Crowdsourcing a cure for my brain cancer,,,

Started by Warph, November 02, 2012, 04:08:27 PM

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Warph

               
Calling all "House" fans.  Remember the episode where this guy puts his symptoms online in an effort to "crowdsource" a diagnosis (for a cash reward), infuriating Foreman in the process?  (It was called "Epic Fail," if that helps.)  I'm a big "House" fan.  Anyway...

Meet Salvatore Iaconesi, who, according to his New Scientist profile, is an engineer, artist, hacker and 2012 TED fellow who teaches interaction and digital design at Sapienza–University of Rome, Italy.



He also has brain cancer.  So he hacked into his hospital's database and retrieved his medical records... which he then put online.

From the article at New Scientist:

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21628880.300-crowdsourcing-a-cure-for-my-brain-cancer.html

You were told you had brain cancer and your response was to hack open your medical records and publish them online at http://www.artisopensource.net/cure ... Why?:

When I was diagnosed I was a bit unsatisfied with what took place at the hospital: it was almost as if I had nothing to do with it. The doctor comes up, he tells you that you have a tumour, and it's like you disappear and only your clinical records remain. I didn't want to disappear. I'm not just a patient, I am a human being. I stepped out of the hospital with a copy of my digital medical records, but I found they were in a peculiar format which takes a lot of skill to open. So I hacked this format to make that data really accessible.

Last month you put this data on your website artisopensource.net/cure. What happened?

It's been incredible. I have been able to become an expert in neurosurgery and neurology.  Through this kind of complete openness, I could access thousands of people who have provided me with their knowledge, their skills, their testimonies, their life experiences.  Roughly 60 neurologists, neurosurgeons and radiologists contacted me suggesting techniques for surgery and for treatment.  They are even talking to each other.


And that's not all. His cancer is now a work of art.  (He is Italian, after all.)

Scans of your brain have inspired you and other artists in many ways. Tell me more:

There are lots of things going on: poems, texts, narratives. An electronic music collective in Palermo, Italy, did a performance with images of my cancer as their visuals.

Well, we wish Signore Iaconesi all good things in his, and his doctors', pursuit of a cure.
"Every once in a while I just have a compelling need to shoot my mouth off." 
--Warph

"If you don't have a sense of humor, you probably don't have any sense at all."
-- Warph

"A gun is like a parachute.  If you need one, and don't have one, you'll probably never need one again."

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