IoT or IfP: Internet for People - “nothing on this screen matters.”

I have a passion for leveraging the power of smartphones, sensors, IoT, and wearables to improve the health and wellness of society.  I have spoken to various groups on the Information Age, Future of Smart Phones, A.I., and the Internet of Things (IoT).  On Aug 5th, I will be speaking at the IoT Summit in Overland Park, KS.  The title of this talk is: IoT in Healthcare by leveraging the power of 4G and 5G mobile technology and health sensors and wearables https://iotsummitkc.org/schedule.html 

As I am preparing for this talk on the IoT and considering the Information Age revolution that I believe could provide great benefit to mankind but also could cause significant problems, I have come to the realization that our focus should not be on the Internet of Things but must be on the Internet for People (IfP).   What Martin Luther King, Jr. said almost 50 years ago is still true today:   “I am convinced that if we are to get on the right side of the world revolution, we as a nation must undergo a radical revolution of values. We must rapidly begin to shift from a "thing-oriented" society to a "person-centered" society.   When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered.”

For the promise of the IoT, I will highlight the McKinsey Global Institute report of THE INTERNET OF THINGS: MAPPING THE VALUE BEYOND THE HYPE where they write:

 “The Internet of Things—digitizing the physical world—has received enormous attention. In this research, the McKinsey Global Institute set out to look beyond the hype to understand exactly how IoT technology can create real economic value. Our central finding is that the hype may actually understate the full potential of the Internet of Things—but that capturing the maximum benefits will require an understanding of where real value can be created and successfully addressing a set of systems issues, including interoperability.

Viewing IoT applications through the lens of the physical settings in which these systems will be deployed creates a broader view of potential benefits and challenges. Rather than just analyzing IoT uses in vertical industries, we also look at settings, such as cities and worksites. This shows how various IoT systems can maximize value, particularly when they interact. We estimate a potential economic impact—including consumer surplus—of as much as $11.1 trillion per year in 2025 for IoT applications in nine settings.”

https://www.mckinsey.com/insights/business_technology/The_Internet_of_Things_The_value_of_digitizing_the_physical_world

The US is spending 2x more for health care than the rest of the developed world but our life expectancy is lower.  With all the information available, we should be able to do better.  We need to understand how to use the power of the medical information technology and IoT to improve health and cost.

Medical information is doubling every 5 years but it can take 15 years from the time of the latest medical technology discovery to be put into common practice.  (IBM Holland Davey, Jana Babouder-Matta, Chris Honeycutt, David Burr Presentation)   “Globally, it is estimated that 142,000 people died in 2013 from adverse effects of medical treatment” (Global Burden of Disease Study 2013, The Lancet)  Michael Jackson underwent up to 100 operations.  George Washington have ~4 pints of Blood Letting the day he died and medical treatment killed him and not a cold. https://www.earlyamerica.com/early-america-review/volume-9/washingtons-death/

For President Garfield, “16 doctors consulted on Garfield's condition; several worsened that condition. The army surgeon general stuck his unwashed finger into the wound and dug as deep as the president's ribs. The navy surgeon general probed so extensively with his unwashed finger that he actually punctured the liver, destroying its protective outer covering.” https://www.aintnowaytogo.com/garfield.htm

 “50 percent or more of all cancer is preventable by things we can do” (NIH).    For most of us, penicillin is a wonder drug, but for those who are allergic to penicillin, it could kill you. Even if a drug does not harm you, it may not help, depending upon your genetic profile.   Healthcare needs to be personal – the right drug or treatment, at the right dosage, for the right person, at the right time. 

Peter Diamandis said “By 2025, the IoE will exceed 100 billion connected devices, each with a dozen or more sensors collecting data.”   The power of a supercomputer a decade ago is in your pocket.  We need to learn to use this power to focus on health and wellness.   

Dr. Janusz Bryzek Chair, TSensors Summit Vice President, MEMS and Sensing Solutions at the SensorsCon2014 Santa Clara, CA, March 6, 2014 presented the “Iot Drivers:

• The cost to connect things approaching free
• “Ever-increasing network capacity at higher speeds and ever-cheaper rates
• “Pervasive collaboration of people via technology”
• “The explosion of apps for everything”
• Addressing - IPv6, providing vastly more IP addresses
• The mainstreaming of cloud computing
• Nanotechnology”

I am working to bring about the first 3 drivers and will discuss how 4G and 5G technology can help drive the IoT.  It is an exciting time to see what is possible in the next 5 to 15 years. 

“In modern medicine, Dr. Atul Gawande said, there are 13,600 diagnoses, or ways in which the human body can fail, and no patient comes in with just one diagnosis at a time.  Now more than 6,000 drugs can be prescribed, and 4,000 medical and surgical procedures can be performed.” https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2011/09/the-battle-for-medicine%E2%80%99s-soul/ 

The key question is how do we maximize positive health outcomes?  What Actionable Information Do You Need on a Minute, Hourly, Daily, Monthly, Yearly Basis – Is it Information or Just Noise?  The IoT and Wearables Can Drive Down Cost to Make This Information Affordable and Available for the Masses.

In the presentation  on Redesigning Healthcare for the IoT Jordan by Shlain, MD and Ben Rosner, MD, PhD  HealthLoop.com stated:

• “Healthcare is a people business in need of technology, not a technology business in need of people.”
• “Healthcare at it’s best is a conversation between a doctor and a patient trying to solve a problem” – focus on collaboration
• “WHAT PATIENTS WANT…
  • To live their lives with minimal impact of illness
  • To have trust in their medical teams
  • Convenient communication channels
  • To get support and sense of control
• “WHAT DOCTORS WANT…
  • Practice medicine without hassle factor
  • Actionable information
  • Incentives that make sense
  • Innovation that really makes a difference
  • Improve reputation via great outcomes

With all the technology available, we need to be focused on the Person not the Technology.  Elbert Hubbard said “One machine can do the work of fifty ordinary men. No machine can do the work of one extraordinary man” – I would add that can use the machine to maximize his or her skills.  Rule of Thumb: If a medical professional is spending more than 10% of the time with the technology and not the patient, something is wrong.  Working to improve the health of society is a difficult challenge but to paraphrase JFK, “the goal of low cost quality healthcare and wellness for all will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win.” 

I really like the book The Digital Doctor: Hope, Hype, and Harm at the Dawn of Medicine's Computer Age by Dr. Robert Wachter and especially thought the last chapter of the book was a very powerful reminder that we need to focus on people and not the screen or technology.  At Nokia, there is a focus to work to "Make Tech Human."  When we focus on squiggles on the screen and not the person, we are using technology wrong.  Here is a short section from Dr. Wachter's book that encourages me to focus on people and not technology:

“Mr. Gordon (patient with terminal illness who is now just receiving comfort care) lay still, now unconscious from his morphine drip. The stage was set, but then I noticed a problem: in his haste to discontinue the various tubes and treatments, the nurse had forgotten to disconnect the bedside cardiac monitor, which continued to flicker a few feet above Mr. Gordon’s head. And so it was that at one of life’s most profound moments, a moment nearly impossible in its mystery and poignancy, a moment paradoxically rich with promise and ineffable sadness, all four family members’ eyes were raised, not searching for Truth or for God, but watching little squiggles, each the electronic signature of a heartbeat, march across a rectangular screen. Mr. Gordon’s son was sitting closest to the monitor. I put my hand on his shoulder. Speaking to all of them, I said, “Your dad is comfortable, and I’m so glad you could all be here with him. I’m sure he is, too. But,” I pointed to the heart monitor, “there is absolutely nothing on this screen that matters.” And I pressed the off button. As the screen went to black, the family members shared a look of shock, then clarity, and then— what was it?— acceptance, warmth, gratitude, transcendence, maybe even love. After a moment of gathering themselves, each turned to Mr. Gordon, squeezed his hands, stroked his arm, touched his cheek. The scene was pure, peaceful, and— in a way that is hard to describe— quite beautiful. And then he died.”

The following books and material have helped to give me insight into the IfP.  We are in an Information Revolution and this revolution could bring great change for good or for evil.  How we as individuals and society respond to this revolution will decide if this revolution will bring great benefit to humanity or great problems.  The choice is up to us.

• Mary Meeker INTERNET TRENDS 2014 / 2015 CODE CONFERENC http://www.kpcb.com/insights?tag=Reports+%26+Presentations
• SOFTBANK Next 30-Year Vision June 25, 2010 Chairman & CEO Masayoshi Son
• Janusz Bryzek Chair, TSensors Summit Vice President, MEMS and Sensing Solutions, Fairchild Semiconductor
• In The Creative Destruction of Medicine, The Patient Will See You Now: The Future of Medicine is in Your Hands - Eric Topol
• The Second Machine Age: Work, Progress, and Prosperity in a Time of Brilliant Technologies Brynjolfsson, Erik; McAfee, Andrew
• Abundance: The Future Is Better Than You Think; and Bold: How to Go Big, Make Bank, and Better the World - Steven Kotler, Peter H. Diamandis
• West Rules--for Now: The Patterns of History; and What They Reveal About the Future” Ian Morris.
• The Zero Marginal Cost Society: The Internet of Things, the Collaborative Commons, and the Eclipse of Capitalism– Jeremy Rifkin
• IWPC Conf: Building Blocks Towards an Internet of Connected Things (IoT)
• Enchanted Objects- David Rose
• Average Is Over: Powering America Beyond the Age of the Great Stagnation - Tyler Cowen
• Connectome, Dr. Sebastian Seung
• How to Create a Mind: The Secret of Human Thought Revealed - Ray Kurzweil,
• Glass Gage; The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains - Nicholas Carr
• Smarter Than You Think: How Technology is Changing Our Minds for the Better- Thompson, Clive
• Physics of the Future: How Science Will Shape Human Destiny and Our Daily Lives by the Year 2100 - The Future of the Mind - Michio Kaku,
• “The most human human” by Brian Christian –“what Artificial Intelligence Teaches Us about Being Alive.
• The Other Brain: How New Discoveries about the Brain Are Revolutionizing Medicine and Science -Douglas Fields
• Disruptive technologies: Advances that will transform life, business, and the global economy - McKinsey Global Institute
• The Remedy: Robert Koch, Arthur Conan Doyle, and the Quest to Cure Tuberculosis - Thomas Goetz
• Infinite Progress: How the Internet and Technology Will End Ignorance, Disease, Poverty, Hunger, and War - Byron Reese
• Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future -Peter Thiel , Blake Masters
• DNA USA: A Genetic Portrait of America; Adam's Curse: A Future without Men; The Seven Daughters of Eve: The Science That Reveals Our Genetic Ancestry by Bryan Sykes --- Bad Science; Bad Pharma: How Drug Companies Mislead Doctors and Harm Patients by Ben Goldacre
• The Rational Optimist: How Prosperity Evolves; Genome: The Autobiography of a Species in 23 Chapters by Matt Ridley
• DNA: The Secret of Life Kindle Edition by James D. Watson
• The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer by Siddhartha Mukherjee
• Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End; The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right; Complications: A Surgeon's Notes on an Imperfect Science; Better: A Surgeon's Notes on Performance by Atul Gawande
• Genes, Chromosomes, and Disease: From Simple Traits, to Complex Traits, to Personalized Medicine by Nicholas Wright Gillham
• “Anticancer, A New Way of Life” by David Servan-Schreiber MD PhD
• The Philadelphia Chromosome: A Genetic Mystery, a Lethal Cancer, and the Improbable Invention of a Lifesaving Treatment by Jessica Wapner
• P53: The Gene that Cracked the Cancer Code by Sue Armstrong