Mr. Olson's discussion of the Da Vinci Surgical System was cool because it expanded on what I have heard of on the technological advancements in medicine and computers as doctors thus far. There are clearly many benefits to having robots/machines performing the procedures and medical assistance, but I am not sure that they should be the only option in the future - working in tandem with human doctors is necessary, not only for personal contact but also in the event that the robot may be unable to function if something goes wrong, or fix something if it goes wrong. At the same time, the skills (and knowledge) of the human doctors will decrease, because they won't have to know these things off the top of their heads any longer, and eventually may not be needed at all - which could be very bad for employment purposes! However, it may also open up different opportunities, both in terms of jobs, where new ones will be created to adapt to the new technology, but also in having the ability to perform surgeries worldwide without having to be present. I think that there are a lot of possibilites that open up with the introduction of robots and machine-performed surgeries in the medical field, but at the same time I don't think we should rush right into it because there are many risks and consequences that come with it.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Medicine in Technology/Mark Olson
I thought the connection this week between information technology and medicine, both through the articles we read and through Mr. Olson's lecture were really interesting and sparked some ideas I hadn't really thought about before. The idea of robots taking on the roles of doctors and nurses to advance medicine and health in replacement of humans, and even surpassing the skills that humans have is both cool and scary. On one hand they are able to do things just as, if not more, efficiently and accurately than human doctors. On the other hand, while these robots can take on more than humans may be able to, they cannot adapt to a situation, and therefore if something goes wrong or there is something they are not programmed for, it could turn out with really bad results. Also, the robots themselves are not fullproof and could therefore malfunction themselves, which could also have a negative affect through their medical procedures.
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Yes it is a complicated situation. I think you are right to say that the jobs that might emerge would be different. There's often a fear that as people rely more on technology they forget how to do important things (fewer people tinkering with their own cars, for example), but it is also true that sometimes they gain other abilities. The nightmare vision is always of the robot arm going crazy!
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