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A Bill in Congress Would Actually Help Add Jobs in 2 Ways

I was frankly surprised to find via Mashable that there is a bill working its way through congress that might actually do something to help add jobs in the US.  It proposes 2 new visas to help foreigners who get advanced degrees in science to stay in the US following graduation, and to give foreign entrepreneurs a visa to come to the US and start a company.

First let's look at the advanced degrees portion.  A new study was recently released by The Partnership for a New America Economy and The Partnership for New York City.  It lays out the case that the US is falling behind other countries in creating graduates with advanced degrees in science, technology, engineering, and math or STEM employees.  They say that by 2018 the US will need 779,000 of these workers but will have only 555,200.  A major reason for this shortfall is that foreign students who come to our universities for these advanced degrees are not permitted to stay.  The new law would create a new visa - F4, which would give these students 12 months following graduation to find a job in the US.  If they do, their immigration status would convert to a STEM green card and NOT count against their country's quota.  Not only will this help supply the brain power within the US for the ongoing technology revolution, it would create more jobs.  The American Enterprise Institute and the Partnership for a New American Economy (cited in the study) found that every immigrant with an advanced degree from a US university working in a STEM field creates 2.62 new American jobs.  This is a solution based on common sense; a significant need, and should easily create new jobs quickly.

In my career while working in Research Triangle Park in North Carolina I experienced foreign STEM workers and how they add jobs.  In my organization there were several foreign workers.  One was a VP from India and a second was a product engineer from China.  They had actually been transferred to the US from Canada.  For the VP from India, English was his 4th or 5th language.  He was incredibly smart and had advanced degrees in math.  However he was a poor communicator, especially through written memos.  So the company had a special admin for him, a sort of communication specialist who could take his message and write memos as well as handle other admin activities.  This was an extra position as his rank normally shared an admin with 2 other VPs of his level.  But the incremental person freed him from some mundane tasks and made him even more productive.  The Chinese immigrant was a product visionary.  He had an extremely high IQ and advanced degrees in Electronics Engineering.  He could take any new technology and quickly map out product niches that we could exploit.  His saying was when a product gets to be 5 years from production it was time to move on to the next technology.  These guys were so smart they gave us a competitive edge and they made us all smarter.  It was not that we didn't have smart US educated guys, my boss was a MIT graduate; but these 2 guys were the smartest of the smartest in their countries and quite happy to be living in the US.  I just wonder how many of this type of people have been forced to go home when they would have loved to help US companies in exchange for living here.

The second element of change in what the Senate is calling Startup Act 2.0 is an “Entrepreneur’s visa" for foreigners starting businesses here.  The new study cited above found that immigrant-founded high-tech businesses made $52 billion in sales and employed 450,000 workers in 2006 alone.   To make the case for entrepreneurs creating jobs check out this 3 minute video:

 

 

I think these 2 tactics make sense for the short and long term.  They help with jobs created to support the STEM nerds and they help with jobs by permitting foreign entrepreneurs to start companies in the US.  While this bill appears to be bi-partisan and has significant support in both houses, could our elected officials get into some argument that could kill this effort; absolutely.  For example what if the Republicans want to tie increased border security to this bill or the Democrats tie the dream act to it?  Or will President Obama threaten to veto it unless X,Y, or Z are included?  We'll have to wait and see.  Maybe if congress gets bogged down there will be a new movement started by the unemployed and underemployed to force them to take action.  We can only hope.  In the mean time pay attention to this bill and pass the word.

 

 

Big Computer Good, Big Oil Bad; Why?

With the Facebook IPO issued yesterday, there was a great deal of talk regarding riches.  But what it made me think of again is why some wealth is considered OK and some not.  Mark Zuckerberg's take on the IPO was $19.14 billion.  His personal valuation is larger than Kellogg ($18.7B), Yahoo ($18.7B), Heinz ($16.9B), and Allstate ($16.2B) just to name a few.  For Facebook their valuation is $105.2B which makes them larger than MacDonalds ($91B), Amazon ($96B), and Disney ($78B).  Other comparisons to Facebook's wealth are that it is worth more than what the people of the US spend in 6 months on fast food, the cost to rebuild 120 Eifel Towers, the world's coffee industry, and the cost of the entire Gulf War. 

My question is where were the Occupy Wall Street protesters?  Facebook's IPO was proffered on NASDAQ.  Unless I'm mistaken, isn't that considered Wall Street?  And what about other tech companies?  Google is worth $196B, Microsoft is worth $246B, and Apple is worth $496B.  Just think, the Occupy protesters could congregate in Silicon Valley and Seattle and really make a statement, right?

Here's another question, why is Mitt Romney's $250M in wealth worse than John Kerry's?  Both were/are presidential candidates.  Yet in an analysis by Media Research Center, the prime TV news networks (ABC, NBC, and CBS) mentioned Romney's wealth 13 times more for the same period (January-April) in 2004 versus 2012.  And Romney earned his wealth as opposed to marrying it.

Why are standard deductible expenses from oil companies called subsidies and loopholes when they are considered costs for any other industry?  Why are the people who decry moving jobs overseas not all over Apple?  Where are the human rights activists faced with the huge number of suicides at Foxconn or the fact that workers make $2 an hour and only get to see their family once per month?  For in-depth (15 minute) proof, check out the video from ABC News and note the answer from the Foxconn representative at the end who would welcome higher pay from Apple for their workers.

 

Maybe the answer is that that big computer is the personification of the American entrepreneurial dream.  Maybe it's because big computer is made up mostly of liberals who generously support Democrats who are the ones who get to decide which industries are good and which are bad.  Maybe Democrats get to decide because most Republicans are free marketeers who don't care which industries, like big computer or oil companies, make money.  Based on what you hear from many politicians, you would think oil companies make much more money than big computer.  But check out the chart below that shows big computer made more than 3 times oil and gas. 

My point in this is not to begrudge Zuckerberg or Apple but to ask the question, why does big computer get a pass from the mainstream media and Democrats, and big oil is demonized?  If computers and oil were both outlawed tomorrow, which would affect your life the most?  You would be less productive and have less fun but how would you get to the store to buy food?  How would the good get there?  Or to your work? Or to your loved ones?  This example may be crazy but then again what is the logic of picking industry winners and losers and why do Americans stand for this?

 

God is Great, Beer is Good, and People are Angry

 

 

The post title is a take-off on the Billy Currington song People Are Crazy where he sings, "God is great, beer is good, and people are crazy".  But based on what happened last week in the elections, I have to say they are more angry than crazy. 

The best example comes from the West Virginia primary.  In the Democratic presidential primary a man in prison in Texas got 41% of the vote compared to President Obama's 59%.  How could this be?  In West Virginia the answer appears to be a protest of the administration's attack on the coal industry.  In March the EPA announced new emission standards for coal plants that will make it virtually impossible for new plants to come online and resulting in the halt to construction of about 15 plants.   The Governor of West Virginia reacted to this with the following, "Even though a federal court last week told the EPA that it was acting beyond its power, the EPA continues to act beyond its authority and in a short-sighted manner that will hurt our economy and cost our country jobs."  While the people of West Virginia are angry, the rest of us will soon be angry as well.  While the cost of natural gas has been coming down (the substitute for coal), it is still almost 4 times higher than coal.  As per the US Energy Information Administration for 1999-2008, the cost of a million BTUs for coal is $1.46 as compared to $5.75 for natural gas.  Finally consider the people who buy one of the 11 current electric vehicles who already pay a huge penalty to drive "clean".  Imagine their reaction as electricity continues to rise in cost as we move from coal which in 2011 produced 42% of electricity in the US. 

 

Another example came from the recall primary election in Wisconsin.  While the focus was on which of the 2 Democratic candidates would run against Walker in the recall general election, what was not widely reported was that Walker received more votes than both Democratic candidates combined.  You would have thought that enthusiasm would have been much higher for the Democrats.  But as the yard sign below indicates, apparently there was anger that a recall was occurring when all the governor did was what he promised to do.

 

Another example yet came from Indiana.  Incumbent Republican Dick Lugar who has represented Indiana in the US Senate for almost 40 years lost in the primary to the state Treasurer Richard Mourdock, a tea-party backed candidate.  While Lugar was well liked and polls indicate Republicans may lose this seat in the general election, there seemed to be a message here that the people are angry about professional politicians who in the case of Lugar, hasn't had a residency in the state for many years.

 

Finally to give some international balance, let's look at the election of president in France.  François Hollande of the Socialist Party defeated America-Friendly Nicolas Sarkozy.  Hollande won on a slogan of "no more austerity" which was a promise to stop the reduction in spending on entitlements and as a reaction to Sarkozy raising the retirement age from 60 to 62.  This follows the riots in the streets of Athens earlier as the Greek government attempts to get their debt under control.  Citizens who feel entitled to benefits granted to others are not open to hearing about the possibility that their country and even the entire Euro Group could go bankrupt, they are simply angry and they vented their anger in this election. 

 

There is much talk about enthusiasm in the upcoming presidential election.  We've also heard that more people will vote for someone than against.  I'm not so sure this time.  It is clear that President Obama won the enthusiasm contest in the 2008 election.  I for one literally held my nose and voted for McCain though I did vote.  Keep an eye on this as we approach the election.  I think it will be interesting to follow.

 

 

4 Killer Bumper Stickers for Romney

I'm a political junkie.  I DVR and watch all 4 of the network Sunday news shows.  I DVR and watch Special Report on Fox News every week day.  I have a subscription to both Time and Human Events.  My bookshelves are filled with books mostly from conservative writers like Ann Coulter, George Will, Newt Gingrich, and Thomas Sowell; just to name a few.  I am also a marketing person.  So I decided to put together some bumper stickers that I think the Romney campaign could use in the campaign.

1. "Killing Is Worse than Torture" - One of the tactics in a heated political campaign is to weaken the support of your opponent.  The left is still searing about enhanced interrogation methods, especially water boarding that was done in the Bush administration.  But all 3 of the people who were water boarded survived; none of the terrorists who were killed with drone strikes are alive.  The 3 pale when compared with 964 killed between 2007 - 2011.  When a captured terrorist is tortured, there is no collateral damage.  When a drone sends a 500 pound JDAM into a house in the dead of night (pun intended) chances are high that family members and possibly neighbors will be killed or wounded.  I'm sure there are news reports that can be put in an ad showing innocent victims being carried out of the rubble of a house.  Where's the humanity in this my friends on the left?  And the question posed by Joe Biden whether Mitt Romney would have killed Osama bin Laden opens the door to: 'you have to ask yourself was the decision to kill Osama brave or political?  Or consider an ad that suggests what would have happened if Osama were captured and put on trial in New York City thanks to Attorney General Eric Holder.  The appearance of the former CIA member who headed the enhanced interrogation, Jose Rodriquez, on 60 minutes highlighted this issue and will help kick it off.   The ads practically write themselves and the faithful can reinforce them by simply displaying the bumper sticker.  If you think the power of this is overstated, check out a short video of a 500 pound JDAM in action.

 

2. "Not Keeping Your Word Is Worse than Flip-Flopping" - Politicians, like people in general, change their minds.  While this charge may have more relevance to Romney, my perception is that most people will think not-keeping your word is worse.  There are countless examples of candidate Obama making promises that either indicate bad judgment, as in the case of keeping unemployment under 8% if the stimulus is passed, to closing Guantanamo and passing comprehensive immigration legislation just to mention a few.  This theme softens the negatives on Romney while targeting let-downs to some of Obama's key constituencies as well as a pretty compelling argument to independents.

3. "Audit the Fed" - I did a post on this subject a few weeks ago.  The premise is that Gen Y voters, who are expected to be 25% of the electorate in the 2012 election, will vote for Romney if Ron Paul endorses and supports him.  If Romney grants Paul a major speaking role and he adopts Paul's audit the Fed (Federal Reserve) platform, then Paul will endorse Romney.  The theme is also along the lines of cutting back on the power of government and the economy.  Keep in mind that Gen Y are the ones who will bear the brunt of the US debt, fought 10 years in Afghanistan and Iraq, do not expect to benefit from Social Security or Medicare, who have a huge burden from college loans, AND are struggling with extremely high unemployment and underemployment.  With Obama garnering 66% of their vote in the 2008 election, this is a constituency ripe for the taking.  Audit the Fed is also consistent with Romney's position of reducing the size and scope of government.  Romney may offer Ron Paul a position in his administration or possibly his son Rand.  In-spite of Ron Paul being 76 he has been called the Piped Piper of Generation Y and the deal and issue will help deliver them.

4. "It's the Economy and Women Are NOT Stupid" - I would have listed this one first except that I did not come up with it.  The left accused the right of waging a 'War on Women' following the testimony that contraceptives should be paid for by taxpayers when the real issue was religious freedom.  This has backfired when the economic statistics were revealed.  Women have been hit much harder during the recession in terms of unemployment.  And it has been revealed that on the Obama staff women are paid less than men.  I'm sure a couple of undisputed metrics can be placed into an ad that reinforces this theme.  But the real value of this ad is it adds constituent targeting to what historically has been the critical influence in recession elections, the economy.  And it doesn't hurt that the phrase is catchy and targets the largest constituency especially considering how Obama was so successful with women in the 2008 election.

At this point I believe Romney will win easily.  The polls are relatively even in-spite of Obama's bully pulpit hammering Romney and the Republicans constantly.  History has shown that the undecideds always shift to the challenger and away from the incumbent, according to pundit Dick Morris.  With Romney only beginning to be heard from, his messages will erode Obama's advantage to date.  Relatively equal volumes of paid advertising will offset.  Network support for Obama will be offset by talk radio, Fox News, and Tea Party support for Romney.  Finally history has shown that any incumbent running for president when unemployment is over 8% rarely wins.  President Obama will try and redirect attention away from his record and promises, and Romney will try and focus voter's attention back.  So get ready for one of the dirtiest campaigns in our lifetimes.  I will be following it closely.

 

 

 

 

Mining Asteriods for Profit

I saw an interesting article that made me think.  Planetary Resources is a new company that wants to start prospecting near-Earth asteroids by the end of 2013.  The company is backed by such notables as Google's Larry Page & Eric Schmidt and movie director James Cameron.  The company created a video that summarizes their plans:

 

For more details here is an infographic that describes the opportunity of mining asteroids: 

I really like this idea.  In the early years of the space shuttle program I liked it.  But after countless trips and experiments such as testing the effects of zero gravity on a spider's ability to make a web, it seemed like every other government program.  Overspending, bloated bureaucracies, and even mistakes that caused lives occurred.  This project is in the private sector.  They have to attain funding from investors looking for both altruistic AND return-on-investment motivations.  I do appreciate that the space shuttle enabled the U.S. to launch spy, communications, and possibly offensive satellites, but there's no reason this function could not be developed by a for-profit firm.  Back in the days when the space shuttle strategy was developed it had to include human passengers in order to get public support and funding.  This required significantly more engineering, cost, and risk.  Just as is the case with the military's trend toward more UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) that cost much less than an airplane and do not risk a pilot, for-profit firms can spend their scarce resources to develop function specific robots that can increase their probability for success at a much lower cost.  And these inventions may prove much more valuable than Tang.

Then there's the prize:  rare minerals and water.  Amun 3554 (sounds like it came right off a Star Trek script) is estimated to possess $8 trillion in platinum, $8 trillion in iron & nickel, and $6 trillion in cobalt.  That's $20 trillion dollars.  That's more than the U.S. debt of $15 trillion.  This much platinum, which is used in electronics and automobiles, might even reduce costs and foster a new technological revolution.  Water is necessary for deep space exploration.  It can be broken down into hydrogen and nitrogen which can both fuel the space ships and consumed by the potential human explorers.

There is much to do but I am excited about this venture.  Who knows, in 500 years historians may look back on these entrepreneurs like we look upon Columbus.  I wish them success and I hope the investors make mountains of money.

 

 

 

Ron Paul 'Take Down the Fed' Video Game Could Mean Victory for Romney

I discovered on Mashable that there is a new video game featuring Ron Paul attempting to 'take down the Fed'.  I find this interesting for a variety of reasons.  First is the fact that Ron Paul is the Pied Piper of Generation Y, AKA Millennials.  It seems odd that this 76 year old Libertarian congressman from Texas would have become so popular among these young citizens.  But on second thought maybe it makes perfect sense.  Gen Ys will be the generation who will have to bear the burden of the debt being rung up by current politicians.  They were the generation that fought for over 10 years in Iraq and Afghanistan and will be on the hook should new conflicts occur; Paul takes a strong stance on stopping the foreign wars.  And they appear to understand that if the Federal Reserve continues to print money at will that they will bear the brunt of inflation that will rob them of purchasing power; again a Paul focus and the subject of the game.

It seems fitting that the video game was created by a Gen Y'er, Daniel Williams.  Video games are the mainstay of this generation as they grew up with them as the first digital natives.  Because this generation is so large and currently in the workforce, some employers are adapting employee rating and rewards systems modeled after video games.  So it makes sense that a video game is the symbol for support for Paul from his acolytes to his acolytes.  The game itself takes the 50 states as levels, gold coins of course since Paul wants to reinstate the gold standard, delegates for support, and 13 Boss fights representing the 13 branches of the Federal Reserve.

Could this "game" become significant politically?  I think so.  As more Gen Y'ers/Paul fans become aware of the game when released, their support will be even broader and stronger.  It should also be noted that the development funding through Kickstarter, is already at 174% of what was requested; another indication of strength.  When it is launched it will strongly reinforce Paul's message of how the Fed is bad.  Considering that Gen Y's are predicted to be 25% of the presidential vote this year, they can sway the presidential election.  My prediction is that Paul will urge his followers to support Mitt Romney based on Paul having a prominent speech at the convention and that Romney will support some measure of Paul's position on the Fed.  This could be as simple as supporting Paul's bill to audit the Fed or more severe if Romney chooses to adopt Paul's philosophy of taking down the Fed.  My view is that Romney will support the audit and with Paul's endorsement, will garner a majority of this voting block and thereby win the election.  All the current talk is about the Latinos' vote but they accounted for only 7.4% of the total in 2008.  Gen Y voters should be more than double that.

This will be an interesting issue to follow.  My hope is that my prediction plays out.  While the Gen Ys talk of inflation it was Baby Boomers like me that saw the effects of inflation in the 70s.  Prices for everything went up drastically yet wages never seemed to follow.  Today one of the explanations of why gas prices are so high is that global oil is traded in US dollars.  As the Fed continues to print money with no corresponding supporting asset, the value of the dollar diminishes relative to other currencies globally and therefore it takes more dollars to buy a gallon of gas.  One more thing.  There has been much discussion concerning whether the Gen Y'ers will be the next greatest generation or the worst, a distinction I contend is currently owned by us Baby Boomers.  This election could be that bell-weather event that gets the US economy back toward responsible fiscal policy that saves the nation.  That could mean Gen Y'ers are the linchpin that saves the republic and thus becomes the next greatest generation.  And you thought there wasn't much to video games.....

 

 

 

 

 

 

April is Distracted Driving Awareness Month

The US Department of Transportation has declared April as National Distracted Driving Awareness Month.  There's even a dedicated website, Distraction.Gov where you can get the latest facts, what you can do, and the latest news as states continue to put stricter laws in regarding this problem.  Here are some facts to add credibility to the argument.

There are 3 main types of distraction:

1. Manual - Taking your hands off the wheel
2. Visual - Taking your eyes off the road
3. Cognitive - Taking your mind off driving

Here are the most common distractions:

• Texting
• Using a cell phone or smartphone
• Eating and drinking
• Talking to passengers
• Grooming
• Reading, including maps
• Using a navigation system
• Watching a video
• Adjusting a radio, CD player, or MP3 player

Because text messaging requires visual, manual, and cognitive attention from the driver, it is by far the most severe distraction.  Texting takes your eyes off the road for 4.6 seconds.  At 55 MPH that's like driving the length of a football field blindfolded.  In 2009 5,474 deaths and 448,000 injuries were attributed to distracted driving.

You have probably seen videos of people who were texting their friends or loved ones when a fatal crash occurred.  On the Distraction.Gov site under Faces you can see individual stories.  AT&T did a 10 minute video that highlighted several stories that has been viewed almost 3 million times.  But to get a sense of the loss, there is a 90 second version of the documentary shown below:

 

While texting is the worst distraction, don't forget that even changing the radio station or carrying on a conversation is distracting.  Young drivers are the most susceptible to distraction plus have the least driving experience.  I like the idea of having young drivers watch the 10 minute documentary.  I remember in college I took an elective on safety that included a gruesome film of actual car accidents that still scare me today.  Stricter laws also will help.  We bemoan receiving tickets from the police but this method of variable interval negative reinforcer has proven to modify behavior; because you never really know when the police will be there.  As more laws are put on the books for using the cellphone and to limit the number of passengers a young driver can carry, let's hope the trend reverses.  There may also be some technology help from automobile manufacturers.  While handsfree cellphone use is still a distraction, it is less severe.  With text to talk as well as handsfree some lives may be saved.  There are also more applications of cameras and sensors to aid recovery from a distraction and prevent accidents.  I also find it amazing how accepting we as a society are about this number of deaths and injuries.  Imagine how much noise there would be if we were involved in a war with over 5 thousand DOAs and almost a half million injuries a year.

I will focus on my driving and try to reduce distractions; at least for a while.  Please do the same.

 

 

The Future of Cars

The New York Auto Show is going on now (April 6-15, 2012).  While the flying car is getting a great deal of attention, the largest arena for innovation again appears to be electronics.  Nissan has partnered with Intel to bring multi-tasking to the car.  No this is not texting, eating, and putting on make-up while driving.  As an example a driver could receive traffic or navigation information while feeding a movie to the passengers at the same time.  Subaru announced an option called EyeSight which uses cameras on each side of the rear-view mirror to constantly scan around the car.  It can apply the brakes when a collision is imminent, can slow you down while on cruise control if you get too close, and warn you when you start to change lanes if a vehicle is in your blind spot.  LAPTOP gave its best tech award to the Audi A7 for its ability to connect up to 8 mobile devices, adaptive cruise control, and a touchpad equipped with handwriting recognition (I'm hoping this is for the passenger or while stopped).   These are but a few of the news items from the show.

Today's cars contain more than 40 electronic controllers, 5 miles of wiring, and more than 10 million lines of software code as per The Chicago Fed Letter based on several experts from Detroit.  That's how many lines of code it took to put a man on the moon.  But what about the heat when the car sits in the hot sun?  Or cold, or driving rain?  And what about all the bumps and momentum changes as part of normal driving?  Worst of all, electronics are maturing at the speed of Moore's Law while cars last 10-15 years.  And what about a minor accident?  Will the replacement of electronics cause huge increases in insurance?  Or will the advances in electronics reduce the number of minor accidents and actually reduce insurance?  While there will be new problems associated with electronics, there is a huge momentum in telematics (the combination of telecomminications and IT).  Ford has SYNC, GM has OnStar, Audi has Connect, Toyota Entune, Hyundai has Blue Link, and Kia has UVO.  Ford even opened a research office in Silicon Valley.  Here's a 5 minute video from the Chicago Fed Letter on the 'Growing Role of Electronics in Automobiles':

 

So what lies ahead?  I believe the next breakthrough will come with version software.  Since the vehicles have digital communications, why not upgrades?  Yes it might be annoying to start your car and be prompted, "Would you like to upgrade your autocruise software to version 2.0"?  While some of this can be taken care of with the use of cloud services (the software actually resides in servers in a protected environment), the in-car software would have to be built to accommodate this AND the communication system would have to work even while driving through a tunnel or in remote locations.  Notebooks and laptops have been working on this through caching protocols so there's no reason it can't work for cars.  Of course these upgrades could only be software related.  But what if your car has a 3G receiver for wireless communications and we are on 6G yet your car is only 4 years old?  There should also be a design for plug-and-play swappable hardware/firmware modules.

Will these suggestions increase the cost of the associated electronics and the cost of the cars?  Of course.  Will the car companies want to deploy this strategy which will further increase the lifespan of cars?  Maybe not but competition will take care of this.  If one of the up-and-comers like Hyundai adopts this philosophy how could Ford or Toyota not?

Finally while looking ahead what can we make of the flying car?  My view is not much, at least for a long time.  The flying car announced at the NY Auto Show is not really a flying car; it is a small plane which folds up to fit into a garage.  There may come a day when a breakthrough in technology will enable safe and affordable flight.  But in the mean time we are in an era of electronics and telematics.  Let's hope that the electronics can develop to help prevent accidents caused by the multitasking generated by all these new features.

 

 

Digitizing Human Beings: The Creative Destruction of Medicine

I am a big fan of C-SPAN's Book TV.  Each Saturday morning I go through the cable guide of all the non-fiction works being featured that weekend and schedule my DVR (Digital Video Recorder) to record the ones that sound interesting.  They are generally the authors of the book though sometimes there is a panel.  Some I delete them after only a few moments and others I keep and watch over and over, especially while on the treadmill (there must be something about exercise stimulating the brain).  This past week I watched one that I thought was really interesting.  It was a doctor, Eric Topol, who wrote a book titled, "The Creative Destruction of Medicine:  How the Digital Revolution Will Create Better Health".  To view the episode click here and click on the 'Watch this Program' on the right. 

Dr. Topol argued that the technology explosion with computing power, communications, applications, and sensors can make drastic improvements in medicine.  The impact of which will result in what he calls the creative destruction of medicine.  He cited a multitude of examples; here are a few.  IBM's Watson computer can process 2 million pages in 3 seconds; no doctor can come close.  Zeo is a sleep monitor that athletes are using to help improve their performance.  70 million Americans have high blood pressure.  With a patch on your skin and an app. on your smartphone you can see where you stand at any time and record it to see correlations with activities.  Under development are adjunct devices to smartphones that will check for glaucoma and even test your eyes for eyeglasses.  A huge breakthrough has come in gene sequencing machines.  To this point the machines have been horribly expensive and taken a long time to do a single sequencing.  In development are much smaller and cheaper devices that can sequence in 15 minutes.  There have already been examples of cures for very sick people by sequencing their genome.  With the cost and time decreasing, many lives can be saved.  This will also help reduce interactions with drugs.  For example Statins which help control blood pressure has an interaction in 1 of 200 people that results in diabetes.  With genome sequencing this will eliminate that risk.

Now for the problem.  Doctors and drug companies are reluctant to accept the breakthroughs.  Doctors continue to listen to your heart with a stethoscope when an ultrasound device can provide a much clearer view of heart activity.  I have an experience that supports this reluctance.  My company proposed an application to a small regional hospital in the 80s to use a display phone to provide access to records, order drugs (thousands of people suffer each year because Pharmacists misread doctor's handwriting) warn of potential interactions, and post examination results as well as be the phone and nurse call button for the room.  The hospital administrators, the Pharmacists, and the nurses loved it.  The doctors hated it.  The project was killed.

He suggests the solution is to have the consumers drive this in a similar fashion that was used by one of the drug companies in a commercial.  It is "ask your doctor".  So if you have an ailment that requires regular monitoring and the doctor tells you to visit the clinic, you can ask why not use a monitor and smartphone.  Another potential solution is through insurance companies.  I have a friend, an RN, who worked as a health mentor.  There was a list of questions about lifestyle and regular appointments required by the insurance company in an effort to reduce the risk factors of the insured.  I also think there is an opportunity for an entrepreneurial venture.  A person that investigates the best monitoring solutions and can package them with the best smartphone and service provider can make it easy for the doctor to take advantage of technology without having to go through the learning curve AND keep up with the latest in medicine.

Finally he mentioned a potential issue.  He referred to it as "Cybercondria".  This is hypochondria boosted by online searches and now increased monitoring devices. 

Even so, I think we are in for major advances in medicine assuming the doctors get on board.

 

 

Cellphone Tattoos to Cyborg Anthropology

There was a story this week about Nokia applying for a patent on a tattoo that can let you know when your cellphone rings.  Check out the video from Mashable:  Note there is a short car commercial first.

I also heard about a woman named Amber Case who calls herself a Cyborg Anthropologist who commented on this in an article in Forbes Online.  Ms Case says that we are all cyborgs, a combination of human and machine, when we use a device like a smartphone.  As opposed to a tool like a hammer which is an extension of the human for doing work, the smartphone really works together with the human making it a different anthropological application. 

Today we are talking about tattoos that buzz, implants inside animal's skins, and artificial limbs.  Before you know it there could be "beings" that are more machine than man.  So as the technology evolves my question is how do we maintain the balance in favor of mankind?  How do we ensure that we are more man than machine?  As technology continues to deliver incredible advances, let's hope the field of Cyborg Anthropology evolves along with technology to help us deal with these issues.