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In 1996, the supercomputer ‘Deep Blue’, capable of evaluating over 200 million positions a second, beat reigning chess champion Garry Kasparov. Twenty years on, computers are much, much faster. What if we could take all that power and apply it not to a game of chess, but to global health?

 

In this era of Big Data, perhaps an algorithm could analyze all the options and pick the best move for us. It would transform the lives of a billion people with no access to health care. But what, and who, is lost in the number crunching?

In 1996, the supercomputer ‘Deep Blue’, capable of evaluating over 200 million positions a second, beat reigning chess champion Garry Kasparov. Twenty years on, computers are much, much faster. What if we could take all that power and apply it not to a game of chess, but to global health?

 

In this era of Big Data, could a Life Equation analyze all the options and pick the best move for us? It would transform the lives of a billion people with no access to health care. But what, and who, is lost in the number crunching?

JOSE’S DILEMMA

José is a new kind of health worker. He has no medical training; his skills are language and logistics. His job is to connect sick, impoverished Guatemalans with the care they need.

When he meets Crecencia, a mother of seven with late-stage cervical cancer, he faces a daunting question. The price tag to treat her disease is almost $10,000. And at best, it will buy only a few years of life. That money could instead fund a thousand pap smears — a cost-effective way of catching cancer before it’s too late.

What would you do? Take the poll to see how your answer compares to others.

Should Jose's organization fund Crecencia's treatment?

Should Jose's organization fund Crecencia's treatment?

Jose’s dilemma seems impossible, but now there’s a way to make this decision: powerful computers can crunch the numbers and determine which interventions deliver the most bang for the buck.

This Big Data approach gives economists an eagle-eye view so that health care can be focused on where it’s most effective. But on the ground, health professionals don’t treat statistics, they treat patients.

“It’s urgent we understand this prevailing ideology of cost-effectiveness, because it has terrifying real-life consequences.”

PAUL FARMER

“It’s urgent we understand this prevailing ideology of cost-effectiveness, because it has terrifying real-life consequences.”

PAUL FARMER

“I base my ethics on what produces the greatest possible reduction in suffering. The best way of doing that is by getting a lot of data.”

PETER SINGER

“Human rights are a nice slogan that can convey the idea that something is important. But I base my ethics on what produces the greatest possible reduction in suffering. The best way of doing that is by getting a lot of data.”

PETER SINGER

Get started… The Big Question.