First, there was IBM. A dominant force in Computers, with its superior hardware built into every desktop computer.
Then Microsoft came and usurped them with one simple question: how do we become the intelligence that runs all of these machines? How do we become the power behind the throne?
The result: a universal operating system that was separately installed on millions of computers. DOS. Windows. Microsoft Office.
Then Google came and replicated the Microsoft model online. They became the Operating System and core utility for those accessing the Internet. Google became a verb. Google Docs became a staple.
Then Facebook replicated what Google did online within the niche of “social media”. The online Operating System for those using the Internet to facilitate social interactions.
And then companies like Snapchat are replicating the Facebook model within the sub-niche of a specific type of “in the moment”, ephemeral interaction.
Here’s the lesson.
Operating Systems trump hardware.
So even though Medicine revolves primarily around building better “hardware” aka training people to become Doctors…what if it focused on building a better Operating System aka “a universal way of thinking and processing information about health care and disease”.
This system would have multiple nodes that go beyond the traditional ones of Doctors, Nurses, Carers, Researchers etc.
In the same way that Google will acquire a YouTube to grow its Operating System, or Facebook will acquire Instagram, this Med OS will acquire kindergarten educational programs, Hollywood TV shows, Netflix original programming, popular video games, best selling children’s books, cult-classic comic books, advertising campaigns…Every method possible to propagate the Med OS way of thinking.
It decentralises health care and turns every person connected to the Med OS network into a front line Medic.
With 7 billion Medics on the case, our odds of eradicating longstanding deadly diseases would be improved exponentially.
I’ll try and outline this Med OS and publish what it would look like.
A platform for health care data analytics where each person on the planet acts as a “data node”.
More thought required.
Key point: Operating Systems trump hardware.