First, Do No Harm
Silicon Valley makes its billions dehumanizing people; Medicine is the opposite of that
Three reasons why this new manifesto from Andressen Horowitz is a mortal threat:
The healthy & wealthy problem. 21st century Silicon Valley only ever creates for those in its own image - young and obscenely wealthy. That’s a small - and shrinking - population. Medicine is the opposite of that. Medicine creates for the sickest of the sick.
Toys vs. clinical standards. FitBit, the Apple Watch and other “healthcare wearables” have dismal signal integrity — nowhere close to clinical standards. Medicine is the opposite of that. Medicine bases its actions on clinical evidence.
Software is proving dangerous to human health. The manifesto conveniently ignores the harm Silicon Valley has already done to physical and mental health. Even as evidence mounts and concerns … continue to rise … from significant voices … at a rapid clip about just how dangerous it is. Medicine is the opposite of that. Medicine prioritizes physical and mental health.
By proclaiming science dead and attempting to coronate software engineering as the Über Alles — by saying that software performs better than medicine’s diagnosis-prescription model, in the face of growing countervailing evidence — Silicon Valley is attempting to strong-arm the world into leaving the sickest of the sick behind.
Because it’s “too hard”… to make money.
This is the toxic culture that gave us Facebook and Google and Amazon and Twitter.
And this time, it’s even worse than cementing the status quo for the obscenely wealthy. This time, it’s increasing the already chronic human health divide.
First, do no harm.
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