"Creating an artificial heart is the main task": futurologist Danila Medvedev spoke about the main goals of medicine of the future
One of the
most important objectives of medicine for the next 25 years is creation of an
artificial heart. Such a breakthrough will let humanity fight the most common
cause of death — cardiovascular diseases. These words belong to Danila
Medvedev, a futurologist, Candidate of Economics, CEO of "Neurocode"
Group of Companies. Danila Medvedev made this statement during the discussion
"From Nanorobots to Immortality: What Will the Medicine of the Future Look
Like?" which was held as part of the educational project "Dialogues
About the Future" at the National Centre RUSSIA.
"As I
see this, the first and the main goal is to maintain a human life. Medicine and
technology have come to the point where we can "repair" anyone in one
way or another. There must be an extremely urgent goal — to prepare the bionic
technologies for mass adoption so that we can replace and grow an organ,
develop a tissue structure, reprogram cells, replace a part of a person with an
artificial part. For the next 25 years, the task is to make sure that nothing
of this breaks, and if any of it breaks, we need to repair in a habitual way,
just like we currently repair smartphones," said Danila Medvedev.
During the
discussion, experts also talked about revolutionary transformations in
medicine: how nanorobots would change the principles of diagnosis and
treatment, what ethical dilemmas wou arise with the development of life
extension technologies, where the boundary between therapeutic intervention and
artificial human improvement would be. Another important task for medicine in
the next quarter of a century is connecting to the cardiovascular system, said
Dmitry Telyshev, Professor, Doctor of Technical Sciences, Director of Institute
of Bionic Technologies and Engineering, Research Director of the Advanced
Engineering School "Intelligent Theranostics Systems" at the Sechenov
Medical University.
"The
second point I would like to single out is connection to the cardiovascular
system - replacement, blood transfusion — something that can help as many people
as possible. Now we know that the creation of a prototype of an artificial
heart is a reality. The latest model was developed last year in Australia. We
need to have the same thing, and to be
ready for mass production and implementation. Many elderly people need an extra
heart," said Danila Medvedev.
The
"Dialogues About the Future" is a joint discussion project of the
National Centre RUSSIA, the Financial University under the Government of the
Russian Federation, and the All-Russian Center for the Study of Public Opinion
(VTsIOM). The project develops the main leitmotif of the 2nd International
Symposium "Inventing the Future" — to unite the world's leading minds
to jointly design positive scenarios for the future.
