Healthcare is based on science, and science requires data processing to see the correlations. We'd probably be able to spot a lot more common causes of diseases if people weren't so guarded with their medical history. This doesn't really have anything to do with government, it has to do with solving problems.
The US already has HIPAA, so I don't get the point. This just seems like a weak attempt to say something negative about Google's announcement.
Medical history is a double-edged sword in the US. Why do you think people are so reluctant to share it when they are being judged, charged more, charged less, etc. depending on it?
If this weren't the case, some Americans wouldn't have a problem with 'divulging' their medical history.
Health care is based on science, you're right, but there are factors that influence what is researched and where funds go. Plus, putting it in practice or implementing it according to the right policy; this is another issue.[1]
Also, I think you're undermining the magnitude of lobbying.
But Google is a huge company, with a lot of power and capital. So, like I said in response to someone else, I am very interested in the details of Calico.
Well, the way to solve the charging issue is to have universal healthcare for all in which no one can be denied care. Given that, I don't see why I should care why anyone know my cholesterol or blood pressure.
And where is Google advocating for cuts in public science spending, or lobbying to get regulations reduced on harm-causing environmental agents? This is a non-sequitur with respect to Calico.
Part of big data is transparency, removing ignorance. We overspend on healthcare and treatments that don't work, precisely because we haven't crunched the numbers and informed the public and based policies based those insights. Obamacare took a lot a flack over this ("death panels!!"), but if you want to talk about optimizing health, then using computer science to evaluate medical data to target spending at stuff that works and extends life and well-being the most is a huge win.
Standing in the way of that is conspiracy nuts who obsess over the privacy of their vital fluids and that somehow, scientists recommending that your favorite treatment is nothing more than a very expensive placebo is a death panel.
In a perfect world, no one could be denied healthcare, and everyone's medical records (anonymized) and history would be open to all scientists in the world for exploring the connections between disease.
I'd certainly like to know that 10,000 other people, who have the same gene X as me, who also developed symptom Y after behavior Z, and that scientists could also make that connection and begin to figure out how to target treatments, rather than counting on some hope that some study will get the right participants with the right set of histories to figure this out.
The US already has HIPAA, so I don't get the point. This just seems like a weak attempt to say something negative about Google's announcement.