Today, over 2/3 of the people on earth do not have access to radiologists. The are big disparities between counties and within countries. Some countries like the US have tens of thousands of radiologists whereas 14 African countries have no radiologists at all. In India there is approximately one radiologist for every 100,000 people whereas in the US there is one radiologist for every 10,000 people. There are also disparities within countries.

Intel Corp. is planning to invest investment more than $20 billion in two computer chip plants in central Ohio to help address a global semiconductor shortage. Intel Corp. is planning to invest investment more than $20 billion in two computer chip plants in central Ohio to help address a global semiconductor shortage. COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Intel will invest $20 billion in a new computer chip facility in Ohio amid a global shortage of microprocessors used in everything from phones and cars to video games. After years of heavy reliance on Asia for the production of computer chips, vulnerability to shortages of the crucial components was exposed in the U.S. and Europe as they began to emerge economically from the pandemic. The U.S. share of the worldwide chip manufacturing market has declined from 37% in 1990 to 12% today, according to the Semiconductor Industry Association, and shortages have become a potential risk.

Some of the most popular Christmas presents are being sold online with mark-ups of more than 70% after selling out in major high street stores because of the global shortage of microchips. Supply-chain bottlenecks and the computer-chip shortages are affecting availability of some of the most sought-after gifts, from games consoles to Dyson products. Shoppers were warned last week of a delay of at least one month for some of the most popular iPad models. Games consoles have been in limited supply for most of the pandemic, and companies are struggling to cope with the surge in demand for Christmas. Customers have attacked "scalpers" online for buying stock and pushing up prices.

I was reminded of a mathematical hypothesis called the singularity when I read Vinod Khosla's recent interview in the Wall Street Journal and his prediction of massive job displacement and the growth of new industries due to the widespread adoption of artificial intelligence (AI). The singularity is a point and phase in the future when bio, nano, energy, robotic, and computer technology will develop at such a rate, become so advanced, and have such a profound impact on humanity, that today's society has no means to understand or describe what life will be like at that time in the future. It made me wonder how far and fast we are heading in the same explosion of unfathomable change occurring today in information security. Just as IT revolutionized all forms of business in the last half-century, and the Internet in turn revolutionized IT in the last quarter-century, the trajectory we are on now places AI squarely at the next technology inflection point. The study of history often provides a strong predictor of human societal change.