No matter where you look, it seems that automation is on the cusp of creeping into all kinds of industries today. Already we are familiar with industrial robots replacing humans on the factory floor, or self-driving vehicles making their cautious debut on some roads. But we are less familiar with robots in fields such as medicine, where we are still inclined to trust the skill of a human doctor over that of a machine.

I find that the framing of this article passes the Dystopian Futurism test, in that its summary of the most likely implications of the development of the computer-aided surgical incision machines that it is discussing does not claim that we will soon be able to do all our own surgery without depending on real human medical professionals to supervise or anything crazy optimistic like that...which makes it easier to be excited about the prospect that this technological development presents for more precise and more humane and thus more successful surgery. In the high-tech full-employment future of Democratic Socialism that I envision, in which capitalism has been tamed and incorporated into the economy as a crucial layer of gamified feedback to ensure the success of underlying social (and planetary) welfare targets, more HUMAN and financial resources could then be freed to make the whole hospital experience much less stressful on the patient than the current austerity of the set and setting of most hospitals as we know them tends to be: ‘Even if robotic surgeons don’t completely replace their human counterparts, robot-assisted surgeries would nevertheless be good for human doctors too, as they help to alleviate some of the physical strains that hours of performing these delicate procedures might bring upon a human surgeon. These include eye strain, hand, neck, back and leg problems, and carpal tunnel syndrome — all of which can cause a surgeon to make mistakes or take on retirement much sooner. These problems of physical strain are even more pronounced when it comes to doing minimally invasive procedures such as those found in laparoscopic surgery, where tiny incisions must be made and surgical procedures are done with the help of small video cameras and instruments that are inserted into the patient’s body. Since they are often looking at a video screen for these procedures, human surgeons do not have that direct “hands-on” experience that would be helpful during the operation. For a robot, this would be less of an issue, meaning that it’s quite likely we’ll be seeing more autonomous machines in our operating rooms in the future.’