The History of Medicine Through the Fractal 4 METs
How a simple structure has shaped — and can now transform — healthcare.
From Healers to Systems
In the earliest days of medicine, healing was personal. Knowledge passed directly from healer to patient, often through oral tradition and apprenticeship. Care was guided by close observation, intuition, and lived experience. This intimacy created deep trust, but little consistency — and almost no ability to scale.
From Craft to Profession
The printing press.
The scientific revolution.
The rise of universities.
These forces transformed medicine from a craft passed down through apprenticeship into a profession grounded in formal education, standardized knowledge, and expanding access to scientific method.
Healers became students.
Students became physicians.
And physicians began working within structured systems—guided by textbooks, protocols, and the emerging promise of “evidence-based” care.
It was a turning point.
But not a destination.
Because while medicine gained consistency, it also became more rigid.
Knowledge expanded—but remained siloed.
Systems formed—but without shared structure between them.
And patients?
They were still largely alone—moving between experts, each with their own lens, language, and map.
From Generalists to Specialists
The 20th century brought extraordinary advances in medical science.
With every breakthrough—antibiotics, imaging, organ transplants—came the need for deeper knowledge.
Medicine branched.
Disciplines split.
Specialists emerged.
This explosion of expertise delivered life-saving results.
Cardiologists could fine-tune heart function.
Neurosurgeons could map the brain.
Oncologists could tailor treatment to the cancer’s genetic code.
But with specialization came fragmentation.
Each new domain gained depth—
but often lost sight of the whole.
Patients began to navigate a maze of experts—
each with a piece of the puzzle,
but no one holding the full map.
Records scattered.
Plans overlapped.
Symptoms were treated—but stories got lost.
What was once the art of healing became the management of parts.
And without a shared structure to unite them,
even the best intentions led to confusion, duplication, and delay.
Four Essential Questions — Across Time
Throughout history, the deepest challenges in medicine can be reduced to four questions:
Who are you, and who are you becoming?
Why now?
Do we know what we’re doing?
When are we leaving, where are we going, and who cares?
These questions have always been present.
In the mind of the village healer.
In the intuition of the battlefield medic.
In the protocols of the modern surgical team.
They are timeless.
But until now, they’ve never been defined clearly enough to build around.
Fractal Thinking Brings It Together
What’s been missing is a structure that gives these questions operational meaning—
And a framework that lets them scale across every level of care:
Patient
Physician
Team
System
Nation
FENTON’S WAY gives these questions form.
COLLEAGUE brings them to life.
The concept is timeless.
The capability is new.