“It’s hard to watch a loved one get sick. Their eyes go glassy. Their breathing is punctuated by body-wracking coughs. Feverish and aching, they struggle to get out of bed.
Hard as these symptoms are to witness, they’re so familiar you don’t need a medical degree to know it’s probably a bad cold and maybe the flu. Get some rest, hydrate, pop some ibuprofen, see a doctor if the symptoms significantly worsen—and wash your hands, for heaven’s sake.
For most of history, however, even the finest physicians only slowly advanced beyond the basics of biology and medicine we take for granted. There have long been forms of diagnosis, treatment, and prevention, but these were rudimentary at best and superstitious at worst.
“The history of innovation is not that exciting—until you get to the 20th century,” Jane Metcalfe, cofounder of Wired and founder of Neo.Life, told the audience at Singularity University’s Exponential Medicine in San Diego this week…”