Keith Watanabe * NET 2.0

I applaud the general feeling that Intel's former CEO has made as referenced by the article below is similar to a rant I wrote a while back on my own frustrations of the medical industry and how I praised the technology/computer industry for true innovation and making a huge difference in the quality of lives of people.  The thing the former CEO and I hold in complete agreement is that the medical/pharmaceutical industry moves at a snails' pace.  Probably the only thing slower is the world of astronomy, but then again they worry about the true macro problems of the world. 

All things considered, the fact that the computer industry has little history compared with the medical one says a lot.  It's disgusting watching companies put out products that have little visible benefits whereas an iPod can give one instant gratification.  I mean, I was using this drug to help my leg which has some sort of excema.  I spent over a thousand dollars for that along with this other drug to help my keloid problem on my chest.  Did any of these conditions improve?  No! 

Compare that to a system I helped build for trading tickets online at Ticketmaster.  Various artists can benefit from that as can online resellers.  It took me less than a year to build my piece of the system. 

One key thing that Grove pointed out was that the tech industry delivers and has schedules.  To put it bluntly, we work hard and have real milestones.  Researchers in labs just perform random experiments for their own intellectual fulfillment without caring that billions of people are suffering and dying depending upon their coffee breaks!

One piece of insight that I didn't know about but I conjectured that Grove mentioned was that the medical industry faces these patent issues and a huge force to get grants.  There is a community that prevents people from getting through, which means that progress is slowed.  I didn't realize something like this existed, but it makes sense.  To me it seems that this organization is a perverse institution that has more interest in self-preservation than in producing medicine that people truly need.

I hope this serves as a wake up call to the world of medicine.  But I think that the barriers of entry must be thrown down just as how development in the online world had been thrown down by the advent of the web.