来自科幻世界的医疗利器

    德•布劳威尔同时认为，这款产品的成功取决于人们在社交网络上开放程度的提高。有人分享自己的饮食习惯时，该产品能对其进行分析。他说：“人们分享的信息越多，它的诊断范围就越广泛。公开隐私是未来的发展趋势——我们认为这是件好事。”

    这款产品的创造者们从来没打算将人为因素排除在诊断过程之外。实际上，该产品的第一版欣然接受人为因素，而且非常人性化：深更半夜，孩子突然生病了，你该怎么办？对于父母而言，这也许是世界上最无助的事情。富有传奇色彩的设计公司艾迪欧（IDEO）的设计师戴维•韦伯斯特目前正在与Scanadu合作设计这款产品。他说：“它能告诉你，这种情况究竟是性命攸关，还是虚惊一场。”韦伯斯特

    对于德•布劳威尔而言，这种情况绝非危言耸听。他是在特护病房外的等候室孕育出这个点子的。当时，他五岁大的儿子跳出窗外，头部重伤。德•布劳威尔束手无策，只能凭空猜测儿子的情况。那一次，他在特护病房里呆坐了整整三个月。之后，他觉得应该做点什么，让家长们不必再茫然地傻等。德•布劳威尔称：“我们必须要让他们有所作为。”

    译者：项航

    De Brouwer also said the success of the device is contingent on people becoming more open through social networks. So when someone shares his eating patterns, the machine can analyze his diet. "The more people share, the more the device can rule out," he says. "No privacy will be sustainable -- and that's a good thing."

    The product's creators never wanted to divorce the human element from the diagnostic process, just its infallibility. In fact, the first version of the product embraces it, taking an earnestly human approach: What do you do when it is the middle of the night, and your child is ill? For a parent, it's one of the most helpless feelings in the world. "This will let you know if it's a mountain or a molehill," says David Webster, a designer at the legendary design firm IDEO, who is working with Scanadu to hatch the product.

    For de Brouwer, the situation is far from hypothetical. He conceived the idea while in an intensive care unit waiting room. His 5-year-old son had jumped out of a window and suffered severe head trauma. De Brouwer could only guess as to what his son's condition might be. After spending three months in the ICU, he felt he needed to do something for parents waiting cluelessly. "We need to empower them," he says.