The acceleration of medical progress

[Assurbanipal]

Articles like the ones below -- on IBM jumping in to the race to make human genome sequencing cheaper than a regular lab test -- show how fast medicine is progressing today.  I think we are within 10 years of a true revolution in medical care spurred by the ability to know at a cellular level how disease affects each of us.


"One of the oldest names in computing is joining the race to sequence the genome for $1,000. On Tuesday, I.B.M. plans to give technical details of its effort to reach and surpass that goal, ultimately bringing the cost to as low as $100, making a personal genome cheaper than a ticket to a Broadway play.

The project places I.B.M. squarely in the middle of an international race to drive down the cost of gene sequencing to help move toward an era of personalized medicine. The hope is that tailored genomic medicine would offer significant improvements in diagnosis and treatment.

I.B.M. already has a wide range of scientific and commercial efforts in fields like manufacturing supercomputers designed specifically for modeling biological processes. The company’s researchers and executives hope to use its expertise in semiconductor manufacturing, computing and material science to design an integrated sequencing machine that will offer advances both in accuracy and speed, and will lower the cost.

“More and more of biology is becoming an information science, which is very much a business for I.B.M.,” said Ajay Royyuru, senior manager for I.B.M.’s computational biology center at its Thomas J. Watson Laboratory in Yorktown Heights, N.Y. "

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/06/science/06dna.html?exprod=myyahoo

[veritas]

A,

You have no disagreement from me on this issue. As more companies get involved in research, the information derived increases at a geometrical progression allowing for cures and therapies not even dreamed of only a few years ago for many diseases.
Thanks for the link.

v

[freewillie99]

I've been beating on this drum for some time now.  It's probably the thing that feeds my optimism as much as anything.  The ever increasing speed of technological innovation as past discoveries are leveraged and built upon is dizzying (at least to me) and will no doubt lead us to brave new worlds unimagined by most on many fronts.  Call me Polly if you will, but this concept is real and taking place now.  There's certainly a case to be made for a robust optimism.

[Inchlingblue]

This is what Ray Kurzweil writes about, in his very well-respected theories of technological singularity and accelerating change. His 2001 essay "The Law of Accelerating Returns" extends Moore's law (and other paradigms) to describe an exponential growth of technological progress.

In futures studies and the history of technology, accelerating change is an increase in the rate of technological (and sometimes social and cultural) progress throughout history, which may suggest faster and more profound change in the future. While many have suggested accelerating change, its popularity in modern times is closely associated with the ideas and writings of Raymond Kurzweil, especially in relation to his theories about technological singularity.

LINK:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accelerating_change

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raymond_Kurzweil

[esper]

I've been spending a lot of time in this section of the forums to get educated on hiv and the avenues of research to beat it. Thanks to the many members that contribute, its a great help. I'm amazed at the speed at which things are moving on so many fronts - great for keeping one's optimism intact. I'm also amazed at both how much we know AND how much we don't know about hiv and many other  diseases.....but the acceleration that's going on now in developing knowledge by so many companies. foundations, universities and government institutions is truly exciting, and clearly will continue as information technology, research, medicine, and science become more and more integrated. Good for the hope factor!!  Thanks.