3 ms·

This seems like a weirdly envious take, people are paid what the market will bear it's simple economics. If an engineer produces $2 million worth of net extra v

This seems like a weirdly envious take, people are paid what the market will bear it's simple economics. If an engineer produces $2 million worth of net extra value for a company than a 200 K salary is a pittance. Also having studied medicine, a lot of what doctors do is rote memorization , heuristic and pattern matching to produce a statistically likely diagnosis. You'd be a fool to think that that job is somehow going to be exempt from the AI singularity at some point.

snordgren 4y ago
There are already AI assistants for doctors. But the demand for healthcare is unlimited, so salaries will probably remain high and job markets tight. The few times I have been to the doctor it has seemed like relatively standard knowledge work, gathering information and reasoning based on known and unknown factors. The differentiating factors that make it high status and difficult are seemingly the same as for most knowledge work jobs: high stakes, high stress, high knowledge and skill requirements, limited pool of qualified people. So unless I am mistaken, it seems like the kind of work that is very suited for automation. At the start it could be as simple as an AI automatically summarizing patient meetings.
- DoesntMatter22 4y ago
  My original post wasn't that Doctors won't face ChatGPT like challenges as well, it was just that doctors go to school for 8+years and developers don't even have to go to school. To be honest I'd much prefer a initial consult with a ChatGPT like doctor rather than a real one. I was misdiagnosed for years and had to figure out, on my own, that Lyme disease was causing my problems. Even once that was what I suspected my doctors wouldn't test me. Finally I got one to do so and that confirmed it. Meanwhile I've talked to multiple people already that have put their symptoms into chat GPT and it's figured out what they have. For me I haven't been able to because every prompt I've tried it just said "Speak to a medical professional" but this stuff is coming for sure.
DoesntMatter22 4y ago
Not envious at all. I was making nearly 500k as a developer not in SV, and I banked nearly all my income, knowing I was riding a gravy train. My commentary is not that doctors jobs can't be removed but that you are in an industry where with 1 year's experience you can earn 100k, which is an unfathomable amount to many americans (especially when 50% of them can't afford a $400 unexpected expense). My disdain is not that the market shouldn't bear it, it's many developers were arrogant and didn't appreciate it for what it was. I'm fortunate enough I was able to "retire" at 38, but I couldn't have done that if I was blowing all my money, of which I know people who do.

snordgren 4y ago

There are already AI assistants for doctors. But the demand for healthcare is unlimited, so salaries will probably remain high and job markets tight. The few times I have been to the doctor it has seemed like relatively standard knowledge work, gathering information and reasoning based on known and unknown factors. The differentiating factors that make it high status and difficult are seemingly the same as for most knowledge work jobs: high stakes, high stress, high knowledge and skill requirements, limited pool of qualified people. So unless I am mistaken, it seems like the kind of work that is very suited for automation. At the start it could be as simple as an AI automatically summarizing patient meetings.

DoesntMatter22 4y ago
My original post wasn't that Doctors won't face ChatGPT like challenges as well, it was just that doctors go to school for 8+years and developers don't even have to go to school. To be honest I'd much prefer a initial consult with a ChatGPT like doctor rather than a real one. I was misdiagnosed for years and had to figure out, on my own, that Lyme disease was causing my problems. Even once that was what I suspected my doctors wouldn't test me. Finally I got one to do so and that confirmed it. Meanwhile I've talked to multiple people already that have put their symptoms into chat GPT and it's figured out what they have. For me I haven't been able to because every prompt I've tried it just said "Speak to a medical professional" but this stuff is coming for sure.

DoesntMatter22 4y ago

Not envious at all. I was making nearly 500k as a developer not in SV, and I banked nearly all my income, knowing I was riding a gravy train. My commentary is not that doctors jobs can't be removed but that you are in an industry where with 1 year's experience you can earn 100k, which is an unfathomable amount to many americans (especially when 50% of them can't afford a $400 unexpected expense). My disdain is not that the market shouldn't bear it, it's many developers were arrogant and didn't appreciate it for what it was. I'm fortunate enough I was able to "retire" at 38, but I couldn't have done that if I was blowing all my money, of which I know people who do.