The concept of digital health is not new; a pioneer in radio
and publishing, Hugo Gernsback, first put forward the concept
in the 1920s, proposing a device called the “teledactyl”, which
would allow doctors not only to see their patients through a
viewscreen, but also touch them from miles away with ‘spindly
robot arms’. The premise behind the concept was not too
dissimilar to the issues we face today. In 1925, Gernsback
predicted that “the busy doctor, fifty years hence, will not
be able to visit his patients as he does now” so technology
could provide the conduit to allow patients to come to him.
Tim Davis, of Exco InTouch, discusses the era of cognitive
computing.