Nothing more spine-chillingly horrifying then using the Internet to self diagnose a medical concern. The one lesson I've learned from making this classic 21st Century mistake over and over again is that literally anything can be a symptom of terminal cancer. Stubbing your big toe can be caused by acute dizziness which can be a symptom of an inoperable brain tumor. As if going to WebMD wasn't terrifying enough, Google has decided to make scaring the crap out of people easier than ever.
Whenever a user uses Google to search for a medical ailment, for example, the common cold, Google will now include, as part of its Knowledge Graph, a horrifyingly animated graphic of the ailment, its symptoms, treatments, and a small about blurb. This has sparked somewhat of a philosophical debate among professionals.
Google is venturing into the healthcare field slowly. It help to fund the 23andMe genotyping project and now has apps like Google Fit that help keep people healthy. In November of 2013, Google got in a lot of trouble with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for giving out medical information as part of the 23andMe project. Prem Ramaswami, Google's Product Manager, has explicitly stated that these new search results are used for "informational use only." I have to admit, as skeptical as I am about using the Internet to self-diagnose, I do think that Google has found a way to make it successful.
For this project, Google has partnered with the Mayo Clinic, and according to a representative, on average 11 different physicians looked at each search result before it was published. Needless to say, the information is accurate. I can sit here and write about how I feel like this is terrible and that people are going to start disregarding doctors and bla bla bla. To be honest, after using the tool a little bit I actually think this is one of the only online tools for medical evaluation that does more good than harm. That is definitely a difficult thing to do. I'm having a bit of an existential crisis because I feel like I should really hate this. I even started off this post with hate. I was beyond convinced that this was going to be atrocious, but I do like it.
Google definitely knows what it is doing, with the exception of Google Glass, I can't think of another monumental flop (maybe the ChromeBook... does anyone remember ChromBooks?). The search results are intuitive and right to the point. Congratulations Google, you improved the Internet.
On the medical note, it is scary to think about but modern science would not be where it is today without many gruesome and questionable experiments and failures of the past. Most people would like to ignore this and say that these methods were barbaric and not how 'we do things' forgetting completely how it is we have come to the point we are at now. I think it would be beneficial for people to notice this and realize that we must 'suffer' through the google glass or walls of mis-information and yes even chrome books, if we are to be led to something greater. Each of these technologies may have been flawed but look where they lead - the google glass to wearable ar (augmented reality), a true utilization of technology as a tool - the heaps of information as a gateway to artificial intelligence - chrome books, primitive thin clients
ReplyDeleteI will likely do a longer post about this at some point but the future of our society seems to be approaching a direction which excites me but seems to scare others.
Imagine a world without currency, without occupation. If a robot can produce food and clothing and shelter for me why would I complain, it would free my time to do other things which I wished to do.
I don't think Google's true aim is to improve the internet, I would be amazed if it was
I read this post and the entire time all I can think is "THIS IS ME!" I am constantly on Google trying to figure out what exactly every little mark, sensation of pain, headache, etc. is. And EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. I do this I regret it so much, and wonder what I was thinking in turning to Google for a diagnosis in the first place! I practically live on WebMD, and Mayo Clinic. But in regards to your believing this tool does more good, than harm, I find that hard to believe. I haven't spent any time looking at it, but based purely on my experiences of using the internet for help in diagnosing me, I do not think I'd ever trust it. Even with there being 11 different physicians approving the search results, there are just too many different diseases, illnesses, infections, or more simply put, possibilities or negative options, for me to ever fully trust the internet with my health. I'd put my trust in a doctor with their degree any day over the internet, no matter the site I got my information from.
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