B2 – Upper Intermediate
With so many advancements in the medical field, it is no surprise that doctors and surgeons are able to utilize computers as part of a person’s recovery.
Read the article below to know about Matt Nagel and his operation.
http://fullspate.digitalcounterrevolution.co.uk/archive/ai.html
Discussion Questions:
- What is your initial reaction to the story?
- Will this kind of technology be helpful to a lot of people? Why or why not?
- How can this technology be helpful to paralyzed people? What do you see are its dangers/risks?
- Do you see this new technology becoming widely available to help a lot of people in the near future?
- Matt Nagel is the first patient to try out this new technology. Would you be willing to be the first person to ever try out a new medical technology? Why or why not?
8 replies on “Hooked Up to Computers”
1. What is your initial reaction to the story?
Fascination with science and how science can help humans
2. Will this kind of technology be helpful to a lot of people? Why or why not?
For sure, Technological advances have helped people for decades. Thanks to them, society has advanced in many aspects. For example, thanks to the industrial revolution many dangerous jobs for people could be performed by machines.
3. How can this technology be helpful to paralyzed people? What do you see are its dangers/risks?
To allow them to do actions that due to their illness they cannot perform.
I honestly don’t think there is any danger. Technology has been created by humans and we are the ones who set limits and risks. We wouldn’t create a machine that disadvantages people.
4. Do you see this new technology becoming widely available to help a lot of people in the near future?
Yes of course, as of today, this new technology needs to be tested in humans and confirm that it is safe for them. Once confirmed, this technology will be widely used and beneficial.
5. Matt Nagel is the first patient to try out this new technology. Would you be willing to be the first person to ever try out a new medical technology? Why or why not?
I don’t think so, i’m not that brave.
But I think it would depend a lot from the circumstances that surround me. If I am paralyzed from the neck down and I have nothing else to try to recover, probably and after many discussions with my doctors … if they advised me, I would do it
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1. What is your initial reaction to the story? It is amazing to see how technology can improve people life
2. Will this kind of technology be helpful to a lot of people? Why or why not? I am sure it will be helpful but not so sure if it will be available for all the people that will need it due to the high cost it means.
3. How can this technology be helpful to paralyzed people? What do you see are its dangers/risks? This technology will allow paralyzed people to perform daily tasks on their own or with less help that they used to need.
Regarding the dangers or risks, we can´t forget devices are being placed in your body so technical errors can occur that may affect it y different ways.
4. Do you see this new technology becoming widely available to help a lot of people in the near future? As I mentioned above (question 3), I am not sure if it will be widely available due to the high cost it means.
5. Matt Nagel is the first patient to try out this new technology. Would you be willing to be the first person to ever try out a new medical technology? Why or why not? Because I work in Clinical Research and more specifically in Clinical Trials, I am aware of the importance of volunteering to try new medical technology, new medical devices or new medicines that are being developed, so, yes, although I would be scared, I would be willing to try it.
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1. What is your initial reaction to the story? This is amazing!
2. Will this kind of technology be helpful to a lot of people? Why or why not? Yes, it will help a lot of people with disabilities and also to lead a quality of life, I don’t see negative things.
3. How can this technology be helpful to paralyzed people? What do you see are its dangers/risks? As I commented early, people could have a quality of life and to be independent. The dangers/risks that I see that this operation is a high risk and could be not work; also due to it is everything connected to a computer, it could be hacker.
4. Do you see this new technology becoming widely available to help a lot of people in the near future? Yes, this is the future.
Matt Nagel is the first patient to try out this new technology. Would you be willing to be the first person to ever try out a new medical technology? Why or why not? I don’t think so, I would rather to see how medical technology is working with tests/trials and check if the results are positive and technology is working.
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1. This is a good article. It transmit hope to people with some deficiency. It makes me feel happy.
2.Yes for the people that needs it. It will be helpful to people with paralysis as well as for other people like for example deaf people as mentioned in the article. They will be benefits to recover what they lost or to get new abilities they didn’t have when they were born.
3. It will help them to recover not only physically but also psychologically. Its like born again, or have a second opportunity in the life. I think the major risk is the surgery to implant the electrodes in the brain. The surgery with all that implies, like anesthesia. But I think at the end the benefits are over the risks.
4. No. I think this must be very expensive, and there will be people that can’t afford it. It will depend on the countries and the helps the governments provides.
5.This is a difficult question. You needs to be in Nagel’s skin. This is an invasive technology. I’m not in favor of undergoing a surgery that is not strictly necessary. So probably I would not be a good candidate to be the first patient to try it.
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