That is very interesting. I would worry about it's potential use though. What if someone just looked different because of their genes, with no medical problem what-so-ever. I would worry about people possibly being prematurely or wrongly diagnosed, but I'm sure it has it's value too.

Originally posted by philosopherrose
That is very interesting. I would worry about it's potential use though. What if someone just looked different because of their genes, with no medical problem what-so-ever. I would worry about people possibly being prematurely or wrongly diagnosed, but I'm sure it has it's value too.

Not to worry, people already do that anyway. At least, computers will be objective.

the concept is as old as eugenics, so let me ask you a question:

if someone claimed he could identify genetic defects just by looking at body features, what would you call it?

a computer has always been programmed by someone, it does not discriminate individually, but that's not a safeguard in any way, unless the whole process is completely automated, which afaict, it is not.

one example: one could probably come up with sophisticated formulae within complex programs, which link cholesterol levels and blood pressure to life expectancy, all with reasonable accuracy.

the overall value would be a fat zero, though, because arteriosclerosis is limited to arteries, as the name suggests. if it was merely a clogging problem, veins would suffer more (lower pressure and velocity). there are basically two differences between arterial and venous blood, one is blood gasses and the other is pressure. iow, arteriosclerosis is in all likelyhood the result of weakened connective tissue (=collagen deficiency).

search for 'Linus Pauling' for more info.