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Google to Collect Data to Define Healthy Human

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Re: Google to Collect Data to Define Healthy Human

#11

Post by walterbell »

eerpini wrote: post #9

anyone remember Gattaca ? well we could end up with data based classification version of that here !

A more mundane concern is insurance and financial (dis)incentives for behavior change, http://www.salon.com/2014/05/30/in_the_future_insurance_comp...

"23andMe Is Terrifying, But Not for the Reasons the FDA Thinks", https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6811167

"23andme has suspended health-related genetic tests", https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6859732

"A problem with much statistical analysis is ignoring the fact that humans, umm, react to things around them. (Social science jargon for this is reflexivity). I know this seems so simple, but it’s amazing how much predictive analytics don’t factor this in.", https://medium.com/message/learning-from-natesilver538s-omg-...

Re: Google to Collect Data to Define Healthy Human

#13

Post by timothya »

This reminds me of something Larry Page said at TED this year:

I say, wouldn't it be amazing if everyone's medical records were available anonymously to research doctors? And when someone accesses your medical record, a research doctor, they could see, you could see which doctor accessed it and why, and you could maybe learn about what conditions you have. I think if we just did that, we'd save 100,000 lives this year.

So I guess I'm just very worried that with Internet privacy, we're doing the same thing we're doing with medical records, is we're throwing out the baby with the bathwater, and we're not really thinking about the tremendous good that can come from people sharing information with the right people in the right ways.

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mArrNRWQEso&t=839 at 14:00.

Re: Google to Collect Data to Define Healthy Human

#14

Post by [deleted] »

timothya wrote: post #13

This reminds me of something Larry Page said at TED this year: I say, wouldn't it be amazing if everyone's medical records were available anonymously to research doctors? And when someone accesses your medical record, a research doctor, they could see, you could see which doctor accessed it and why, and you could maybe learn about what conditions you have. I think if we just did that, we'd save 100,000 lives this yea…

[deleted]

Re: Google to Collect Data to Define Healthy Human

#15

Post by psbp »

thrush wrote: post #12

I'm excited to know which diets, exercises and lifestyle define a healthy human, which I'm hoping this information will give me (assuming the information will be released).

"I'm excited to know which diets, exercises and lifestyle define a healthy human"

The thrust of this approach (as mentioned in the article) is that they're searching for the magic of optimal biomolecular processes, not necessarily a universal regimen.

Re: Google to Collect Data to Define Healthy Human

#16

Post by ejain »

The limiting factor right now isn't the lack of clever algorithms or computational power, but the lack of data that covers enough people over enough time with enough depth and quality. Also, more of former can't make up for a lack of the latter, even if it's sexier, especially for a company like Google.

They should consider partnering with these guys: http://www.nature.com/news/medicine-gets-up-close-and-person....

Re: Google to Collect Data to Define Healthy Human

#17

Post by eerpini »

walterbell wrote: post #11
eerpini wrote: post #9

anyone remember Gattaca ? well we could end up with data based classification version of that here !

A more mundane concern is insurance and financial (dis)incentives for behavior change, http://www.salon.com/2014/05/30/in_the_future_insurance_comp... "23andMe Is Terrifying, But Not for the Reasons the FDA Thinks", https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6811167 "23andme has suspended health-related genetic tests", https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6859732 "A problem with much statistical analysis is ignoring the fa…

That last link on the shortcomings of most predictions based on statistical analysis was a great read. Thanks for sharing.

Re: Google to Collect Data to Define Healthy Human

#18

Post by angersock »

timothya wrote: post #13

This reminds me of something Larry Page said at TED this year: I say, wouldn't it be amazing if everyone's medical records were available anonymously to research doctors? And when someone accesses your medical record, a research doctor, they could see, you could see which doctor accessed it and why, and you could maybe learn about what conditions you have. I think if we just did that, we'd save 100,000 lives this yea…

Yeah, 'cause Google and Facebook, with all of their extensive online surveillance and profiling, have done such a bangup job giving me ads I care about. Fuck that.

EDIT: Seriously, if the yardstick is "but but but think of all the great things we could do, just like we have with the internet" I'm going to request proof that we've in fact accomplished that tremendous good in terms of advertising and whatnot.

If they can't even show that for their main line of business, any claims about medicine seem shaky, no?

Re: Google to Collect Data to Define Healthy Human

#19

Post by suprgeek »

This is very exciting at one level. We need a project like this to accomplish a "Species" level map of our biology.

Knowing a little bit about how data moves thru the Labs & clinics systems however, and the widespread tentacles of bad actors like the NSA, this could be too juicy a prize to ignore. What is to prevent the Feds (for instance) from knocking on their doors with an NSL for the data based on some trumped up link?

Re: Google to Collect Data to Define Healthy Human

#20

Post by jacquesm »

timothya wrote: post #13

This reminds me of something Larry Page said at TED this year: I say, wouldn't it be amazing if everyone's medical records were available anonymously to research doctors? And when someone accesses your medical record, a research doctor, they could see, you could see which doctor accessed it and why, and you could maybe learn about what conditions you have. I think if we just did that, we'd save 100,000 lives this yea…

I agree with Larry, at the same time google is one of the last companies on the planet that I would trust with that data.

Much of this internet privacy backlash is aimed specifically at Google and Facebook (and of course the NSA, but let's assume that they don't have any problems getting to your medical data anyway).

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