JOHANNESBURG - One can only imagine what it would feel like walking into a medical facility manned by robotic nurses, autonomous surgeons, and several other robot staff members, and witnessing a robotic nurse pushing a stretcher into the operating theater and consoling a patient that ‘everything is going to be okay.’ One can only imagine because that would never happen. Optimism about artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, and advancing technology in the healthcare sector should also be tempered by realism.

When talking about the healthcare sector, thoughts and decisions must be anchored on humanity, and consider that, despite the gains, people’s lives are at risk. The more strategic assessment of where decisions could influence critical application areas of AI requires an examination of several questions. Where would compassion and fairness come from in a future commitment to AI technology? What outcomes by a machine would be governable by law, and how can end users be protected? At which stage is drawing a line on AI healthcare innovation necessary? Should a line be drawn? There are many questions to consider, but the genesis would be applying human-centered design in the development of AI, i.e., problem-solving that focuses on empathizing with humans at every step in the process.

Nanotechnology Experiments

Nanotechnology is the design, production, and application of structures, devices, and systems on the scale of atoms and molecules. Nanomaterials are generally between 0.1 and 100 nanometers in size - think specs of dust or 171,476 words encrypted on the head of a needle.

Imagine a world where microscopic medical implants could patrol human arteries either autonomously or under surgeon control, diagnose ailments and fight disease, where nanorobots could repair specific diseased cells, and nanovesicles could attract themselves to a