Life Vs Technology: Who is Supporting?

How is the technology space behaving in these times? Ofcourse the technological breakthroughs keep coming every day. Even as I write some one must be having his/her eureka moment right now. But then, how many of those breakthroughs are worth it. My gauge to see their worth is not how cool they might sound or how well I can impress others if I have access to those technologies. It starts from the basic utility of the technology developed and maybe ends at how viable is it to produce and make it reach the masses (ofcourse at a one up affordable price). I do not say affordable as that wouldn’t be practical. Come on, how many new technologies do you see having a price tag which doesn’t pinch your pockets?

Anyways, what I gathered from the last post’s feedback was that all of you are aware of many such technologies which are used for the benefit of mankind and some others which aren’t. Then there were moral arguments about many technologies used in healthcare domain – whether they should be used or not. The example is, the Life Support System or commonly called the Ventilator. I’m sure almost everyone must have heard about it and it sure does keep a person alive medically even though the most vital organs might have stopped functioning. Majority of arguments about this technology or its use comes as it is being abused by the healthcare industry to get more money out of the patients’ kin. Many argue that keeping a patient alive with this system is not a solution when the person’s body is not in a situation to bounce back to normalcy.

It is also worth noting that the use of this technology may turn out to be a ray of hope or in some cases a life saver. Many people who would oppose the use of this technology might have gone through this phase for their near or dear ones and at that time vouched for using this as well. Forgive me for saying but not many would have the resolve to be practical and not at all emotional at such times and ask the medicos to remove the Life Support and let the patient die his/her own death. Again, that’s all I wanted to say about this as it is a topic which does not involve only technology. I always believe that technology is good but People are better as they have many such technologies inside them which cannot be emulated by any tech gadget in today’s world.

Let’s look at other possible positive applications of technology in medical sciences. I’m going to touch a turf which is very ambitious. So, fasten your seat belts and keep your mind open till the end. Imagine a world where you could order a new liver from the nearby hospital when your existing one is not working properly. How is that possible? Well, it isn’t something directly from a Sci Fi flick but using today’s technology, medical scientists have been able to regenerate a brand new liver in lab. I will talk about this technology in a bit but before that think about a scenario when this can be applied to every vital organ of human body from the liver to the kidneys and the heart or for that matter their auxiliary parts (like the valves for the heart etc). Amazing it would be isn’t it?

This could be an extension of today’s technology called Stem Cell Therapy. In a simple language, stem cells are the simplest form of cells in our body which can be nowadays extracted from various means and stored in cryogenic (very low temperature) facilities. These stem cells have the inherent nature of repairing cells. They are being used to repair various parts of human body by injecting them to the affected area. Ofcourse, the treatment and preservation is costly today but that can be worked out later if its use increases.

Let’s think about adding to this tech a bit. What if we were able to merge the 2 fields of microprocessor controlled devices with the stem cell technology using biotechnology. As a result of this, we could control the behavior of the injected stem cells via microcontrollers and direct them to do (repair/rebuild) exactly as we want them to. I’m sure you are asking how would we control stem cells via microcontrollers. By embedding or amalgamating these microcontrollers within the stem cells. Ofcourse, then these would be called nanocontrollers and it might sound a coincidence to you all that nanotechnology is also an existing field of study and application today.

Sounds exciting, foolish or far fetched ??? Exciting it is for me but not impossible. History is witness that imagination has always been at the root of affairs while any big discoveries or inventions were happening. Take it from a classic tale by Isaac Asimov called The Fantastic Voyage where a team of doctors and engineers are made to board a submarine which is shrunk to a size such that it can be injected into the body of a patient who has a clot in his brain. Watch a movie made on this with the same name and you’ll see how wild any imagination can be. There might be regulations, laws needed to govern the access to these technologies for sure but imagine not losing your near and dear ones to these organ failures. There’s also going to be argument whether this is not intervening with the natural process of a life or in simple words – the GOD’s will. No comments on that for now J

I urge you to think about these things in the next few days and put in your thoughts to word on the comments section of this post. I will leave you with a question whether Life supports Technology or does Technology supports Life. Till we meet again, Happy reading and Keep Up With Technology!

Cheers,

N E O