IBM Watson: Transforming Healthcare

There are over 12,000 diseases in the world. Some take years to diagnose and treat. This, combined with medical knowledge that doubles every 5 years often makes it difficult for doctors to keep up. IBM is working on new solutions based on Watson to help doctors with faster and more accurate diagnoses.
To learn more, please visit http://www.ibm.com/smarterplanet/us/en/healthcare_solutions/ideas/index.html?....

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• ibm
• medical dictionary
• data mining
• knowledge management
• supercomputer
• ibm watson
• information systems
• medical information
• electronic medical records
• kdd
• natural language processing
• predictive analytics
• smarter planet
• data analytics
• health information systems
• advanced analytics
• question answering
• healthcare analytics
• ibm watson video

[ataraxic89]

this gave me goose bumps when It popped up the watson probability chart. I for one have been aware of his (yes, I personify him) applications in these fields but I dont see why he cant replace doctors in as far as diagnosis. Why cant we have free or cheap terminals thats access the person's medical history, ask some questions and give his suggestions. Then, and only then would a doctor see if he finds any error in watson's reasoning and start treatment if not.

[IntelisysCorp]

That is a tremendous asset to the healthcare field.

[ChibiKyriaki]

Oh my gosh...It's a real life RONI! D8

[percy3443]

O: This is a great thing for the medicine field.

Am I the only one who's going to ask why it's not going to be called RONI?

[DreamingOutLoud33]

Watson will be the machine that brings about a revolution and the founders of the thing are the ones that are fucked up

[ataraxic89]

@TheLoserKingdom Yay! Someone else who know's of kurzweil. Yes, I agree with him. But I doubt the wisdom of giving a specific year.

[TheLoserKingdom]

@ataraxic89 After doing some research, I think I have concluded that based on the trends in Information Technology acceleration, by that point in time, there won't be a clear distinction between man and machine. What do you think about Ray Kurzweil's predictions of the future? He predicts that man and machine will "become one".

[sheeshmusic]

Very cool indeed...just one thing though...Erythema Migrans (Watson's 6%) is diagnostic of Lyme Disease. So much so that no further tests are required for confirmation...

Watson -1

[ataraxic89]

@TheLoserKingdom Depending on how far forward we are talking Im sure all human jobs will be replaced. Including the job of being the dominant life form. I dont mean this as in terminator as much as one day (even if 100 years from now, which i doubt) they will simply be superior to us in everyway. But thats probably your kid's problem.

[TheLoserKingdom]

@TheLoserKingdom However, it is important to note that computers take away the rudimentary tasks (such as calculation) so that we humans can focus on the more ambiguous and higher tasks.

Who knows where it will take us...

[TheLoserKingdom]

@ataraxic89 The people involved in the team said that the machine would never be allowed to replace a doctor with human common sense. This paradigm works with the computer showing evidence supporting its hypothesis. It works in a "I, the computer, give you the supporting text evidence as to why this may be the correct diagnosis, then you, the human, make the final decision" kind of way. In the future, I do suspect that the trend of computers taking over some human jobs will continue.

[sirmercutio99]

Interesting Machine. If I had a specific question or scenario, could Watson be used to give me an answer. Say if I did A and the were 3 factors B,C, and D, plus 3 possible unknown factors, what would be the best possible solution to the scenario.