“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them”.
This quote is attributed to Albert Einstein.
As one of the founders of Modern Physics, his approach to solving problems, at least as a scientist, clearly exemplified this. For example, his assumption that the speed of light is a constant – a clear case of outside of the box thinking at the time – was a key step which led to the Theory of Special Relativity.
However, whether or not solving problems outside of the arena which created them (outside-of-the-box thinking) works as well in other fields remains to be seen.
Lets apply this to healthcare
The ethical problems arising from the confluence of Artificial Intelligence, Big Data, and Healthcare will continue to present themselves to us at an ever-increasing rate.
The question is this: do we have enough external perspective about these problems, or, more specifically, do we have people with sufficient ability to think outside-of-the-box, that we will be able to address these problems?
At this point I would have to say no.
Right now, if you browse the AI and Big Data Universe you will find that most of the deep work is being done within a highly technical and narrow field. This field is dominated by computer scientists and mathematicians and at the highest level is a very elite group; No post doc fellowship. no need to apply.
Now, as brilliant as they are in this area – and let’s not kid ourselves, they are brilliant – this brilliance comes attached with a certain level of arrogance. By itself that’s okay, but what wouldn’t be okay is, if like most arrogance, it overflows the field in which it was justified in, to areas where it has no business being.
Put simply, just because you’re smart in one area doesn’t mean you’re smart in another.
Is there a model for this? You bet.
Consider the Manhattan Project. This was possibly the greatest concentration of physicists, mathematicians, and engineers ever assembled in one place and at one time and what they achieved from a scientific and engineering perspective was incredible; the harnessing of nuclear energy.
It was a playground of genius.
However, a substantial group of these geniuses had the political naïveté to think that as the creator of these weapons they would have a say in its military and political use – something that a first year, middling philosophy student after a superficial read of Machiavelli would have known wasn’t going to happen! .
Anyway, I’m not sure there going to be any easy methods to solve the ethical problems which will arise within AI, Big Data, and Healthcare.
The technical beauty and the siren call of it’s potential use in so many healthcare arenas, – from EHRs, to wearable technology, to integration of personal genetic data, to behavioral change models – makes it a seductive subject, and and as anyone knows who has fallen in love, it’s very easy to be forgiving of a lover’s even most obvious flaws.
We are at risk when we engage it.
But one hope?
Keep in mind, as Einstein suggested, that the solutions to the ethical problems generated from the confluence of Artificial Intelligence, Big Data and Healthcare may need to come from people with insights entirely out of this arena. .