the-future-of-medicine
Original: the-future-of-medicine on Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal
Transcript
Panel 1:
A woman with dark hair and glasses (speaking): I can't wait till technology replaces doctors. Medicine will be so much better once engineers are in charge.
A person with red hair and round white glasses listens, smiling.
Panel 2:
[Banner across the top of the panel:] 20 YEARS LATER..
An elderly man with gray hair sits on an exam table, his knee wrapped, looking concerned.
The red-haired person (now older, with gray hair and glasses): We wrapped the knee in duct tape.
Elderly man: Is it still broken?
The gray-haired person: According to our tape-based metric, no.
Votey:
The gray-haired person (in a speech bubble): Now drink this WD-40.
The elderly man looks queasy/nauseated.
A woman with dark hair and glasses (speaking): I can't wait till technology replaces doctors. Medicine will be so much better once engineers are in charge.
A person with red hair and round white glasses listens, smiling.
Panel 2:
[Banner across the top of the panel:] 20 YEARS LATER..
An elderly man with gray hair sits on an exam table, his knee wrapped, looking concerned.
The red-haired person (now older, with gray hair and glasses): We wrapped the knee in duct tape.
Elderly man: Is it still broken?
The gray-haired person: According to our tape-based metric, no.
Votey:
The gray-haired person (in a speech bubble): Now drink this WD-40.
The elderly man looks queasy/nauseated.
Alt text
A two-panel SMBC comic. Panel 1: A dark-haired woman in glasses tells a red-haired person, "I can't wait till technology replaces doctors. Medicine will be so much better once engineers are in charge." Panel 2, labeled "20 years later..": The red-haired person, now an older medical provider with gray hair, treats the now-elderly man whose knee is wrapped. They say, "We wrapped the knee in duct tape." The man asks, "Is it still broken?" The provider replies, "According to our tape-based metric, no." The joke: engineer-run medicine just redefines success metrics instead of actually healing. Votey: The provider says "Now drink this WD-40" while the patient looks nauseated.
Transcribed by Claude Opus 4.8.