^^
24.
In this modern world, people are not used to living with
discomfort. We expect immediate results and satisfaction.
We want answers faster than they can be delivered. There
is twenty-four-hour repair and round-the-clock shopping.
If we are hungry, there is always food available, from
microwave dinners to all-night grocery stores and
restaurants. People no longer know how to wait, or even
what waiting means. It is nice to have what you want when
you want it, but the ability to delay satisfaction is important.
Patience is clearly an important virtue, yet
so many people stand in front of their microwaves thinking
“Hurry up!”
25.
The goal of medicine as it is currently practiced is to
develop procedures and drugs that work equally well on
all patients, regardless of gender, age, or genetics. It
derives from the prevalent belief that all of us are similar
bio-mechanical units that rolled off the same assembly line
― a most imperfect conception of human beings that limits
conventional medicine’s effectiveness. The doctor of the future,
however, needs to practice medicine in fundamentally
different ways. One of the most important shifts will be an
increased recognition of patient individuality, a concept
now largely ignored. Instead of treating different patients
that display similar symptoms with the same drugs,
doctors should identify root causes of disease to come up
with a personalized treatment.
26.
For the most part, we like things that are familiar to us.
To prove the point to yourself, try a little experiment. Get
the negative of an old photograph that shows a front view
of your face and have it developed into a pair of pictures ―
one that shows you as you actually look and one that
shows a reverse image so that the right and left sides of
your face are interchanged. Now decide which version of
your face you like better and ask a good friend to make
the choice, too. If you are like most people, you should
notice something odd: Your friend will prefer the true
print, but you will prefer the reverse image. Why? Because
you both will be responding favorably to the more familiar
face ― your friend to the one the world sees and you to the
reversed one you find in the mirror every day.
