One last 2012 take on this eternally buzzy subject. Despite the illogical Fast Company Co.Exist headline (What’s the future of doctors when sensors in your electronics diagnose disease? Even Vinod Khosla would say the sensors do not and the algorithms aren’t there yet), this is a reasonably nuanced article on the downside of The Quantified Self–that even the Ph.D gearheads will have to use automation to sort out everyday changes from those which are leading indicators of something significant; that big data analysis and data mining at the heart of personal automated diagnostics can be kind of creepy, but with the capacity for devastation and inaccuracy. The positive conclusion: doctors will work with people to sort out not only the physical but also the emotional state of well-being. It is cheerful enough, but then the picture of your average PCP (GP) waist-deep in patient data, alerts and forms, tablet and smartphone beeping, materializes as the Ghost of Christmas Present to Near-Future. Marley shows up dragging the last three FBQs* piled in a sack–and we begin to realize that the only Charles Dickens who’ll be writing The Ghost of Christmas Future, is us.
*Who’s looking at the data, who’s actioning it, how data is integrated into patient records
Editors Donna and Steve wish all our readers the best for the remaining holiday season, and for the New Year!