It's great to have the cool cell phones and the top of the line televisions, but when it comes right down to it, technology is supposed to be making our lives better, not just more entertaining. There is no better way to enhance the quality of our lives than through medical breakthroughs and these would not be possible without significant improvements to existing technology. In this article the author talks about advances in medicine that will affect epidemics such as the bird flu. Scientists are now able to see how bird flu replicates in cells and this is enabling them to develop measures that will combat this disease. Back in 1995, which to me sometimes seems just like yesterday but was 12 years ago, this discovery would have taken years to accomplish. Now with computers being hundreds of times more powerful and capable, the same problem is resolved in a matter of months. All of this leads to postulation that if this has been accomplished in a mere 12 years, what is in store for us and disease prevention and cure 15 or 20 more years down the road?

I do recall, as many others will, when Magic Johnson was diagnosed with the HIV virus. At the time, HIV disease and AIDS was considered a death sentence. Technology has advanced so much since then that AIDS patients are no longer considered terminal and have tremendous survival rates. This should give us significant hope and an optimistic outlook toward the future. I often wonder what kind of car my son will drive when he's my age, if there will even be cars at all. Or what television will be like then, or if he will need to speak to his wrist bone to call and wish me happy birthday. When I look at articles like this, I also hope that he and all the other children of his generation will not have to suffer disease the way many in ours has.