Medicine is the next frontier of the future… Alice Park’s new book The Stem Cell Hope, convinced me it is time to retire, “Where is my jetpack!?” once and for all. After reading her new book, Park will have you screaming, “Where are my stem cells?” from every rooftop.
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Posted by
ToddJansensMonkey on 07/20 at 12:42 PM
I completely agree here. But I think there is more going on here than moral ideology stagnating the furthering of stem cell research.
Joel Garreau wrote a book called “Radical Evolution.” Garreau writes about various scenarios for the development of technology; Heaven, Hell, and Prevail.
The Heaven Scenario would be similar to Ray Kurzweil’s ideal Post-Singularity Utopia. The Hell Scenario involves the destruction of the human race (if not all life on Earth). The Prevail Scenario forces the halt of technological progress through deliberate means. I think that we are stuck in a Prevail Scenario with more than just the progress of our medical technology.
We are faced with stagnation. Stagnation of progress on the medical side is due to lack of funding, moral ideology, political pandering, and poor incentive systems. These are huge paradigms to overcome if we want to accelerate progress.
Now, arguments on morality are difficult to argue when there are so many stances on moral view. But, I throw my hat in with the side of scientific progress. I also think it to be ridiculous to pander to the moral zealots just to get a marginal raise in the political polls.
I really see the other biggest block to progress as a skewed incentive system. Markets move toward buying trends.
For instance, large drug manufacturers and biotech companies spend large sums of money on research and development. The pressure to see a return on investment is huge; many times taking ten years or more to see a return on investment. Consequentially, there is more money to be made selling medication that must be taken for longer period of time. There is a lot of money to be made selling allergy pills, erectile dysfunction medication, and anti-depressants over a longer period of time. Repeat customers drive business. Too much money is spent on the development of a new drug or medical device not to see a return.
If a company that makes Chemotherapy suddenly discovered and started selling a $150.00 pill that cures cancer with one treatment then, that company would go out of business. That is a damn shame and an unfortunate consequence.
Biotech and Pharmaceutical companies also face challenges with patent laws and law suits over generic medication, bio-medical technology processes, etc.
The three main things to consider when administering care to the public: Access, Quality, and Cost. Now, it may take time for advanced stem cell treatments to come to the market place, but I believe that stem cell therapy and other advanced treatments come to exist at some point. (Hopefully, sooner than later.)
But, will the treatment that cures cancer in one doctor visit cost $150.00 or $1.5 million?
My concern, once better medical technology exists, relates to Access and Cost. We will have the Quality at some point. But, Access and Cost must be kept in the equation. There is a lot that stands in the way.
As futurists, idealist in our own way, we have our own ideas on how hard the human race should be working to bring about positive change. Let’s be realistic, there is a huge paradigm in place that keeps certain progress slow. We have people like Peter Diamandis creating X-Prizes to help establish incentives for change. Bill Gates and Elon Musk put money toward some pretty big projects. But if we want more people involved and more money flowing to the right places then, we need a change to the paradigm. Otherwise, we will only Prevail to stay in place.
It’s a long road to tow. And, we’re all in this together.
So, what the hell are we going to do about it?
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