Fuzzy Logic and Medicine

For those who want to read more about fuzzy logic and the intersection of 21st century medicine, there is huge collection of articles at Ray Kurweil's site. For the uninitiated, you might want to start with this interview first. Kurweil is a technology pioneer with quite a few real world accomplishments under his belt and a pretty good track record as a futurist. Kurzweil's theory is that technology will solve most medical problems and be able to extend life in about a quarter century. By century's end, he predicts some type of immortality will be possible, likely as a result of nanotechnology. He proposes a concept of a bridge to a bridge to a bridge. The first phase involves doing everything we now know leads to increased health and longevity (via nutrition, stress reduction and exercise). The second involves biotechnology such as stem cells and cloned organs. The third involves nanotechnology, the inevitable merging of man and machine. Inevitable according to Kurzweil, intriguing to me as a sci-fi buff and no doubt downright scary to others.

Phase one is the best we can currently do and the best way to maintain any upgrades we get along the way. The idea is that if one stays alive long enough, then phase 2 or biotech will be in high gear. This will allow rejuvenation therapies previously unknown. However, it will not be until the perfection of nanotechnology that complete repair of all cellular damage will be theoretically possible (plus so much more). Now this is where it gets really interesting to a futurist. The key to both biotechnology and nanotechnology is fuzzy logic. In both cases, we are talking about controlling the control systems of the body. The control systems of the body involve a network of immunological, neurological and endocrine mechanisms. In Chinese medicine, the main meaning of the mysterious term qi actually refers to nothing other than the various functions that maintain homeostasis (spleen qi is largely the function of digestion, for example, while lung qi is largely the function of respiration). When dysfunction occurs at this level, it is called a root disharmony and treatment is to restore function (or qi) of the internal organ networks.

Modern physiologists are well aware, just as were ancient Chinese doctors, that disease begins to take root first as a failure of some major physiological control mechanism. In autoimmune disease, the normal inhibitory components of immunity fail. In cancer, the normal surveillance function of the immune system is overwhelmed and single mutations multiply and become strong. Free radicals are not adequately cleared from the system, damaging blood vessels and promoting inflammation. Dietary factors, stress, drugs alter hormone and neurotransmitter levels leading to assorted gynecological and psychological problems. The list could go on. Western medicine has experimented with hormones and psychotropics to treat many "control" mechanism disorders. But such therapy has never proven curative to any major illness and side effects are typical with any such therapy. However, the model up until recently has begin one of linear precision. But the body does not work according to the sum total of all its chemical reactions. It works according to a more complex series of relationships between all the chemical reactions. In other words, you can't just add it all up and spit out a useful result. It takes some framework in which to organize the data. It is turning out that the organizing framework of animal physiology has much in common with fuzzy logic than simple arithmetic. The corollary of this observation is that controlling the control mechanisms will depend on a much more sophisticated approach to all this fuzz.

So here we are at an interesting crossroads. Western science needs to understand the fuzzy logic of human physiology in order to exert control over the endless molecules it has so painstakingly detailed. Chinese medicine, which has embraced fuzzy logic for millenia, may have much to offer in this regard. Chinese medicine has defined the fuzzy parameters of human physiology and pathophysiology in quite fuzzy terms. This fuzzy approach to physiology is already helping to build the first bridge Kurzweil describes by enhancing human health with all known means. But does TCM have anything to offer in the biotech and nanotech revolutions predicted by some. I personally have never believed a low tech form of chinese medicine would ever come to dominate modern healthcare. I think a small segment of the populations was once romanced by this idea, but it hardly holds any currency in the mainstream. People like to have option other than western medicine in this transitional period, but I think most believe that science will prevail. That means that the great advances in medicine will still come from within the mainstream. However it is quite possible that chinese insights into the fuzzy logic that is responsible for maintaining homeostasis (or zheng qi as TCM docs call "correct function") might prove useful in getting those stem cells or nanocytes to work properly. Even if the latter "bridges" are just a pipe dream, the nature of fuzzy logic as it is used in TCM will still provide important insights into the nature of human physiology.