Slashdot Mirror
Edible "Intelligent Pills"
Ian Lamont sends along a brief note from the Industry Standard about "intelligent" pills that can help doctors record information about drug dosages, heart rate, respiratory rate, and other metrics. The pills, being developed by Proteus Biomedicals, have "digestible sensors" made out of food products and are activated by stomach fluids. A receiver that is similar to a skin patch picks up the data and can be passed on to a 3G mobile network, and from there to hospitals or doctors' offices. According to the Proteus site, the sensors cost a few cents per pill. The devices, currently in clinical trials, made #8 on Wired's list of the top technology breakthroughs of 2008.
Wake me when they have edible intelligence pills.
End of lesson. You may press the button.
Pills that cost a few cents, tied to a relatively expensive device that needs expensive airtime.
Not the cleverest plan, especially if you want to bring this to the masses.
[Fuck Beta]
o0t!
What happens when bugs in the software mess this up? In most fields, the computer is always right. And honestly, I don't want the data to be messed up that could cost someone their life.
Taxation is legalized theft, no more, no less.
can be passed on to a 3G mobile network
So... how secure is this? I can't imagine anyone other than my doctor (and not even him, probably) are that interested in my biometrics, but I am not comfortable with the information being broadcast over a network.
The summary links to a stub which links to the actual article, which describes how the network-enabled system could be used:
Caregivers or relatives will know when and what pills patients have taken or if the patients failed to take their medications.
So you can watch Grandma forget to take her pills - in real time!
Did subby read the article? it placed 9th on the list I saw.
Oh this is going to be a boon to compliance monitoring. With that kind of 24/7 monitoring
it becomes easy to really lock down a person's life. All kinds of monitoring comes to mind,
from drug use to the absence of using prescribed medications, ingestion of approved or
unapproved foods or even 'unapproved' activities say that raise heartbeat or blood pressure
or again the lack of activities.
Anyone else reading the article think "Hot damn! Now I'll be able to do that PhD, get laid, get rich and retire in 5 years. I just have to pop lots of pills"? Sometimes reading the article (or even the summary in this case) can be a real bummer. I should've known better.
These posts express my own personal views, not those of my employer
Um, because clearly students will want to monitor... their heart rates... while they're ... taking tests(?)... and teachers won't want that to happen? Wha...?
If you can read this... 01110101 01110010 00100000 01100001 00100000 01100111 01100101 01100101 01101011
..rabbit shit!"
"See, you're getting smarter already!"
Proteus ingestible event markers (IEMs) are tiny, digestible sensors made from food ingredients, which are activated by stomach fluids after swallowing.
The IEM is manufactured on silicon wafers...
Last I checked, humans cannot digest silicon, so this thing is not entirely "made from food ingredients".
Also, I would have been mighty surprised if food ingredients could transmit digital signals.
Fry: I can't swallow that!
Farnsworth: Well then, good news! It's a suppository.
Once this is combined with Dr Schlock's inflatable technology, Zuul will be unleashed as a giant intelligent edible marshmallow.
And all this time the aliens have been probing my ass, when all's they had to do is make me swallow a pill.
Those bastards.
Wow, yeah I think this is a new low for slashdot, not only did he not RTFA he didn't RTFS and apparently only RTFH.
"After another era it will become accepted for use, and finally required. It's not hard to imagine a course that along side of the necessary books lists the prescription for the drugs you'll be required to take. /. gag)"
Don't get me wrong though, it's not a bad thing. It's simply society changing. I for one welcome it (and I'm not just playing on the
You' gotta be kidding but if that's how you feel, I think you're going to really enjoy whatever is coming your way. Don't cry when they drag you off to .. yet certain other men find the breasts it is growing you really :-)
have mandatory prostrate surgery because you're in the age group say 40+ and have a "risk gene". Or maybe they'll put you on a regimen of mandatory
prophylactic hormone surpression that will make you lose all interests in sex
attractive. Or how about some extra Xanax or Paxil to cheer up your days, never mind that the Xanax is giving you extra anxiety at the dosage
they want you to take it.. hehe nothing to worry about right? It's just society changing and boy you're sure going to welcome that
Damm I really wish I could see you go through all those mandatory prescriptions and treatments with a smile on your face. I would inject you myself
with whatever and without any qualms, because you deserve it.
Thom Yorke: Do you take those... those intelligence drugs?
SG: I don't need intelligent drugs, Thom, because I don't know what they are. But I will put anything into my mouth that's offered to me, whether it's meant to go there or not! Because... I'm different.
Thom Yorke (laughing): It's because your weird!
Read Pynchon.
... to mix these intelligence pills with booze? That way we could break even.
Have gnu, will travel.
Don't cry when they drag you off to have mandatory prostrate surgery
Believe it or not, I actually prefer to be lying down when they operate on me.
Gym class. Keep your heart rate on target, knock back some sugar just as your blood glucose dips, pop some taurine when your lactic acid starts to rise, etc.
Or, alternately, atheletes. Those guys will try anything that isn't explicitly outlawed, and many will keep going after it is.
It's number 9 on Wired's list. :)
Not eight.
Ah! These are the opposite of the stupid pills Mr. Potato head spoke of. Interesting.
No kidding! I've got terminals to hack.
Nit pick, but suppositories not withstanding, most pills are edible...
Actually, most suppositories are probably edible... but I digest...errr... digress ;-)
200 bucks to buy. That's what I have trouble digesting.
I have a feeling this will take the same course. It'll be used at first for medicine, yea. But eventually it'll find its way into classrooms, to the disdain of the teachers. After another era it will become accepted for use, and finally required. It's not hard to imagine a course that along side of the necessary books lists the prescription for the drugs you'll be required to take.
Don't get me wrong though, it's not a bad thing. It's simply society changing. I for one welcome it (and I'm not just playing on the /. gag).
Everything you think, do, and say
Is in the pill you took today.
In the year 4545....
Oh, say does that Star-Spangled Banner entwine / The myrtle of Venus with Bacchus's vine?
I for one welcome our intelligent pill overlords
At least they'll be better than our intelligent deuterium ore-valords.
Oh, say does that Star-Spangled Banner entwine / The myrtle of Venus with Bacchus's vine?
This looks like something from "Inner space" sans Dennis Quaid character "Lt. Tuck Pendelton".
from wikipedia...
"All members of society are conditioned in childhood to hold the values that the World State idealizes. Constant consumption is the bedrock of stability for the World State. Everyone is encouraged to consume the ubiquitous drug, soma. Soma is a hallucinogen that takes users on enjoyable, hangover-free "vacations"."
IntelligenT, not intelligenCE. They record your vitals, not make you smart.
...Ain't gonna need your teeth, won't need your eyes
You won't find a thing to do
Nobody's gonna look at you...
Honestly, that isn't fair. They won't start doing that to the current adults. They will just make it 'mandatory' for entrance into public schools, kind of like immunizations. Then it is just a matter of waiting for it to become universal.
...to the phrase, "Take two of these and call me in the morning."
[End Of Line]
Sounds a bit like THX1138, and not the modern "remaster" that shows people getting out of the way (instead of knocked off the scaffolding).
Disclaimer: The opinions and actions of the US Gov't are in no way representative of those held by this author or its ci
Taco Bell?
Got to be pretty dumb to swallow that one.
You can lead a man with reason but you can't make him think.
should call them "Mentats."
If you can read this, I forgot to post anonymously.
I would prefer the Blue one. Thanks.
Eclipse PDE and Me
I imagine this is not good news for a number of reasons...but one I can think of personally is pain medication users. Doctors nowadays are hesitant to prescribe schedule II meds because it is closely monitored and there are numerous cases where they have been reprimanded because of it, if not outright losing their licenses and possibly even facing criminal charges.
Chronic pain sufferers that have sought relief from strong meds inevitably build up tolerance to them, and in turn need to take more to achieve the same effect. Many Doctors assume addiction or worse, that patients are selling their meds (because of the high price they can get on the streets for them) when confronted with requests for higher dosages or quantities. Usually at this point, they try to pawn their patients off to pain clinics (which isn't generally a bad thing), refuse the request, or cut the patient off entirely. Either they don't understand titration or they just don't want to have patients who consume large quantities of pain meds to get the relief they need. Apparently certain types of drugs are monitored and one patient that has a high tolerance can affect the Doctors prescribing ratio, sending a red flag that he needs to be watched more closely. Because of this, many patients subsidize their prescribed drugs with street drugs to achieve the relief they need in order to maintain a decent quality of life. Illegal? Yes. Necessary? Sadly, in more cases than people realize.
I've seen where Doctors have forced patients to sign contracts with all kinds of stipulations...the consequence of any being broken that they would be immediately cut off and labelled a 'drug seeker'. When this happens, good luck to them getting prescriptions elsewhere. Surely if these 'reporting' pills are cost effective and reliable...it won't be long before most Doctors are requiring all pain patients to use them. Whether it's a lack of trust or not in the Doctor/patient relationship...they need to protect their livelihood and this may end up being the best method.
Dr. Walter Bishop created intelligent pills in his lab back in the 70's.
I actually heard that song on the radio the other day. I remember hearing it for the first time at my uncle's house on a 45 - I played it over and over. Sci-fi meets pop music. In case you don't know what we're talking about, it was a song that took a stab at predicting the future in 1010 year increments starting in 2525. I was 4 in 1969 when it was released. Sheesh, that makes me feel old!
Tiller's Rule: Never use a word in written form that you've only heard and never read. You will end up looking foolish.
More like an edible (transportable) lie detector? Isn't that what current lie detectors do, check heart rate changes? Even though they can be false, doesn't mean they will always be false.
Disclaimer: I am not god.
We may not be created equal
But we can be treated equal.
Poo bots? Hiiideee ho!
...Ain't gonna need your teeth, won't need your eyes
You won't find a thing to do
Nobody's gonna look at you...
The line is, "You won't find a thing to chew." Hence the lack of teeth.
Heck, why don't they just put these intelligent pills in the meds, thereby creating a mandatory monitoring system if you take a prescription drug? If they're so cheap it won't impact the cost of the meds significantly. Since we'll all be on federal welfare health care soon; this, I'm sure, will be on the top of the to-do list. (Referring to US health care of course. All you other suckers around the world are already screwed with national healthcare.)