http://www.geekwire.com/2016/robot-surgeon-superhuman-job-sutures-theres-catch/
I believe surgeons are more in danger of losing their jobs to robots than we are.
I believe surgeons are more in danger of losing their jobs to robots than we are.
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Surgeons are done.
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Why?
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deleted171991
My thoughts exactly. I was just too lazy to open a thread. This is the beginning of their CRNA-ization. It will take 15-25 years though.
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deleted171991
Because it's a very important proof of concept.
Also, in time, these tools will get advanced enough that they can be used by anybody able to program them, not just surgeons, who will be the backup plan. They might sell them in the beginning as intelligent tools for surgeons but, in time, they will be used by PAs, while surgeons will supervise multiple rooms as firefighters. Of course, there will be other intelligent tools for other procedures; the more intelligent the tools are, the less they will need a surgeon's talent and experience. They will mostly need just programming, positioning and supervision.
By the time we or our kids die, medicine might belong to nurses and techs, using intelligent tools for diagnosis and treatment. Already, an APRN plus Dr. Smartphone can be enough for a number of pathologies. And Dr. Smartphone is still just an information repository now, not an intelligent tool.
You probably don't remember when only doctors used stethoscopes and read EKGs.
The only thing that slows down technological progress in American medicine significantly is lack of malpractice reform.
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Don't listen to agent Smith, he's very pro-machine.
Things in surgery and anesthesia constantly evolve. Responding to those constant changes, real time, is a very long way off. If I were a surgery resident or medical student going into surgery, I wouldn't loose a second of sleep over this.
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deleted643396
There's a theory in economics that technological unemployment would result in increased prosperity and leisure time for the population. I, for one, welcome our robot overlords.
There is also a theory among philosophers that AI takeover will lead to extinction of the human race. Welcome to the matrix.
There's yet another theory about transhumanism leading to posthumanism. The singularity is near!
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deleted643396
Yeah, but will they be able to use the bathroom in North Carolina?
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deleted171991
Only in a Bernie Sanders world.
In this world, increased technological progress have already resulted in more work for the same money or less for doctors.
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deleted643396
Technological progress has resulted in different work, not less work. Instead of skilled labor or thought-based jobs, humans are being relegated to data entry. That is already happening in medicine. You can't completely get rid of humans in medicine because then who will the lawyers sue?
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deleted162650
The programmers
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deleted50478
Except in practice rather than in theory it produces more concentration of wealth in those with enough access to money to buy the robots.
That data entry piece was one of my big take-aways from the article. The surgeons "placed a pattern of guide markers on the cut ends with paint that glowed in the near-infrared spectrum," and then the robot sutured. The surgeons then had to tweak the robot (40% of the time). And wait 20 minutes for a process that took them less than 10. Welcome to the future of surgery, where you can enter data into a robot, so it can do your job for you. You can train your successor. At least this successor can't talk back to you . . . yet.
So no less work, just different work.
But from a technical perspective, very cool concept.
That only works if we've got a guaranteed minimum income to go along with it. Without that, only mass unemployment results.
This is totally reminding me of the surgery scene in Prometheus, btw. I was watching it and thinking, "actually... That isn't impossible."
I feel compelled to point out that the machine in Prometheus couldn't diagnose anything, or even tell a male from female patient. She asked for a cesarean (I've read that the original script used the word "abortion" but they changed it to avoid offending delicate sensibilities) but the machine tells her it's designed for men only. Then she tricks it into doing a "foreign body removal".
Even in the future, machines are too gullible and stupid to out-doctor an archaeologist.
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deleted171991
That's why we shouldn't laugh this stuff out the door. I bet that's how cardiac surgeons reacted to the first proof of concept for PCI. Or the interventional radiology stuff.
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deleted171991
Isn't this cool? https://boingboing.net/2016/05/10/knit-facehugger-masks.html
I wouldn't count on it. Look at the last 150 years - wherever mechanization and automation displaced human workers, poverty/misery/underemployment usually followed to an extent that has still been greatly underappreciated.
