You are currently viewing SemiWiki as a guest which gives you limited access to the site. To view blog comments and experience other SemiWiki features you must be a registered member. Registration is fast, simple, and absolutely free so please, join our community today!
With medical costs soaring worldwide, the automation of medical will be the next battleground. With AI, large data bases and advanced robotics we are already seeing a revolution in medical in places. China is making great inroads in this area and if the US doesn't follow suit, medical costs alone will destroy our competitive advantage. The Chines are making huge advances in this area and if the US doesn't rise to the challenge, medical costs in the US which consume twenty percent of every dollar and rising while delivering low quality care(37th) before they had the web scrubbed after I published a forum in Barron's years ago, the US will lose its competitive edge as the Chinese race ahead. Semis will be key to the robotics and the intelligence guiding them. This is a battle the US can't afford to lose for it alone could make our economy unable to compete. Semis and the ecosystem of robotics and ever-growing databases will be the economic battleground of the future. Any thoughts or comments appreciated.
I agree completely. The US medical system is seriously broken and people are suffering. AI is definitely needed and needed now. ChatGPT is cute but real medical AI is critical. I also feel we are behind in the right to die with dignity area. I'm not sure how AI can help us here but it is needed. I have a relative that needs to get into Hospice (she is 86 and suffering). Some of these medical tests and procedure seem more like torture. My advice to people who are 60 years old: Have a good time because nothing good happens after 70. When I was a kid it was nothing good happens after 60!
I agree completely. The US medical system is seriously broken and people are suffering. AI is definitely needed and needed now. ChatGPT is cute but real medical AI is critical. I also feel we are behind in the right to die with dignity area. I'm not sure how AI can help us here but it is needed. I have a relative that needs to get into Hospice (she is 86 and suffering). Some of these medical tests and procedure seem more like torture. My advice to people who are 60 years old: Have a good time because nothing good happens after 70. When I was a kid it was nothing good happens after 60!
Dan, I agree, but age is how one takes care of oneself. Medical insurance should be like car insurance, if you are reckless with your health, your premium is higher, even much higher and this would have to include medicare. Jack LaLane worked out with 300 lb. weights at 90 and a long swim. I'm seventy and have worked out for decades and eat a performance diet. When I was sixty, I told my nephew he could even jump on my stomach, and he proclaimed he weighed 262. He did the jump and fell on the floor when he landed on rock. Age has much to do with lifestyle. Medical should be like car insurance, based on risk, just like life insurance. We don't reward bad drivers with low-cost auto insurance, we should not reward bad health habits either.
Dan, I agree, but age is how one takes care of oneself. Medical insurance should be like car insurance, if you are reckless with your health, your premium is higher, even much higher and this would have to include medicare. Jack LaLane worked out with 300 lb. weights at 90 and a long swim. I'm seventy and have worked out for decades and eat a performance diet. When I was sixty, I told my nephew he could even jump on my stomach, and he proclaimed he weighed 262. He did the jump and fell on the floor when he landed on rock. Age has much to do with lifestyle. Medical should be like car insurance, based on risk, just like life insurance.
I'm not talking about insurance, I'm talking about elder care. You will not find a more fit semiconductor professional with 40+ years experience than myself but the gene pool has a swift current. You will also not meet a Semiconductor professional that goes to more conferences than I do. I spent quite a bit of my career in Asia and the EU. The medical care system in the US is broken and that is a fact. Do you know what the largest city is the US is? Obesity.
I sail the San Francisco Bay and the coast of California single handed. While there are certainly outliers, most men age out of that type of sailing at 70. That is what I go by. I have helped numerous aging relatives including my grandfather who raised me. He was a WWI vet (Medic) and lived to be 102. Living that long was "murder" his words. The VA medical system was ridiculous.
I track medical related semiconductor start-ups and have been very disappointed thus far with the exception of Neuralink. I'm hoping AI can change that because I feel we have all of the data we need to advance geriatric medicine. We have poured trillions of dollars into disease research, we need to model that data and get some actionable results, my opinion.
What is your view on the latest medical robotics and the new dental robot? The Chinese are big on dental robotics having one that does dental implants. Will the Chinese take the lead in medical robots? My step grandfather died at 89 , but it was because he had just finished laying over a ton of lawn sod during a heat wave for my grandmothers birthday. Personally, I feel time is catching up to me at eighty and then the quality of life will degenerate severely. I feel medical and old age costs will do in our economy sooner than most people know or think. This will lead to massive economic and social conflict. I have a nephew who has run up seven figure bills for the tax payer including a heart transplant that ran a million five in total costs and lived off welfare for a good part of his life, I can only imagine how his three kids will function.
Today without AI the US has by far the most expensive medical care in the world and is way down the list for quality of care.
With AI in the future -- which will be applied everywhere, not just the USA -- the US will *still* have the most expensive medical care in the world and be way down the list for quality of care, because "a rising tide lifts all boats".
What's broken and needs fixing in the US is a system that prioritizes the interests of insurers and medical suppliers and hospital groups and advertisers -- basically, making as much profit as possible out of illness -- over the interests of patients.
AI isn't going to fix this, neither are any other wonderful technical advances in medicine... :-(
Today without AI the US has by far the most expensive medical care in the world and is way down the list for quality of care.
With AI in the future -- which will be applied everywhere, not just the USA -- the US will *still* have the most expensive medical care in the world and be way down the list for quality of care, because "a rising tide lifts all boats".
What's broken and needs fixing in the US is a system that prioritizes the interests of insurers and medical suppliers and hospital groups and advertisers -- basically, making as much profit as possible out of illness -- over the interests of patients.
AI isn't going to fix this, neither are any other wonderful technical advances in medicine... :-(
You are dead on, pardon the pun. Reform is needed if the US to avoid medical destroying our economic edge due to inefficient, low quality, high cost medical. Automation of many functions is just one step that is needed. We can no longer subsidize medical care for the irresponsible, just like we can't give drunk drivers low-cost auto insurance.
You are dead on, pardon the pun. Reform is needed if the US to avoid medical destroying our economic edge due to inefficient, low quality, high cost medical. Automation of many functions is just one step that is needed. We can no longer subsidize medical care for the irresponsible, just like we can't give drunk drivers low-cost auto insurance.
Funny, many other countries manage to provide better care for everybody -- regardless of responsibility -- for a lot less money than the USA does... ;-)
Probably because the vast majority of people who fall ill and need care are not to blame for their condition, and it's cheaper to treat everybody than spend a lot of money investigating who is "responsible" or not. I know it sounds terribly socialist to treat everyone according to need rather than pin the blame on "irresponsible" people and not treat them, but it seems to work better than the system used in the US...
Funny, many other countries manage to provide better care for everybody -- regardless of responsibility -- for a lot less money than the USA does... ;-)
Personally I am less concerned about cost than quality of results but as cost goes down the quality of results in the US goes down. At some point in time people will realize you cannot get rich just being a doctor and be a doctor to help people. Just about all of my doctors who had independent practices have sold out to major corporations so I am just a patient number, which is fine. I just want better care.
AI can certainly improve quality of results AND lower costs but you are right that does not mean it will. Robotics are fine, I just feel that we already have the data we need to improve health care, we just need a way to use it in a cost effective manner.
Personally I am less concerned about cost than quality of results but as cost goes down the quality of results in the US goes down. At some point in time people will realize you cannot get rich just being a doctor and be a doctor to help people. Just about all of my doctors who had independent practices have sold out to major corporations so I am just a patient number, which is fine. I just want better care.
AI can certainly improve quality of results AND lower costs but you are right that does not mean it will. Robotics are fine, I just feel that we already have the data we need to improve health care, we just need a way to use it in a cost effective manner.
I'm sure that AI will improve health care costs/results, but it won't make the US any better compared to other countries.
Your last point is the key -- the US medical system is not cost effective, it's one of the worst in the world in that regard. AI and robotics won't change this so long as it places making money first and patient's interests second... :-(
I'm sure that AI will improve health care costs/results, but it won't make the US any better compared to other countries.
Your last point is the key -- the US medical system is not cost effective, it's one of the worst in the world in that regard. AI and robotics won't change this so long as it places making money first and patient's interests second... :-(
I would think the transition I mentioned from private practices to corporate practices would give the US government better control over medical costs? Not so much with pharmaceuticals so it is probably not going to happen in my lifetime. My advice to my children is to save as much money as possible because living to 100+ years old is going to be expensive!
With medical costs soaring worldwide, the automation of medical will be the next battleground. With AI, large data bases and advanced robotics we are already seeing a revolution in medical in places. China is making great inroads in this area and if the US doesn't follow suit, medical costs alone will destroy our competitive advantage. The Chines are making huge advances in this area and if the US doesn't rise to the challenge, medical costs in the US which consume twenty percent of every dollar and rising while delivering low quality care(37th) before they had the web scrubbed after I published a forum in Barron's years ago, the US will lose its competitive edge as the Chinese race ahead. Semis will be key to the robotics and the intelligence guiding them. This is a battle the US can't afford to lose for it alone could make our economy unable to compete. Semis and the ecosystem of robotics and ever-growing databases will be the economic battleground of the future. Any thoughts or comments appreciated.
I could argue after seeing China and Taiwan healthcare up close and personal as well as living there that automation nor AI leadership is the answer to United States huge health care cost nor health issues.
The issue here spans all the things that define the US: culture, politics, technology, methodology, insurance and on and on.
Just board an airplane here and in the Far East or Europe to see the fundamental starting problem and it only explodes from there. Automation and AI applied anywhere will only make our gap larger IMO
US medical is not about quality or value, but about profits, sad, but true. Automation, I feel is the best answer. Also it should be risk based, why should a junkie suck up seven figures in medical care that others pay for?
The US healthcare system could be made vastly more efficient by focusing on prevention rather than ‘treat it after it becomes a disease’. Hopefully AI/automation could encourage more of the former - pointing out US food standards are terrible, and getting more granular on nutrition recommendations for individuals.
Health maintenance and early prevention are key to keeping costs down. Many medical devices are now very cheap to have at home and this market is growing adding new forms of health monitoring every year.
