Future of Health Care Future of Health Care

� Dr. Michio KakuProfessor of Theoretical Physics

� City Univ. of New York

� His best-seller, Physics of the Impossible, is now a the Impossible, is now a TV series on the Discovery/Science Channel: Sci Fi Science.

� Co-founder of String Field Theory

� Author: Hyperspace, Visions, Parallel Worlds.

Health Care in the Future?Health Care in the Future?

� We are facing a train wreck in slow motion.

� In the west and Japan, a declining birth rate,

increasing life expectancy, and low

immigration levels. Other nations will follow.immigration levels. Other nations will follow.

� Partial Solution: High Technology

� ** Robotics

� ** Nanotechnology

� ** Human Body Shop

� ** New diagnostic and computer technologies

Robots in Industry and Home Robots in Industry and Home

� Why is

Japan

spending so

much on

robots?

� Ans. These

are robot

nurses,

because

Japan’s

population is

aging so fast.

� Robotic

surgery –

less invasive

– more

accurate –

reduces

recovery recovery

time for

patient – cuts

hospital costs

enormously

NanotechnologyNanotechnology

� The future will look like the movie Fantastic

Voyage.

� Smart Pills will perform surgery from the � Smart Pills will perform surgery from the

inside

� Nanoparticles will zap cancer cells.

� Portable MRI scanners will become the

“Tricorders” of Star Trek

Computers inside the body Computers inside the body

smaller than an aspirin pill.smaller than an aspirin pill.

Nanoparticles which can Nanoparticles which can

detect and zap cancer cells detect and zap cancer cells

� The

Tricorder

from Star

Trek – can

analyze any

disease or

substance –substance –

� Portable

MRI

scanners

will

become

tricorders

DnaDna chips chips –– allow allow you to you to

scan for scan for scan for scan for cancer cancer cells cells within within

minutesminutes

Smart toiletsSmart toilets� Smart toilets

will scan for cancer cells years before a tumor forms – your bathroom in the future the future will have more computer power than all the hospitals of today.

Human Body ShopHuman Body Shop

� From your own cells, scientists today can

grow

� Heart valves� Heart valves

� Blood vessels

� Bone, Noses, Ears

� Bladders

� Windpipes

� Next: Livers and hearts

The Human Body ShopThe Human Body Shop

Growing Human BladdersGrowing Human Bladders� Today, we can

grow skin, blood, heart valves, blood vessels, bone, noses, ears, from your from your own cells. The first human bladder was grown in 2007. Next: the human liver and pancreas.

Future of the InternetFuture of the Internet

� In the future, all medicine will be on the

internet. Today, we can communicate via

PC and cell phones. In the future, the PC and cell phones. In the future, the

internet will be in our glasses and contact

lens.

In the In the

future, the future, the

internet internet

will be in will be in

our our our our

glasses glasses

and even and even

contact contact

lenses.lenses.

� In

Smart contactsSmart contacts

Direct BrainDirect Brain--Computer Computer

InterfaceInterface

� A direct connection

between the brain of a

stroke victim and a

laptop is possible – the

paralyzed person can paralyzed person can

learn to play video

games, send e-mail,

and control objects by

sheer thought.

An “Encyclopedia of Thought”An “Encyclopedia of Thought”

� One can “read” your mind by laboriously compiling a correspondence between certain MRI patterns and known thoughts. In this way, one can crudely “read” the thoughts of another. This can already be done with lies, and with simple objects.

The Human Genome Dictionary: The Human Genome Dictionary:

3030,,000 000 words with no definitionswords with no definitions

� All of us will have a CD with all our genes on it –an owner’s manual for our body –our body –Biologists will use this to create “super-rice”

Dna chipDna chip