By Leandrew Dixon
[CRISPR + Nanotechnology + Machine Learning = Cybernetic Healthcare]
You’re a clumsy nurse in 2035. Everyday you go to work full of anxiety. You’re worried that you may accidentally prick yourself with a needle from an HIV patient, accidentally come into contact with the anthrax patient, or bump into that rack with the sketchy looking petri dishes. Thankfully, your insurance covers the new health operating system, ImmuneOS, which puts you at ease. Little did you know that when you subscribed and had the immuno-chip and nanobots installed, the next day would be the clumsiest of your life.
You open your eyes that morning to a sun brighter than it usually is when your alarm wakes you. Your ears lock on to the distinct lack of sound. Your lungs pause as you realize what that means. And so the scramble begins. Scrambled eggs, that is. Scrambled eggs that you wouldn’t have cooked in such a sloppy rush if you had the time to do your usual checking of the news outlets, which all featured headlines about a salmonella outbreak. ImmuneOS definitely received the news.
As you eat the potentially infected eggs, ImmuneOS pauses it’s initial 24-hour full health scan and runs scans looking specifically for salmonella bacteria. It successfully identifies the bacteria triggering your nanobots to engage and neutralize the target. Stupid bacteria never had a chance.
You hop in your car and rush off, but this morning’s ‘rush’ is more like ‘rush hour’; rush hour in L.A. It’s a morning rush hour made only more unpleasant by the fact that you accidentally smashed the driver side window on your way out. You don’t plan on telling anyone how it happened. You don’t want to seem like a clumsy ditz.
You didn’t cut yourself too bad, but the clottocyte nanobots in your blood moved quickly to the wound and secreted fibers to help rapidly close it. You couldn’t help thinking about taking up a career as a superhero.
Now you also get to inhale the fresh morning smog you’ve always hated while you sit in traffic. During the initial ImmuneOS scan, it realized you live in L.A. and are thus more susceptible to lung cancer due to the smog. Its machine learning algorithms have been successful at identifying cancers days after they’ve begun to form and months or years ahead of traditional methods- years in your case.
When ImmuneOS detected the potentially cancerous genes, it utilized its CRISPR functionality to cut them out and replace them with healthier upgraded versions. Now you get to be one of those people making melodramatic social media posts about beating a cancer you never suffered a symptom of.
Finally arriving to the hospital, you decide to enter through the back door to avoid being noticed by the front desk and management. You quickly scuffle down the hall towards your station and right as you approach the intersection of the hall, one of your worst fears comes true: the rack of sketchy petri dishes is being pushed down the hall by one of the in-house microbiologists, and you’ve got too much momentum to stop.
Fortunately, the chaos that ensued was only extremely embarrassing, slightly painful, potentially job threatening, but NOT life threatening thanks to your cybernetic healthcare system. ImmuneOS: “Getting You One Massive Leap Closer to Immortality”.
[ImmuneOS may sound crazy, but look at where the technology is currently]
Usually, when people imagine cyborgs, they imagine machine arms or glowing, red, synthetic eyes. Most people don’t imagine that we’d likely first have cybernetic immune systems. We’re well on that path as some of the features of the cybernetic healthcare system have already been demonstrated in laboratories and universities.
Nanotechnology is the science of engineering matter at the atomic level. The advancement of this field is allowing us to construct microscopic robots capable of incredible things. In terms of health, nanobots will be used to perform life saving mechanical tasks like clearing plaque from congested arteries, destroying bad bacteria and even cancer cells!
CRISPR is an incredible new gene editing technique that allows for the precise removal and replacement of any genetic material. It will allow us to simply and cheaply remove any virus, disease, or genetic disorder while also opening the door for the upgrading of our genetic code.
Pairing these technologies with machine learning will add a virtually impenetrable layer to our immune systems. Our internet connected “immunity processors” will be able to detect the extremely early signs of sickness, disease, or any other malady and eradicate it long before any symptom shows. Developments are already being made in detecting lung cancer far more quickly using machine learning.
Moreover, our healthcare providers will function more like software companies. They’ll offer Health-As-A-Service and we’ll receive updates that make improvements on our genes, constantly improving our overall health.
[ Just think of the implications of life with ImmuneOS ]
It’s obvious that cybernetic health systems like ImmuneOS would have massive ramifications for life as a human being. Imagine being able to life without fear of dying from diseases, cancers, let alone even getting sick. Imagine the impact of not losing some of the greatest geniuses of our time to simple illnesses. Of course, there is a whole new can of worms in terms of privacy concerns with something like ImmuneOS. You’d be giving a corporation the ability to control your immune system and other bodily functions. What do you think? Would you install it?
