.

Popular posts from this blog

Behavioral Science and Problem-Solving

I.                                       I.                 Introduction.                Concerning our general behavior, it’s high about time we all had some understanding of how we operate on ourselves, and it is just as important how we are operated on by others. This is the wheelhouse of behavioral sciences. It is a vast subject. It touches our lives constantly. It’s influence is pervasive and can be so subtle we never notice it. Behavioral sciences profoundly affect our ability and success at problem-solving, from the elementary level to highly complex wicked problems. This is discussed in Section IV. We begin with the basics of behavioral sciences, Section II, and then through the lens of multiple categories and examples, Section III. II.     ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Where is AI (Artificial Intelligence) Going?

  How to view Artificial Intelligence (AI).  Imagine you go to the store to buy a TV, but all they have are 1950s models, black and white, circular screens, picture rolls, and picture imperfect, no remote. You’d say no thanks. Back in the day, they sold wildly. The TV was a must-have for everyone with $250 to spend* (about $3000 today). Compared to where AI is today, this is more or less where TVs were 70 years ago. In only a few decades AI will be advanced beyond comprehension, just like TVs today are from the 50s viewpoint. Just like we could not imagine where the video concept was going back then, we cannot really imagine where AI is going. Buckle up. But it will be spectacular.    *Back then minimum wage was $0.75/hr. Thus, a TV cost more than eight weeks' wages. ------------------------- 
Post a Comment
Read more

Small Schools

In a NYC study it appears that smaller schools have a higher graduation rates that the large megaschools.  Research has found that 70% of students from small schools graduated on time, while just 61% of the students who were turned away managed to earn diplomas in four years. Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/education/city-small-schools-better-on-time-graduation-rates-report-article-1.1436692#ixzz2dAnomes6 However, large schools are far more efficient in terms of facilities, because they are less costly (per student) to operate and maintain.  So, what can be done in light of this striking new discovery?  The simple answer is to turn the large mega-schools into smaller institutions.  This can be achieved by simply creating many schools within the large one.  A norm for centuries within universities with their colleges of disciplines, but for varying majors, it does create local communities within a large setting.  Here is the proposal....
Post a Comment
Read more