“A. I. vs M.D.”
Readers of The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer or The Gene: An Intimate History” know what to expect from Siddhartha Mukherjee, M. D.—experienced insights into the symptoms we call diseases and superb writing. In this piece, he describes how radiologists read scans, particularly brain scans, and points out the relative advantages of artificial intelligence and human intelligence in this task. His concluding remark is worth musing over: “ The word “diagnosis,”. . . comes from the Greek for “knowing apart.” Machine-learning algorithms will only become better at such knowing apart—at partitioning, at distinguishing moles from melanomas. But knowing, in all its dimensions, transcends those task-focused algorithms. In the realm of medicine, perhaps the ultimate rewards come from knowing together.” MORE
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