Arthur Hanson
Well-known member
A revolution is coming in medical, but it won't be in the US. Just as the US has fallen to 37th in quality of medical at the world's highest cost, it stands to suffer further catastrophic losses as other countries adapt AI with robotics controlled by SOCs that combine MEMs, sensors and controls with computational power that will greatly lower the cost while increasing the functionality, just as they have already done and are still doing in many other fields. The regulatory environment in the US has converted US medical to an expensive mess. If this is not changed, it can easily be seen the US will fall farther behind in quality and cost at an ever increasing rate. Many US tech companies will prosper greatly from playing key parts in this rapidly changing environment, but not the people in the US, until a regulatory environment in medical is more open and adaptable to ever faster changing technology. Many countries will be glad we have done this and will welcome the opportunities we are going to miss. This will not only hurt us, but our economy with medical taking almost twenty percent of our GDP and rising fast. One thing is guaranteed, if the US doesn't pursue this, other countries will. Just as the semi technology has extended from computational processes to fabricating sensors, mems and anything else requiring ever increasing miniaturization at ever lower cost, while increasing functionality, it can bring this same power to medical, both for diagnostics and remediation. I hope the US doesn't further cede leadership to others. This is but one example of the processes for making semis being leveraged in every more directions and functions. It isn't all about semis any more, but the vast array of technologies they have wrought.
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