I was up in San Francisco this morning for the annual meeting of the International Society for Minimally Invasive Cardiothoracic Surgery (ISMICS). These are the innovative surgeons who’ve been developing instruments and procedures that greatly reduce the collateral damage of surgical interventions, accomplishing what must to be done with less damage to skin, muscle, fascia, bone, etc., thereby reducing risk, pain, healing time, and disfigurement. They’re greatly interested in developing instruments that can work through smaller apertures.
By tradition, the ISMICS annual conference invites a speaker from another field to give the keynote address, and for 09 ISMICS, the field was nanotechnology. I spoke on “Nanotechnology and the Future of Medicine”, describing emerging nanotechnologies, the objectives set by the National Institutes of Heath nanotechnology roadmap, and some of the applications that advanced, atomically precise manufacturing will make possible. Questions from the audience looked toward yet broader horizons for the future of technology, society, and human life.
