Living Better Longer Through Technology

Abstract

Not long ago, I saw a science fiction film with the premise that genetic, medical, and computer technology had excelled to the point that within a matter of seconds, any ordinary citizen could submit a minute skin or hair sample for DNA analysis, which would yield his or her future lifetime medical history within rather certain probabilities. In this future society, I could learn that my new-born grandson would have an 83% probability of a severe myocardial infarction by age 62 and that if he survived it, he had a 91% chance that his Alzheimer's disease (AD) would progress to the moderate level by age 78.