Krispy Kreme and Anesthesiology

When I went a few weeks ago to Krispy Kreme to pick up a box of donuts, I was awestruck by the automatized equipment that they have to pump out hundreds of donuts without human supervision. Two people at the front desk were all it took to serve the long line of people waiting for their pastries.

In a pair of articles by Mike Adams at NewsTarget.com, the author raises this issue of “outsourcing to robots” and how it will affect the demand for unskilled labor. Adams points out that in many ways robots can do things better and with higher productivity. Surgical robots for example can do surgery with less scarring, less bleeding, and less pain. The question then arises: If technology can supplant everyone from the donut-man to the skilled-surgeon, will there be any work left for the human workforce?

A friend of mine who has been an anesthesiologist for many years says that as much we’d like to think that computers and robots can do everything better, the system isn’t fail-proof. The problem is that while a human would have the mind to never mistakenly give 100 cc’s of morphine when only 10 cc’s are required, a computer doesn’t have that reasoning power. The gravity of mistakes with technology still surpasses benefits of increased productivity.

Nevertheless one must wonder how much our society will evolve in favor of technology. There will always be those who spearhead the move to employ and promote technological innovation. But there will also always be those whose trust of technology extends little further than their FM radio. In my mind it is comforting to know that there is that balance in society. It will be difficult to make hasty and unwise revolutions to the world when those promoting change are required to account to those that fear it. This balance between the two mindsets may be what saves our society from over-reliance on error-prone technology and keeps the donut-man at work.