This is not a widely held misconception, but it is a growing one: that computers will replace physicians in the near future. The digitization of medical knowledge and records, the triumph of IBM's Watson, and the spectacular pace of technological innovation makes this seem like a foregone conclusion. Computers unquestionably store, retrieve, and cross-reference data better than a human brain ever will. In those roles, they have already supplanted physicians. And for bounded, structured tasks like analyzing a heart rhythm or set of symptoms related to a cough or abdominal pain, the computer can reliably make more accurate judgments than a doctor. [Subscription Required]
