Translator: TED Translators admin Reviewer: Elisabeth Buffard
Beyond the extraordinary stories
new characters that enthrall young and old alike,
what is most extraordinary with science fiction,
is that ultimately there is a part of reality in it.
In light of today's innovations,
some science fiction films
have something completely disturbing about them ...
particularly in the fields of biology and medicine,
with themes such as instant healing,
the search for immortality,
the creation of clones or of robots,
which are fields where, at the same time,
scientific progress has been the most extraordinary,
to the point of bringing together science and science fiction today,
So today, the supermen,
the enhanced human bodies,
the robots,
have come out of our screens
and our books to become reality.
Tomorrow, these inventions,
which once seemed to us impossible to achieve,
will be part of our daily lives.
Then, of course,
everything that originated from the brains of artists
has not been invented yet, far from it!
Flying cars, like in "The Fifth Element", don't exist yet
and unfortunately, the sky is not yet a way to escape
all of Earth's traffic jams.
Likewise, the flying skateboard,
which we see in "Back to the Future",
unfortunately doesn't exist yet...
However, when we look at the innovations,
the inventions created by writers
and directors, in direct relation to the human body,
things are much more impressive.
For example, the robotic armor
which increases muscle strength tenfold,
like in
this armor is no longer science fiction!
U.S companies,
such as Argo Medical Technologies or Ekso Bionics,
are already producing motorized exoskeletons.
These are armors that are developed to help
and rehabilitate injured or disabled people.
This is a market that is absolutely huge.
It is estimated at more than $ 10 billion
in the next ten years:
we have not heard the last on exoskeletons
and we keep getting closer to
Likewise, the electromagnet
placed near Tony Stark's -- aka Iron Man's -- heart,
which is powered by a car battery,
this electromagnet is gradually moving away
from science fiction.
After 15 years of research,
the first fully biocompatible artificial heart
was invented by the French company Carmat.
This amazing invention
will help treat heart failure.
In Europe and in the United States,
over 20 million people are suffering from heart failure.
This is the only cardiovascular disease
in constant progression
and its evolution is unfortunately often negative.
There are many other examples of inventions
in science fiction
that are about to become mainstream.
For example, in the Star Trek universe
- I think you all remember Dr. McCoy -
and his famous medical tricorder
which is used to examine the health of a patient.
Well, three years ago,
an American company
launched a relatively similar project.
They developed a mini diagnostic device,
a kind of multifunction scanner,
really easy to use.
It measures temperature,
oxygen rates in the blood,
respiratory pace and pulse.
All the information is transmitted to a smartphone,
via Bluetooth.
And it is said to be 99% accurate.
Another extremely impressive field of inventions
that we thought would never come true not very long ago,
is waht is called robotic assistance.
Scientific advances have turned robots into proper assistants,
much more likeable and reassuring than Terminator.
Like the famous RI-MAN
which was created in 2006 in Japan,
which is especially designed to help the elderly:
it hears, sees, feels
and it can take care of people
who are losing their autonomy.
But progress goes even further...
Science fiction is of course interested in the brain
and has imagined
all sorts of miraculous operations on this organ
which is so sensitive and captivating.
In his book "Ender's Game" which dates back to 1985,
which has recently been adapted into a movie
- you may have seen the movie -
author Orson Scott Card
has imagined a surgical operation
on a brain that would be performed
by a 4-arm robot.
Again, fiction becomes reality.
The French company MedTech,
that I have the pleasure to run,
develops and designs surgical robots
that make brain operations safer,
more accurate
and less invasive.
However, the surgeons are always alongside the robots
during surgery.
Today, our robots allow us
to treat or reduce the effects of diseases
such as epilepsy, Parkinson's disease, dystonia
and even some back pathologies.
And scientific research, which keeps progressing,
allows us to imagine absolutely incredible things!
Of course, it isn't easy to imagine what awaits us
in ten, fifteen, twenty or fifty years.
That said,
if you look at the recent works of science fiction,
certain inventions appear in our minds ...
and therefore, in research laboratories.
We are already contemplating
the development of absolutely
unprecedented abilities of the brain,
such as the ability to control remotely.
Research projects give us a glimpse of
new prospects for the use of the brain by mankind,
completely redefining our relationship
to the body and thus to the world.
For example, robotics researchers
are working on a project called
the "Virtual Embodiment and Robotic re-Embodiment"
(VERE).
It is a system that allows you to remotely control
a robot by thought!
Controlled from a research laboratory in Israel,
a robot performed ​​extremely simple tasks in France!
These tests will soon be performed on paralyzed people,
and human-size robots
will soon make their appearance
in some research laboratories.
Even more impressive:
the experiences from brain to brain.
Researchers in Seattle,
have developed the first form of operational telepathy.
That is to say they have developed
a first human to human interface,
allowing to transmit a brain signal
from a person to the other,
and in a completely non-invasive way.
The first one was able to control
certain movements ofhis colleague's hand.
And researchers do not intend to stop there:
they now plan to have a real conversation
between the two encephala,
that communication no longer be unidirectional
but bidirectional.
All the same, those scientists insisted
that such an invention is not intended to be used
on a non-consenting person
which is kind of reassuring, you'll agree!
The revolution of the brain
is one of the main challenges of the 21st century.
Still at the research stage,
the progress and discoveries related to brain fascinate
as much as they frighten.
Because the brain
is where humanity,
conscience,
the power of man lie.
but so does its control.
Without falling into a kind of automatic distrust,
perhaps it is useful to keep in mind the anticipations
and warnings of the great
science fiction writers and authors.
Without control of the technology,
science will not fully serve mankind.
It is therefore absolutely essential
that medical ethics fully integrate and anticipate
today's and tomorrow's medical revolution,
so that science remains once and for all
at the service of mankind
and of its happiness.
Thank you.
(Applause)