FEATURE
reader to the temptress Sirens who wished to seduce him and his
crew. They are so beguiling that Odysseus has his men lash him to
the ship mast to resist their fatal attraction as his rowers power the
boat past their island.
The massive wealth accumulating from the digital machines is
in the hands of those who own the patents and the manufacturers
who sell the machines. The information they use to feed the ma-
chines is free. An economy needs to be developed so the middle
class can profit and survive. For example, the recording industry,
supported and managed by the middle class for decades, is now a
digital music business.
We operate on the Judeo-Christian-Islamic ethic embedded in
the Hippocratic Oath. We have no hiding place. We must be the
soul of the machine in the digitalized age.
In our democratic society, our only hope is in the political are-
na. Big Pharma, hospital corporations, insurance companies, etc.,
control Congress. Our task is great to keep the middle class from
growing poorer - and preserving our humanity.
Dr. Weiss practices Cardiovascular Disease Medicine with Medical Center
Cardiologists
Unemployment will increase with possible political unrest.
Non-specialist doctors have already lost a degree of self-determi-
nation, and soon complex surgery will fall to Moore’s Law.
Insurance companies, Big Pharma and hospital chains saw this
coming and are positioned to further decimate the middle-class
wage earner. The medical profession did not see and appreciate this
economic reality. This is now the great conundrum - how to begin
to redistribute the wealth and maintain humanism. All our other
petty grievances pale before this specter.
A machine or tool is worthless unless a human uses it and in-
terprets the data the machine expectorates.
Is it too late to intervene and preserve the moral and ethical
bedrock of our profession? The Oath of Hippocrates includes all
we need to know.
Change is the only constant. Progress is inevitable. But, how can
we harness this for the well-being of our patients?
Empathy is only found in humans, not computers. We must
realize and insist that each person is the owner of his or her data,
not a multinational corporation that owns and operates the cloud.
These “data thieves” need to deposit a nano amount - each time
they use a person’s data. This will add up, and perhaps help solve
the unemployment problem now rising from this industrialization.
The computers can easily do this distribution.
Homer’s Odyssey and Iliad are more than great adventure and
war stories. The events in both books are metaphors for the human
condition - hero and traitor; good and evil; honesty and falsehood.
The Sirens surround us. We must lash ourselves to the staff of
Asclepius, god of healing, and always remember that computers
have no souls and the people who own and manage the multination
corporations are hidden. They have souls like all homo sapiens (and
maybe even my beloved dog), but they hide behind their machines.
They operate on the business ethic of profit, not the Hippocratic
ethic. Witness the recent mortgage and bank failures; the businesses
were fined but no CEOs have gone to prison.
PROFESSIONAL
ANNOUNCEMENT
PACKAGE
The GLMS Professional
Announcement Package
provides mailings and printed
announcements in the
monthly publications to let
your colleagues know about
changes in your practice.
Outsource your next
mailing to GLMS.
CONTACT
Amanda Edmondson
Director of Communications
& Marketing
502.736.6330
[email protected]
MAY 2019
25