The consumer-industrial complex

摘要

WHEN SHE STARTS her day at Sarasota Memorial Hospital in Florida, Danielle Reed picks up a smartphone. It is part of a system provided by Voalte, a start-up created to modify smart-phones for doctors and nurses. The phone allows Ms Reed to communicate quickly and easily with her fellow nurses either by calling them or by sending text messages, a number of which are preprogrammed. She can also open specialised apps: one allows her to look up different medicines and their side-effects; another helps her identify pills brought in by patients.