The_Invention_of_Surgery

In a sense, over the next several decades, there will be a three-way war
against disease: biological, implant, and genetic. Until the genetic remedy
is perfected, biological solutions (pharmaceutical and nutritional) will
continue at the cellular level. When these are not effective, implants
become the cure. For instance, diabetes, not truly understood until the
1920s with the purification of insulin, is treated with daily insulin
injections. These shots have become much less onerous with the advent of
insulin pumps. While there is intense research into implanted pancreas
tissue with the goal of restoring auto-insulin production, the eventual goal
of a genetic cure remains. Thus, the biological, implant, and genetic war
on diabetes persists, but it seems unescapable that no one will be injecting
insulin a century from now.
One way of testing the certitude of medical futurists is to ask the
following question: If you had to invest your entire net worth in a
specialized medical company now, and that pot of money would not be
accessible for one hundred years, where would you direct that money? A
drug company, a joint replacement manufacturer, a genetics company, or a
bioelectric company? While I am an orthopedic surgeon, I simply can’t
imagine that joint replacements will be performed in a century. Similarly,
there can be no way that patients will be receiving chemotherapeutic
agents. There will be no cancer. Thus, the decision to invest in a
bioelectric company versus a genetic company would be based upon what
you perceive the role of medicine will be in the future. Will physicians
treat disease in the future, or will they exclusively enhance humanoid-
cyborgs?
Genetic modifications of humans will certainly be the norm within a
decade or two. It is possible (even probable) that everyone in a century
will be free from genetic errors. Perhaps this will be forced, where
noncompliance is not possible, since those with chromosomal defects
would be the “diseased ones.” I predict the anti-vaccination rebellion will
pale in comparison to “genetic correction” in the 22nd century.
Humans will become the ultimate GMO—genetically modified
organisms.
As genetic-based diseases become a thing of the past, and cancer fades
from existence, it is likely that future generations won’t even need
correction of their genomes. Amazingly, it will also be possible that once a
generation’s communal genome is purified, no further correction would be