A Symbiotic Relationship
The human body has a mechanistic quality that isn’t fully understood, and may never be. However, with each passing year, new medical breakthroughs develop. Computational technology has a symbiotic relationship with medicine and is one reason each year we see new breakthroughs.
Moore’s Law dictates that computational technology will double on itself about every eighteen months. This provides a greater computational ability to medical areas like DNA sequencing. The human genome was mapped with medical technology utilizing computational means, and now doctors are beginning to have the ability to provide services at the genetic level.
As yet, many of these things haven’t been mastered, and there are many experimental procedures. Still, computational tech has led to breakthroughs in genetic manipulation, as well as other areas of medicine. Safer cosmetic techniques like cold sculpting, nanomachine technology, gene editing through CRISPR, and non-fetal stem-cell therapy are all new techniques becoming increasingly mainstream.
Cybernetic Organisms Are Here
Miniaturization of technology helps combine tech breakthroughs with organic needs. Hearing aids are a classic example that has become increasingly refined. Santa Clarita audiologists can help those who have little to no hearing experience the cathartic tones of gorgeous music once again. There are even services now which can restore sight to the blind.
On the issue of biology and technology combining, it’s important to keep an eye on modern trends. Through most of human history, the key to fully flourishing in an organic sense has involved eating right and regularly exercising. However, in the future, you may additionally need to update software for the hardware augmenting your body.
Consider pacemakers, prosthetics, digitally-enhanced or facilitated sight, hearing solutions, mechanically assisted feeding, and technology which surrogates traditional organ function. Today scientists can print organs three-dimensionally, using an organic substrate as a sort of framework, and building up the organ around it. Scientists have grown full-sized human hearts from stem cells.
Body Augmentation
As synthetic solutions become more mainstream, medical procedures will be incorporated into augmentative pursuits which aren’t strictly necessary but will likely come to increasingly define society. Imagine a tattoo that reacted with technology like a screen on a TV. Imagine a person’s entire body being augmented such that could function in such a way, and change appearance based on a smartphone app.
This is yet to be mainstream, but the potentiality is there. As yet, the majority of body augmentation comes in the form of cosmetic surgery such as liposuction performed by Dr. Garcia in Las Vegas. Varying cosmetic techniques like tummy tucks, rhinoplasty, and face-lifts are already extremely popular.
Imagine a world where the human body is so well understood that teenagers can buy modifications affordably which totally change their appearance. It’s on the near horizon. While as yet there is more than a hint of fiction in these possibilities, that isn’t likely to be the case sooner than many expect.
The Present And The Future
As a final consideration, think about Google Glass and the Internet of Things. Google Glass fell by the wayside, but the technology didn’t. The Internet of Things, or IoT, is changing the landscape of business and data interaction the world over. Imagine if someone used the internet to hack your body mods. Suddenly antivirus protocols have become something as integral as vaccines are thought to be today.
2018 has seen many surprising medical discoveries, and more will come in 2019. Technology and medicine are increasingly commingled, and that trend will certainly become more visible as time goes by. Can the future be accurately predicted? No it can’t. But you can prepare by knowing where we are, and what potential could be on the horizon.
