Bizarre Technological Innovations in Medicine − The Dark Side of Progress or the Reality of the Near Future?

Starring... the Robot

Would you stick your arm through a circular hole into a large machine and let a robot draw your blood? If yes, you might experience this firsthand in the future. In China, a robot has been successfully constructed that can perform such a task with ease. Guided by navigation technology, it is capable of quickly finding a suitable vein, aseptically drawing the necessary blood sample, and even covering the puncture site with a bandage. Gradually, these robots could replace medical staff in blood collection rooms, turning blood draws into an adventurous (or horrifying) experience for many.

Considerably more bizarre is another announcement from Chinese scientists, who have managed to create artificial intelligence that cares for embryos in an artificial womb. According to Chinese scientists, these robotic nannies should help in countries with declining birth rates. They claim that compared to natural pregnancy, the robotic nanny in an artificial womb ensures much safer conditions for embryo development.

The last novelty in the robotics category involves adverse news being delivered to a patient by a mobile robot with a screen. This incident occurred in California, where a rolling robot approached the bedside of a terminal COPD patient, and a doctor delivered a very unfavorable prognosis of his illness via a live video call on the attached screen, in the presence of his granddaughter. The patient died the following day, and the entire incident made it to the media. Despite the clear ethical controversies of such communication methods, this type of telemedicine technology could be beneficial in the future, for instance, for smaller hospitals by facilitating consultations with missing specialists.

Close Encounters of All Kinds

Virtual reality allows visiting distant places from the comfort of your living room, but in Korea, they have gone much further, enabling a final farewell of a mother with her deceased daughter, who was 'revived' using photos and artificial technology. The very emotional video from the last meeting evokes a range of emotions and ethical questions. It should be noted that Koreans believe that the deceased meet with them in dreams; however, this does not apply to children under 10, whose souls after death go to the 'flower garden on the western sky' and never meet their family in dreams again. For this reason, the final farewell was very important for the mother.

It is now also a reality to date a virtual partner or for advertising to infiltrate human dreams. In 2018, a Chinese scientist also shocked the professional and general public by claiming that he attempted to genetically modify two children to ensure their resistance to HIV infection. Genetic modification of the human organism is a major topic for the future, raising many concerns.

The Early Bird Catches the Worm

Scientists have also figured out how to help people who have trouble waking up in the morning: with a watch that wakes them up with an electric shock instead of a standard alarm. In Sweden, microchips implanted under the forearm's skin, functioning based on radio-frequency identification (RFID), are becoming a trend. With the chip, you can unlock your phone, car, pay at stores, or store your flight tickets or vaccination record.

A hot trend of today is also trading in digital assets, so-called non-fungible tokens (NFTs). This is linked to an incident in Paris, where a doctor treating a woman who survived the 2015 Bataclan club massacre traded her X-ray images in the form of NFTs. It probably goes without saying that the doctor was caught, and the illegal sale of sensitive information caused quite an uproar.

Sci-fi or Reality?

The development of technologies and their implementation in medicine and everyday life brings numerous advancements, but also—as seen in these examples—a multitude of bizarre novelties. Some of them, like robots drawing blood, could become a reality, while others raise many concerns and ethical questions, making their application in real life seem more like sci-fi. Let's wait and see what the future really has in store for us.

As the year comes to a close, let's hope that 2023 will be better than the previous one and, above all, bring as many truly beneficial medical innovations as possible for the benefit of our patients.

(holi)

Source: The Top 10 Super-Creepy Medical Technologies. The Medical Futurist, 2022 May 3. Available at: www.medicalfuturist.com/ten-super-creepy-technologies-in-medicine