It was pretty impressive tech. I wonder if it's based on some theoretical tech in the far future?
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wizard999 — 12 years ago(December 16, 2013 01:20 PM)
In a word: No.
After a century of medical science we still barely know how most illnesses work. Even for those that are understood, many can only be "managed", not cured. If I go to my doctor with an infectious disease - any disease - nine times out of ten the doctor will just prescribe antibiotics. Which in our lifetime will stop working for the most part because of resistances. So, just extrapolate what we have managed to discover so far, as a plus factor calculate in the acceleration of scientific discovery through modern technology, as a minus factor the other problems (climate change, overpopulation, food and water scarcity) that demand attention and resources. Projected into the future of 'Elysium' and such a device is pure dreaming. And an incredibly lazy plot device to boot. -
leonthecleaner-1 — 12 years ago(December 17, 2013 12:41 AM)
Actually that's something that bothers me too. We can't even cure the common cold or completely eradicate a virus. Shouldn't we be able to do that? Like being able to completely get rid of all viruses without a trace. If I am not wrong, there is no point in having them unlike some bacteria.
Also the current surgeries are too invasive. We should be able to fix most problems without opening up the body IMO.
Completely slow down ageing and reverse it, etc.
Just having these would get rid of the vast majority of diseases. -
subase — 12 years ago(December 17, 2013 01:06 AM)
Also there's the political and economic problems. Pretty much all advanced medical research occurs only in the richest most educated and liberal nations. If that changes we will see a massive drop in medical advances.
Then there's the business side, which wants to control and profit from patents, and thus limits research and inventions. -
Ronin008 — 12 years ago(December 25, 2013 03:50 PM)
That's a rather bleak projection of our human ingenuity. It will take time. We have made a lot of advancements in the last 100 years; the hurdle in understanding human ailments is I think in the Genome project. If we have infinite computing resources, we can sequence all the diseases catalogued and their cures. I think the answer lies in artificial intelligence as one other person said. We cannot hope to know everything but there are things AI can do that we cannot. Mind you, that's a very optimistic overview. There are things that may prevent us from reaching that level of consciousness though. That all said, having a 70's supercomputer in the form of a handheld is rudimentary compared to what the utopian scenario Elysium depicted.
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kaiser100 — 12 years ago(January 26, 2014 09:20 PM)
Perhaps people are being pessimistic based on the specific kind of technology depicted in Elysium and its instant cure-all capacity. However, if advances in computing such as we have seen in the last 40 years are in any way reflected in medicine in the future, certainly many medical breakthroughs are inevitable. Even regarding medicine so far, it is way more effective than it was a hundred years ago when just a few drugs with proven efficacy were around. Insulin wasn't discovered until 1922 and antibiotics in 1935. Now we have thousands of drugs. They haven't really extended human lifespan per se but have certainly greatly increased the numbers of people who live to be very old and the quality of life of many people even if they don't live that long. Total lifespan itself is a tricky issue but I would not be surprised if the majority of people under 40 now live to be 100.
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Fennris — 12 years ago(December 20, 2013 12:02 PM)
It was a plot device and a metaphor. While I have no doubt that many things will be possible in the future and most medical issues curable (and many deaths even reversible), I don't see how that device could possibly/theoretically work the way it was portrayed.
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fbplayer1064 — 12 years ago(December 20, 2013 06:48 PM)
They probably wouldn't even bother with this type of tech. I think more likely is people would upload their genetic material every night while they sleep to create a copy we could then build a new body and download their thoughts/memories into the new body and be good as new
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flipper33 — 12 years ago(December 25, 2013 05:54 PM)
how could something like the med pods in elysium be created in reality, well first you would need a quantum computer to map out the human genenome, next you will need a tracking systemthat can target and map out the location of every cell, and compare it to a base line template of a human being, next you will need some form of energy or electromagnet machine that can alter and control matter by altering the electrical energy surrounding each atom, some form of each type of tech listed already exists at a basic level, 50 years from now or even 20 a med pod like the one in this film will exist.
she always did enjoy a good squeeze. -
xiM_f — 12 years ago(December 28, 2013 08:12 PM)
that thing is outright impossible
Just think about what it does. It is scanning your atomic composition and then replacing every fault in real time. First you would have to know every illness ( or maybe not, just reverting to default) but the real problem is to create every particle in the right composition. What you can do is to shoot particle beams with the right energy at each other and then only getting some statistical outcome. But how many particles do you need? Go figure. 1g of carbon has about 10^23 atoms. Everyone has to be at his right place. Let me write it out for you 100000000000000000000000 atoms for each gram
It may be true that a lot of stuff has changed in the last 100 years but where are slowly approaching the limits of what is physical possible. -
leonthecleaner-1 — 12 years ago(December 29, 2013 04:32 PM)
If you are reverting to default, you need to be able to remove some cells or add new ones, right? In case of cancer (remove cells), or in case of a missing head (add cells) like what happened to Kruger.
First we need to reverse ageing though. Then we can start thinking of curing diseases IMO. -
xiM_f — 12 years ago(December 29, 2013 08:05 PM)
Without even going into the details how to create the neccessary particles there are still a lot of problems. Let's say they approach the revert to default mode. You would have to make an backup of yourself but would that be desirable?
Your memories need to be stored somehow right? That would alter your atomic composition. Would you leave that area untested then? What about memory altering deseases like Alzheimer? etc pp -
motc_dk — 12 years ago(December 30, 2013 08:26 AM)
Anyone claiming this will definately not be possible, has little understanding of technology. I'd say it is plausible but will be dependant on more than 1 technology and some are more likely than others.
It is perhaps most likely that some part of this exact machine is not possible, but some replacement invention will give the same "cure all" result. -
leonthecleaner-1 — 12 years ago(December 30, 2013 12:54 PM)
You are right. I didn't think about that. But if I were to guess, I would imagine something like this. If the brain is completely destroyed physically you will lose memories since the last backup.
Otherwise I would assume something like this:
[extract memory]
[revert to default state]
[recreate extracted memory on top]
But I don't know if there is a way to distinguish between memories created by diseases somehow.
I think the ability to reverse ageing, and the ability to create brand new organs should solve a lot of problems. But stuff like cancer, I think you need to completely destroy them in the body, so perhaps nanobots?