A Complete Unknown
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Chief Medical Editor
The Bob Dylan biopic “A Complete Unknown” is out in theaters. The movie is not a definitive, fully accurate, comprehensive account of the life, music, and lyrical prose of Bob Dylan. Instead, it faithfully depicts the zeitgeist of the early 1960s, a time of tremendous change in American culture. There was change in dress, music, and mores. Moreover, that time was marked by concerns over nuclear war; I remember reading a 1950s practical guide to fallout shelters and having nuclear war safety plans in elementary school. The Dylan biopic portrays the acute concerns over civil rights and the Vietnam War and how the folk music of the time was driven by those contemporary themes. The future was uncertain, a complete unknown.
The movie is timely as some of those same concerns resonate to this day. But the larger theme is that with change the future is unknown. That theme is heavily reflected in this issue of The Dermatologist. In our cover story feature, Dr Ross Pearlman takes a critical look at some of the artificial intelligence (AI) products becoming available. This rapidly changing field is already changing my dermatology practice, and AI products will surely become ubiquitous tools in our patients’ hands in the near future.
If the changes of AI are not enough, Dr Aamir Hussain’s feature article describes practical issues in the use of blockchain-based cryptocurrencies. Would I have laughed at the idea of cryptocurrency as a payment method in dermatology practice 5 years ago? Sure, I would have. Would I laugh at that now? Nope, no chance.
The future is uncertain, but I am not sure it is a complete unknown. Generally, the future is better than the past, with some transient exceptions. Back in the mid-1980s, with the sudden changes in health care finance that saw growth in managed care, a prominent dermatologic researcher questioned whether dermatologists might end up driving taxis by the year 2000.1 Wow, was he wrong. I am optimistic that the changes we see happening, while having big effects, are going to lead to a better world.
Reference
- Stern RS. Dermatologists in the year 2000. Will supply exceed demand? Arch Dermatol. 1986;122(6):675-678.
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