Whats New in cyberNephrology ISN Dubai Update, Feb. 6, 2001

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Whats New incyberNephrology ISN Dubai
Update, Feb. 6, 2001

• Kim Solez, M.D.

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Most physicians are learning about the Internet
and new technology on the fly.

• Inefficient, unpredictable, leaves gaps.

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A short 2-3 hour period of formal teaching with
mixed didactic/interactive format and hands on
experience can provide enormous benefit.

• That is the plan of the computer workshops at
  this meeting.

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Key Points

• ISN Informatics Commission/NKF cyberNephrology
  partnership
  
• New Technologies Division of NKF - Gary Green
• History, Nephrology born of technology.
• ISN Informatics/NKF cyberNephrology 1997-2001
• ISN Informatics/NKF cyberNephrology beyond 2001

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Ray Kurzweil

• "Technology is the continuation of evolution by
  other means....
  
• It is in the nature of exponential growth that
  events develop extremely slowly for extremely
  long periods of time, but as one glides through
  the knee of the curve, events erupt at an
  increasingly furious pace. And that is what we
  will experience as we enter the twenty-first
  century."
• -- Ray Kurzweil - The Age of Spiritual Machines,
  When Computers Exceed Human Intelligence

• When computers exceed human intelligence - 2020
• When computers and humans become
  indistinguishable from each - 2099

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Arthur C. Clarke

• "When a scientist states that something is
  possible, he is almost certainly right.
  
• When he states that something is impossible, he
  is very probably wrong.
  
• The only way of discovering the limits of the
  possible is to venture a little way past them
  into the impossible.
  
• Any sufficiently advanced technology is
  indistinguishable from magic."
  
• -- Arthur C. Clarke's three laws of technology

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First Phase of ISN Informatics/NKF
cyberNephrology 1997-2000

• Many accomplishments
• Email discussion groups - NEPHROL, NEPHDEVEL,
  NEPHKIDS and progeny
  
• WWW sites - virtual attendance at meetings
• AJKD Forum http//www.ajkd.org
• Schrier Atlas http//www.kidneyatlas.org
• Renal-Tech computer donation project
• Internet videoconferencing, wireless
  connectivity, panoramas.
  
• WWW site http//www.cybernephrology.org

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Support of NKF and ISN Programs. Furthering of
new technologies.

• WWW sites
• http//www.cybernephrology.org http//www.isn-onli
  ne.org
  
• http//www.kidney.org

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Support of ISN Programs

• COMGAN
• RENAL-TECH Computer Donation Project
• Video Legacy Project
• ISN Archive
• Sister Centers Program
• Teaching Resources
• Discussion Groups
• Assistance to National Societies

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Support of NKF Programs

• KEEP, RISE
• K/DOQI
• PARADE
• People like Us
• Spring Clinical Meeting , ASN
• Publications
• Donor Families, Donor Quilt
• Transplant Games

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Making Full Use of the Favorable Local
Environment in Canada

• Canada is way ahead of the U.S. in the deployment
  and adoption of next-generation broadband
  services The cross-Canada high-speed network
  backbone, CAnet3, is the world's first national
  optical research network.
• By the end of this year nearly 17 of Canadian
  on-line homes will have a broadband connection
  compared to 8.6 in the U.S.
  
• Expect to have 100 MB/sec. connectivity from
  University of Alberta to College Plaza
  cyberNephrology complex by March 2001.

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New Operating Systems and Electronic Data
Transmission Formats

• Palm computing platform
• Macintosh OS 10
• Wireless transmission - AirPort hub
• XML document presentation

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The hand held device

• 1971 Hoff - Microprocessor
• 1972 Alan Kay - PARC - Dynabook
• 1993 Newton MessagePad
• 2001 palm OS fastest growing platform in
  history

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Internet use becomes mainstream in 2001
- even in the Middle East! 1. Most health car
e workers using the Internet.
2. Access becoming faster, cheaper.3. Computers
themselves inexpensive.4. No longer necessary
to type. Voice recognition reaches 98 accuracy
and still improving!
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The World is Changing - Now!
September 26, 2000 New Hewlett Packard CEO
Carly Fiorina stated that the world is
now entering the "renaissance of the
information age" -- a time when emerging
technologies and an "always-on Internet"
could transform human experience and
entire industries. "This world is clearly
emerging before our eyes," "The shifts ahead,
the opportunities ahead are massive."
February 2, 2001 Cars that alert their owners
when stolen, tracking thief location. (CNN)
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The World is Changing - Now!
February 1, 2001 The Media Development Loan Fund,
backed by some of the wor
ld's largest philanthropies including the MacArth
ur and Soros foundations, lends money at low
interest rates to news organizations in
developing countries and helps them use
technology to facilitate the flow of
information. Rather than beam their reports via
satellite, the stations
transmit audio and text files via the Internet,
creating a network that covers most of the
country. http//www.cnn.com/2001/TECH/computin
g/02/01/media.activists.idg/index.html
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The World is Changing - Now! ... continued
November 21, 1999 Clinton Calls for Widespread
Internet Access - The New York Times
FLORENCE, Italy -- President
Clinton called Sunday for developed nations to e
nsure their citizens have access to the Internet
"as complete as telephone access," saying tha
t would dramatically reduce the income gap
between rich and poor.
November 21, 1999 Clinton Calls for Widespread
Internet Access - The New York Times
FLORENCE, Italy -- President
Clinton called Sunday for developed nations to e
nsure their citizens have access to the Internet
"as complete as telephone access,"
saying that would dramatically reduce the income
gap between rich and poor.
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The World is Changing - Now! continued - The
Digital Divide
November 21, 1999 Clinton Calls for Widespread
Internet Access - The New York Times
FLORENCE, Italy -- President
Clinton called Sunday for developed nations to e
nsure their citizens have access to the Internet
"as complete as telephone access,"
saying that would dramatically reduce the income
gap between rich and poor.
At a gathering of world leaders who adhere
to "third way" politics, Clinton said one of
the greatest domestic problems facing
developed countries is the "digital divide"
that gives those who have computers an
enormous advantage over those who do not.
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The Internet in Europe, Asia, and the Middle
East - including UAE
Up until now there have been three main barriers
to Internet use in Europe, Asia, and Middle East
1. Cost (Much higher than in North America a
nd quite heterogeneous) 2. Lack of high speed Int
ernet access (Often nothing faster than standard
modem or ISDN) 3. Language (because most Inter
net activity is in English it may seem like a ve
ry foreign and not-very-attractive culture)
November 21, 1999 Clinton Calls for Widespread
Internet Access - The New York Times
FLORENCE, Italy -- President
Clinton called Sunday for developed nations to e
nsure their citizens have access to the Internet
"as complete as telephone access,"
saying that would dramatically reduce the income
gap between rich and poor.
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The Internet in Europe, Asia, and the Middle
East - Solutions!
November 21, 1999 Clinton Calls for Widespread
Internet Access - The New York Times
FLORENCE, Italy -- President
Clinton called Sunday for developed nations to e
nsure their citizens have access to the Internet
"as complete as telephone access,"
saying that would dramatically reduce the income
gap between rich and poor.
1. Cost - Communications reform. Flat rate.
2. High speed Internet access DSL
and cable modem coming, faster
than ISDN and cheaper! 3. Language - Increasing
success with non-English resources on the Inter
net.
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Bandwidth considerations
The Internet in high bandwidth environments
Only 35 of human communication is words. Wi
th Internet video conferencing can capture
gestures, body language, inflections of the
voice, facial expression etc. plus share
images, documents, software applications
with "shared white board" or complete
remote control of other computer!
Requres 56 K modem or faster connection.
Allows telemedicine/telepathology.
November 21, 1999 Clinton Calls for Widespread
Internet Access - The New York Times
FLORENCE, Italy -- President
Clinton called Sunday for developed nations to e
nsure their citizens have access to the Internet
"as complete as telephone access,"
saying that would dramatically reduce the income
gap between rich and poor.
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Bandwidth considerations
The Internet in low bandwidth situations W
eb site educational content can be placed
on CD-ROMs cheaply and easily so sites
can be accessed without going to the
World Wide Web. Email-based low
bandwidth discussion has been
enormously successful in nephrology and
transplantation while WWW-based
discussion has not. So potentially
everyone has access to the Internet
resources that have proven most valuable.
November 21, 1999 Clinton Calls for Widespread
Internet Access - The New York Times
FLORENCE, Italy -- President
Clinton called Sunday for developed nations to e
nsure their citizens have access to the Internet
"as complete as telephone access,"
saying that would dramatically reduce the income
gap between rich and poor.
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Few Countries Out of Reach!
Almost all countries can benefit from Intern
et-based discussion. Email connectivity has rea
ched almost everywhere. Very few exceptions
Countries lacking Internet access include
only Afghanistan , Angola, Cape Verde,
the Comoros Islands, Equatorial Guinea,
Libya, Mauritania, São Tome and Principe,
Somalia and Western Sahara.
November 21, 1999 Clinton Calls for Widespread
Internet Access - The New York Times
FLORENCE, Italy -- President
Clinton called Sunday for developed nations to e
nsure their citizens have access to the Internet
"as complete as telephone access,"
saying that would dramatically reduce the income
gap between rich and poor.
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"We strongly believe that better
telecommunications will enhance our ability to d
eliver improved quality of life, electronic heal
th and learning services to previously disadvant
aged areas in the continent". President Nels
on Mandela in an address to the
Africa TELECOM 98 Exhibition and
Forum Johannesburg 4-9 May 1998
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Factors Influencing Second Phase of NKF
cyberNephrology 2000 - onward

• Digital photography now inexpensive and
  superior/equal to film photography.
  
• Video panoramas, 3D panoramas
• Virtual microscope panoramas
• Books with digital paper pages
• Circuits that combine digital and analog
  signaling just as the human brain does
  
• Human-centered rather than machine-centered
  computing, near perfect voice recognition

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Factors Influencing Second Phase of NKF
cyberNephrology - Continued

• Gene chip DNA Microarrays for instant genetic
  diagnosis
  
• The wearable computer, digital clothing
• The bioartificial kidney
• Evolution of new ethical standards for e-health
• Quantum computing
• Optical switching/Optical Internet
• Nanomachines/near molecular level organ repair in
  disease

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Why not talk about distant future of
technology/cyberNephrology?

• Because if Ray Kurzweil is right and people and
  machines will be indistinguishable from each
  other in 2099, what will be the relevance of
  nephrology then?
• Machines/computers dont have kidneys !

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So follow our progress and remember Any
sufficiently advanced technology is
indistinguishable from magic.