An experimental anatomy computer system

Future computer systems, to assist the practicing physician, may take many forms. Some may, as independent automata, prepare and present specific diagnoses or identify and recommend specified courses of therapy. Others may assist by augmenting the physician's processes of reasoning to enhance both his diagnostic ability and his therapeutic decisions. Such systems will serve as prosthetic extensions of human cognition and will function as integrated manmachine systems combining the unique features of both the man and machine to the solution of diagnostic and therapeutic problems. This latter type of synergetic automaton must have the ability to answer any question submitted by the physician within its information content. Thus, it must be able to interpret the question and derive the answer in a simulation of the human ability to use knowledge. To achieve this, basic research is needed to develop a general system for the organization of disciplinary information and general programs for its utilization. Such research involves the development of a simulation, suitable for computer application, of the primitive pattern of human objectification and the fundamental processes of organization. This paper presents the first operational stage of a computer system constructed for the study of one aspect of this problem. The study involved the modeling of gross objects of the physical world, their attributes and relationships; the subject area used was human gross anatomy and the object set, a male human body. The output of the computer system is demonstrated, comments are given, the system is described, and plans for subsequent research discussed. The paper is written primarily as a progress report on the first operational stage of an experimental system.