Not my area of expertise, but I'm a type 1 diabetic and that area seems ripe for improvement. Artificial pancreases, automatic glucose monitoring and the like are an area that is exploding.
sigh More anti-science, liberal, woo crap. (This coming from someone who identifies as liberal). These scare mongering tactics are turning people off to great advantages in the agricultural industry.
Wheeler is chronically uncharitable to technology, and generally comes across a techno-phobic. He's a journalist (and journalism professor) so it's not surprising that he tends to have issues with technology in general.
Does he raise valid points? Sure. Some tech companies are just as guilty as Walmart is of exploitative labor practices, but one can't help but take his commentary with a grain of salt, as he slams "crappy automated phone systems" he ignores all of the benefits of new technologies.
The only down shot is the acceleration of an ion engine is god awful. But seems the best way to go if you don't care about time needed to get going (and slow down).
The engine itself is really mostly a huge automatic templating system.