Implants as a Threat for Business

After we started reading the Chorost book, I didn't get a chance to share with everyone that I worked for a company that makes medical devices to help treat epilepsy and depression. Although I worked in the Information Technology department, I learned about the device mostly from the websites that I maintained for the company. Certain company meetings gave us an opportunity to meet and hear from the patients themselves who have been implanted by our device. And it is amazing to see how happy they are. They talk about how they couldn't live their lives because the medication didn't work anymore or never did at all. Sometimes it really makes you wonder if the doctors out there really care for the patients or if it's more for that little bonus they get for prescribing the medicine. The device that we provide is meant for patients who have tried three or more medications and have not been successful. I don't really think that the pharmaceuticals companies should feel threatened by this method of treatment, but they do. And it's really sad that the patients have to suffer because of it.

Complex Networked Architectures

What about the people who don’t like software, hardware or technology in general? For sure they aren’t one of the user profiles in the accessibility and usability discussion. But they will be indirectly affected no doubt. I guess they just get weeded out? survival of the fittest ...

Taking up from Jared's post on Simple Complexity...A complex networked architecture designed to save time will not cover all aspects of Everyware. Think about Modernity and industrialization. All the sudden we had the power in these nations to create mass suburban housing developments; build huge urban institutions from reinforced concrete, steel and bricks; and ultimately what happened? At least in urban environments, the structures and architectures we built are largely uninhabitable; often doing more harm than good. Now zoning laws transform habitable areas into uninhabitable areas, this is why I go downtown for my volunteer work. Surrounded by buildings which work great during the daytime, but are completely vacant at night; leaving behind those who panhandle for change in the daytime. And rightly so, we do need change, they do need change, and they go to the source of their oppression and ask for it; downtown. Theirs’ is a direct tax, operating outside the law, purely by the sympathy of human nature; while the corporate method is indirect and operates by the laws of oppression and taxation.

I see downtown as the equivalent to the harbors of Boston in the 18th. The taxes stem from those buildings/harbors. They lobby in congress, get some zoning laws and property taxes changed so they can indirectly boot the people living in the places they need to build on; for those areas are prospected for their ease of access, low cost, and time saving location.

And we're on route right now to do the same thing modernity did with its industry and factories. Its good that we have people like Greenfield calling attention to these contemporary issues, getting the word out and asking us to discuss, but the focus on convenience and time-saving, at the moment may sound wonderful, considering how valuable time is to us, but time is very much money, and not everyone has equal access to that, but everyone does have equal access to time, so lets not screw this up like much of Ford-ism did for Modernity. That complex networked architecture is no different from the one we're building today; luckily, for now at least we still have the opportunity to influence that outcome…

some European nations are doing some really cool stuff with sustainable, organic, & interactive architectures, I think these guys are moving in the right direction; how bout yall? do you think this is a very likely route our current economy would take-up?

Random Ramblings ~ Rebuilt

Chorost’s inspirational account in Rebuilt was indeed a great read. It seems like every time you read parts of this book, there’s something new to reflect upon.

Every Chapter title is a memoir in itself:



1. Broken
2. Surgery
3. Between two worlds
4. Activation
5. Forget about reality
6. The Computer Programs me
7. Upgrading
8. The Logic I loved and Hated
9. A Kinship with the machines
10. A Kinship with the Humans
11. The Technologies of Human Potential
12. Mike 2.0

By glancing through the titles, one can recap the entire experience. I could not have hoped for a better ending than Chapters 11 and 12. Mike 2.0 was truly heartfilling. My views on Cyborgs and Biotechnology have changed after reading this book. I have always been skeptical of the interference of advanced technology with the human body, on the premise that the human body was not made to function like this. That when artificial things in the body go wrong, they can really go wrong. But, after an introspective account such as Rebuilt, one can really experience within close quarters, the difference it makes when a man is able to go against the forces of nature, battling a disease that he was born with (Rubella) and overcoming the problem that impaired him from birth. For no apparent fault of his own. But once you marry technology (cochlear implant) and the human body with harmony and care, great things can happen!

I maintain my cautious views on the matter, but can now say with confidence that if this interference (technology and the body) can continue to change lives, and inspire others with similar problems..show them the light, and the courage to pursue this light…then it is definitely a boon. And no critic can take this away from them. My views on the matter have gone through a revelation, but one that I can confidently say, has made me see, experience and feel, the other side.

Biotechnology

After reading this book, I am extremely fascinated with biotechnology and the means that it takes to replace human organs with plastics, metals and circuits. The human organs are extremely intricate in design and seem almost impossible to design from scratch. Even the artificial heart can only be used for a maximum of a few years before the patient needs a real heart. The artificial eye transplant does not give even close to the natural eyesight. What impressed me the most was how fairly significant the cochlear implant emulates natural hearing. Although I am assuming some depth in hearing has to be lost and can sound scratchy at times. The music plug in play seemed to be very progressive. Its hard still to this day use technology to replace vital organs such as the kidneys, heart, and etc. A dialysis machine can keep a patient on a machine for so long before the patient would require a real kidney donor. Replacing the eyesight is another tough challenge, current technology allows for extremely pixilated/grainy pictures of your surroundings. Just think if it’s really possible to replace the human brain with plastics and circuits. To me biotechnology is so important but not looked at the correct way. We don’t need wires, and plastics in our bodies, we need to cultivate actual organs from other cells such as stem cells in order for technology in biological sciences prosper.