Can we end pandemics in our lifetime? Larry Brilliant suggests we are getting much closer

By tracking social media, it turns out, we can get much better at recognizing pandemics early. Solving epidemics has been the goal of physician Larry Brilliant’s career — and the basis for his 2006 TED Prize wish, which he updated this year in a talk at TED2013, above. His wish called for an “International System for Total Early Disease Detection,” or InSTEDD, a project with the mantra “Early detection, early response” — which included, among other features, tracking stories on the web to watch for patterns that indicate an epidemic is about to break out.