For the third year in a row, MIT's Envisioning the Future of Computing Prize asked students to describe, in 3,000 words or fewer, how advancements in computing could shape human society for the better or worse. All entries were eligible to win a number of cash prizes. Inspired by recent research on the greater effect microbiomes have on overall health, MIT-WHOI Joint Program in Oceanography and Applied Ocean Science and Engineering PhD candidate Annaliese Meyer created the concept of 'B-Bots,' a synthetic bacterial mimic designed to regulate gut biomes and activated by Bluetooth. For the contest, which challenges MIT students to articulate their musings for what a future driven by advances in computing holds, Meyer submitted a work of speculative fiction about how recipients of a revolutionary new health-care technology find their treatment in jeopardy with the introduction of a subscription-based pay model.In her winning paper, titled '(Pre/Sub)scribe,' Meyer chronicles the usage...
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