For some tasks in life, technology helps us manage. Apps to identify heavenly constellations, find a restaurant or compute personal finances give people power few can argue with.
For other jobs, though, gizmos may actually give humans too much control. A free how-to guide to knee surgery would seem a case in point.
Called DASH, this new app has put the iPod touch at the centre of at least three hip and knee replacement surgeries at one Mumbai hospital. The "high-precision portable tool", developed by Smith & Nephew and powered by BrainLab, makes many boasts to curious consumers, like "greater accuracy" for knee and hips surgeons in a "cost-effective and easy-to-use" package.
Guiding users through each step in the surgery ("Attach femur array lateral", for instance), the finicky looking device with a precision camera apparently means doctors no longer need to "eyeball" measurements. Even better, the software is totally free from iTunes.
With such promise one might wonder how doctors managed without the DASH app all this time. But one also wonders what those with a penchant for experiments will do with this sort of knowledge in the plan of their hands. Perhaps some jobs are better left to the pros.
