"… the Observer fretted that doctors in general practice might be in the first tranche of jobs obsoleted by AI, since people prefer to ask Grok about their unsightly groin rashes. “As technology advances,” the Observer gloomily noted, “it’s evolving to replace medical professionals across every field.”
It’s really bad news for people who borrowed hundreds of thousands to finance a medical degree. “As AI progresses in an unregulated market, primary care physicians will likely be replaced first,” a doctor quoted for the story predicted. …"
Full disclosure – my earnest hope had been that lawyers & bureaucrats would be the first professions to be advised to “learn to code” as a consequence of AI. After all, they only deal with words, which is the forte of Large Language Models. Doctors deal with actual physical human beings – or at least they used to, before the aforesaid lawyers & bureaucrats buried them in red tape.
This is not so far fetched as it may seem, at least when it comes to diagnosis. Way back when I was in med school, the NEJM (New England journal of medicine = WOG (word of God), had an article which purported to show that, when it came to physical examination, agreement of experts was random! That diagnosis was determined almost entirely by history, rather than examination.
Findings on physical examination were those expected by what was determined from the history. Thus, history of the problem or illness is critical. Paging Dr. Grok.
Now, “robotic surgery” may not be quite accomplished, Any robotic surgery which I have seen has always relied entirely upon human surgeons guiding the refined, steady and fine-controlled movement of robotic tools. It is not remotely like self-driving cars.
Well, you’re getting your wish @Gavin. I can’t believe the legal drafts AI can produce, in minutes. And ANYBODY could ask it a question. My personal fave of my articles is “Precedent in the Age of the Information Banquet”, about the effect of the Internet Age on hierarchical legal precedent within jurisdictions, stare decisis, now that everybody has access to legal decisions from everywhere.
The main unique knowledge lawyers had, it seems to me, was how to do legal research, where to look to find information. And now, everybody has access to a machine that can do it.
As to primary care doctors, I’m too emotionally involved with that issue to see it clearly.
The way things are now under “capitalized medicine”, they don’t get to spend much time with a patient, nor do they get to form a long-term relationship with any patients.
IF , if, everybody could consult a family doctor who practiced like my father did, like my BMD did, I don’t think they’d be stupid enough to give it up— or rather, to give it up AGAIN, like when they let themselves become convinced that those practitioners, working 10 hrs/day excluding phone time, plus pretty much 24/7/365 availability, were just out to make a quick buck.
You might be giving the right advice for the wrong reason. With the advent of AI, we actually need less coders—like a lot less—not more. In the not-too-distant future, all that’ll be needed are a few ultra-productive, ultra-high-IQ “coders” to train and monitor the various AIs—these people will become known in our society as “priests”. If you’re just another run-of-the-mill programmer, your days are numbered—you’re already obsolete. So, in conclusion, if by “lean to code” you really mean “go &#@% yourself”, then your advice is spot on!
CIVIL WARS ☙ Friday, June 27, 2025 ☙ C&C NEWS 
