Don’t let robots take doctors’ jobs

It was with considerable dread that I read Issue 511’s ‘Question of the Fortnight’ht’ (‘Will computers and robots replace doctors?’). I’ve lived in the same house for 50 years, and had the same GP for about 30 of those, in a surgery less than five minutes away. During this time I’ve got to know my GP very well, and I trust his opinion completely. Also, more importantly, he has got to know me well. He can always sense when I’m understating a problem, and is very good at asking the right questions to extract more information.

There is simply no way that an automated service like a robot could have the same level of empathy. I appreciate that it might be cheaper - perhaps even quicker. But better? Absolutely not. The problem is that robots are programmed to act in a certain way. They can’t make leaps of logic that a doctor can. They can’t interpret nuances in speech or subtleties of body language. I accept they could give you a bottle of pills, saying ‘take these twice a day’. But they’d be incapable of offering reassurance on a human level. But it’s indicative of where society is heading – eradicating the human element from transactions, forcing people to use computers. There will soon be a backlash against this, and companies that use real, breathing human beings will benefit. I love my computer, particularly when I find a clever thing to do in Excel, or a new way to record video. But it’s not my friend. It’s a tool for performing tasks, like a kettle, toaster or lawnmower. Let’s keep human jobs for humans, especially those in the NHS. James Archer