Google has taken a step forward and embarked on a project that maybe its biggest quest: to collect information about the human body. This project is called the baseline study and will attempt to collect genetic information from 175 people. This "molecularization" of the human body will allow scientists and doctors to have a clear image of a "healthy" human being. This full picture of a human body will give doctors the possibility to properly diagnose conditions and give the best possible treatment for an ailment. This new venture into incorporating medicine and technology will help shift traditional medicine from treatment of an illness to the prevention of an illness.
In order to achieve this feat, google plans to build a database similar to youtube; the technologies will be used towards store and "crunch medical information and let other researchers access it more easily." This project dives into deep privacy issues - google will be storing information regarding the molecular make up of a person. There are opportunities for insurance companies to exploit this information and select their customers based on the lowest risk factors. There can also be previous bias towards people with certain diseases and conditions while applying for jobs or making any big life decisions.
Google has said that in order to prevent privacy infringements, "the information from Baseline will be anonymous and its use will be limited to medical and health purposes. data won't be shared with insurance companies." The project will be monitored by review boards to oversee all the research involving human beings and boards run by Duke University and Stanford University will "control how the information is used."
This sounds like a great idea and it will definitely revolutionize medical care provided to people. However, this research delves into the molecular make up of human beings - it is essentially stripping everything about a human and leaving only the atoms that make up the body. The body transforms into small units that can be manipulated. Labs trade information from one study for information from other studies. Bio industries thrive over the sales of products catered towards certain conditions. Life becomes "tradeable". The deep understanding of the human body gained from this project can possibly allow technology to instruct the human body to act different - medicine changes from representation of the human body to the intervention of natural processes at the level of informational codes. This sensitive information can prevent many diseases and dynamically change medicine but in the wrong hands, it can wreak havoc.
Reference:
http://online.wsj.com/articles/google-to-collect-data-to-define-healthy-human-1406246214
In order to achieve this feat, google plans to build a database similar to youtube; the technologies will be used towards store and "crunch medical information and let other researchers access it more easily." This project dives into deep privacy issues - google will be storing information regarding the molecular make up of a person. There are opportunities for insurance companies to exploit this information and select their customers based on the lowest risk factors. There can also be previous bias towards people with certain diseases and conditions while applying for jobs or making any big life decisions.
Google has said that in order to prevent privacy infringements, "the information from Baseline will be anonymous and its use will be limited to medical and health purposes. data won't be shared with insurance companies." The project will be monitored by review boards to oversee all the research involving human beings and boards run by Duke University and Stanford University will "control how the information is used."
This sounds like a great idea and it will definitely revolutionize medical care provided to people. However, this research delves into the molecular make up of human beings - it is essentially stripping everything about a human and leaving only the atoms that make up the body. The body transforms into small units that can be manipulated. Labs trade information from one study for information from other studies. Bio industries thrive over the sales of products catered towards certain conditions. Life becomes "tradeable". The deep understanding of the human body gained from this project can possibly allow technology to instruct the human body to act different - medicine changes from representation of the human body to the intervention of natural processes at the level of informational codes. This sensitive information can prevent many diseases and dynamically change medicine but in the wrong hands, it can wreak havoc.
Reference:
http://online.wsj.com/articles/google-to-collect-data-to-define-healthy-human-1406246214
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