The AutoDoc

For most of my life I have read Science Fiction. One recurring theme is a device something like a high tech bed that either slides into a chamber, or the chamber has a way to admit a human and when finished for easy departure.

In most scenarios, the device is only slightly larger than the human body, with a comfortable waterbed to lie on, and room for flexible arms, which are under the control of either a computer of some type, or controlled remotely by waldos and cameras, hosting a remote specialist.

The autodoc (and I am surprised that Wikipedia doesn't have a separate page for this concept, but you can see here how ubiquitous the concept has been). is often an autonomous Expert System, which has the ability to take blood samples, (or any other sample), temperature, Scanning, etc, such that the autodoc would be able to set a broken bone, or diagnose some condition (perhaps it does NOT have the ability or authority to fix), which requires it to contact a doctor, nurse or specialist. These people would then be able to remotely assist using the robotic arms or waldos.

Now, first I hear you saying, sure, but the tech doesn't exist. Wrong! It exists, but would take a big investment to produce proof-of-concept and beta versions. It would be good for the economy, once the industry ramped up.

Now I hear you saying, sure but how is that going to break the Cost Curve of the Health Industry? And wouldn't the cost of this fanciful tech be prohibitive?

Now I ask the reader to remember only a few years ago, computers took up whole buildings and cost millions of dollars each. Then the tech went desktop and luggable, and we thought we were happy with 8088s and 80286s, with monochrome screens and a 5Mb hard drive for ~$10K (in today's dollars). Now of course, computers are so small and cheap and yet so much more powerful than the original building-sized computers.

How long would it take to ramp up to where most people could "rent" time in one for diagnosis, with the wealthiest among us owning their own? I don't believe it would necessarily take very long, since all the tech already exists and in fact is mature technology, in most cases.

Perhaps the first ones produced will only be for diagnosis and triage. The next generations of the autodoc will also do advanced surgery, or even DNA-therapy.*

If you buy your own, of course, you could have complete electronics built into it, and adjustable to anywhere from laying down to sitting to standing. Eventually, you'll wear the tech on a watch. It will be built into the phone you wear!

The question left for the student... whether or not the Health Insurance Industry would ever allow this to happen? It may be good for The People and the economy, but the Health Insurance Industry might lose profits, so surely that would take precedence?

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Larry Niven used the concept extensively... Procrustes, for example.

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* (Tailor your own genes to fix your problems! Today's medicine is expensive and shotgun, the same medications for millions of people. Tomorrow's medicine will analyze your DNA, understand what it is that is causing the weak heart, immune system, or whatever, in your DNA, then use your own DNA as the medicine!)