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The future of Europe will be determined by, well certainly not
about by politics I can tell you. Whether Greece stays
in or out of the Euro will be driven by the most important word which will
drive the future,
which is not technology, and it's not innovation, it's not politics,
and it's not economics. It's not even currency rates. What is this most
important word that will drive the future?
We've already heard about it today. We can think about technology
in all kinds of way. We can think about technologies that are carried.
We can think about technologies which are embedded.
We can think about technologies that become totally part
of human consciousness. Actually, it's interesting when we think about
at what we can do, by fusing chips with brain tissue.
As you know, every neuron is genetically programmed
to communicate with computers. We don't need, to teach
a neuron, to grow in to the surface of a chip, they do it automatically.
They are always searching for electricity, and they grow out until they
hear
electricity.As soon as they find it, they grow out more neurons and you develop bandwidth.
So, we have,
we have nerve cells growing on the surface of chips, we've been doing this
for the last 10 years. We have rats which are able to communicate virtually
with
other rats. These are chips with
abrasions, with extensions on their surfaces which capture
nerve cells which then grow, connections to each other
in a bio digital circuit. The big question is this:
Not, 'Where will the technology go in rats?'
The technology's already communicating thoughts from one rat to another.
One rat says 'I'm thristy' in New York, and the other replies, in Hong Kong:
'Here is some water.' The other rat responds,
says thank you and pulls a lever. They are communicating these rats, they are in a
joint conscious state. But here's the question:
Put your hands up if you would like a chip
implanted into your brain? Put your hand up if you're
absolutely certain that these things should be kept out of the brains of children
in New York. OK. So what we begin to see is that the future
of Medtech, certainly in this regard, is not going to be driven by innovation.
The future of medtech, here certainly,
will be driven by the most important word which is driving the future.
Which will drive whether Greece stays in or out. It will drive just about
- it's the word which has driven all of human history, it's not the events
themselves or the innovations that really matter.
It's the emotional reactions to them. The future
will be driven by emotion and health is one
at the most emotional things you can possibly imagine. We were talking at
lunchtime today
about the challenge Medtech has of getting regulators
attention. I want to suggest to you the reason is simple:
because it doesn't engage emotionally in many cases,
as much as, let's say, an orphan drug which someone needs, has a rare kind of Leukemia
which they have an absolute 100 percent guarantee of being dead within
12 weeks
from diagnosis, but with this particular drug, we think,
despite its explosive side effects in the minority of people, we think we have a
prospect
of curing between 10 and 20 percent of these 8-year-old children.
I tell you: that grabs people emotionally. We're talking about a different kind of
lense to implant
in someone who has,
cataracts surgery. It might not. And one of the great challenges therefore is
to create these emotional stories,
which is why, I was struck you know at least I was struck, I was touched
by your story, which I was thinking, 'This could be my own wife it
could be my own daughter.'
Someone who goes straight to a reconstructive surgery
that gets back her body image and without months of painful surgery
and all the disfiguration and body- image issues as well.
My heart leapt. That kind of thing I can see.
You know FDA will push it through much faster than a whole other range of other
technologies.
It's about telling the story. It's about seeing the world through the
eyes of the other people we're trying to reach. And most importantly,
through their beating heart. And as we do that, we will find a new way to think
about Medtech.