Abstract
One of the saddest aspects of autistic children is their inability to relate to the world around them and yet still manage to look so normal. By listening, watching, and talking, those of us unaffected by autism can transform our social condition in a way autistic children find difficult. All humans possess brains large enough to handle much of the variegated information we receive and to process it. We wiggle our tongues, conveying to others of our kind what we know in an intelligible form and in doing so, hopefully, perpetuate our society and increase our achievements. By using language to broaden our sensory experiences and the scope of our learning, we enrich both our knowledge and our lives. It is what makes our species unique. We live in a world of communication. One would therefore expect the world of medicine to absorb facts and figures, discourse and interrelate, applying with facility all the powerful communication skills we ourselves operate perfectly naturally. Not so. Medicine is, by contrast, wallowing in a self-inflicted autism.
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Notes
Once out of the educational hothouse… Alexandra Wyke, “Peering into 2010: A Survey of the Future of Medicine,” The Economist (19 March 1994), 1–20.
As long ago as a century… William Osler, as cited by David Woods, lecture at the Sixth National American Medical Association Conference, Chicago, IL (16–19 September 1995 ).
Each year, a patient’s personal doctor… BJHC, Weybridge, Surrey, press release (7 October 1994 ).
Of the six teaching hospitals… Wyke, “Peering into 2010.”
David Woods, president… David Woods, lecture at the Sixth National American Medical Association Conference.
Today’s most intelligent computers… Seven Wonders of The World (London: British Broadcasting Corporation, transmitted 26 April 1995).
The turning point came… Bill Gates, The Road Ahead ( New York: Viking Penguin, 1995 ).
In 1975, Gordon Moore, who… Gates, The Road Ahead.
Back in 1980, Alvin Toffler… Alvin Toffler, The Third Wave ( London: Collins, 1980 ).
At present, the world can marshal… Frances Cairncross, “The Death of Distance: A Survey of Telecommunications,” The Economist (30 September 1995), 1–44.
As Frances Cairncross… Cairncross, “The Death of Distance.”
Since the mid-1980s, when… David Woods, lecture at the Sixth National American Medical Association Conference.
According to William Halverson… William Halverson, The Changing Role of Health Care Information Systems: The Network Is the Solution ( San Francisco: Sun, 1995 ).
In 1995, following an incident… Letter to the Editor from George Ashforth, The Times (5 April 1995), letters page.
According to McKinsey… Rob Chandra, Mark Knickrehn, and Anthony Miller, “Healthcare’s IT Mistake,” The McKinsey Quarterly (1995), No. 3, 90–100.
According to Ifay Chang… Ifay Chang, “Computerized Patient Record and Clinical Information System,” IBM Research Report (16 September 1993); and Ifay Chang, as cited in Wyke, “Peering into 2010.”
Stephen Pauker, a professor of medicine… Interview with Stephen Pauker, Tufts University, Boston, MA (13 January 1994):
Ted Shortliffe’s department… Wyke, “Peering into 2010.”
One early study in 1993 from… Wyke, “Peering into 2010.”
Professor Richard Kitney… Interview with Richard Kitney, Imperial College, London (29 January 1996 ).
The National Information Infrastructure Testbed… Leslie A. Sandberg, “Reflections on Building a Transnational Telemedicine Demonstration Network,” Vision Comes Reality: The Journal of the National Information Infrastructure Testbed (1994), 1–7.
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© 1997 Alexandra Wyke
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Wyke, A. (1997). Tongue-Tied Medicine. In: 21st-Century Miracle Medicine. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-3466-6_3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-3466-6_3
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