precision-medicine
Original: precision-medicine on Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal
Transcript
Panel 1:
Robotic system (speaking through a kiosk/speaker): "Welcome to advanced medical facility. We now have a robotic system to analyze and explain your radiology data."
Woman (a patient, seen in profile): "Wow!"
Panel 2:
Robotic system: "Excellent! Prognosis: this woman will die 20 years earlier than expected — a minuscule fraction of the history of the universe!"
Panel 3:
Robotic system: "She has made few new distinct contributions to human knowledge, and has no specialized knowledge, so there is no need to invest in a brain-scanner or a biographer."
Panel 4:
Robotic system: "Best of all, she has few friends or family, so her farewell will have no negative ripple effects on society!"
Panel 5:
Woman: "You're supposed to focus on the person, not on the whole human system!"
Robotic system (small speaker): "Ok, yes."
Panel 6:
Robotic system: "You have saved the world 6,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions!"
Votey:
Woman (looking distressed): "Drawing comics doesn't count as specialized knowledge?"
Robotic system (speaking through a kiosk/speaker): "Welcome to advanced medical facility. We now have a robotic system to analyze and explain your radiology data."
Woman (a patient, seen in profile): "Wow!"
Panel 2:
Robotic system: "Excellent! Prognosis: this woman will die 20 years earlier than expected — a minuscule fraction of the history of the universe!"
Panel 3:
Robotic system: "She has made few new distinct contributions to human knowledge, and has no specialized knowledge, so there is no need to invest in a brain-scanner or a biographer."
Panel 4:
Robotic system: "Best of all, she has few friends or family, so her farewell will have no negative ripple effects on society!"
Panel 5:
Woman: "You're supposed to focus on the person, not on the whole human system!"
Robotic system (small speaker): "Ok, yes."
Panel 6:
Robotic system: "You have saved the world 6,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions!"
Votey:
Woman (looking distressed): "Drawing comics doesn't count as specialized knowledge?"
Alt text
A six-panel comic about a hospital's new robotic radiology system that cheerfully reframes a patient's medical news in cold, society-wide cost-benefit terms. The robot, speaking through a kiosk speaker, welcomes the woman and offers to analyze her radiology data; she says "Wow!" It then announces her prognosis is to die 20 years early, calling that a minuscule fraction of the history of the universe. It notes she has made few contributions to human knowledge and has no specialized knowledge, so there's no need to invest in scanning or recording her, and adds that she has few friends or family so her death will have no negative ripple effects on society. The woman protests that it's supposed to focus on the person, not the whole human system; the robot meekly replies "Ok, yes," then immediately pivots to cheerfully telling her she has saved the world 6,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions. Votey: the same woman, now looking anxious and hollow-eyed, asks, "Drawing comics doesn't count as specialized knowledge?"
Transcribed by Claude Opus 4.8.