By Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPH
As a medical student, I vividly remember my surgery rotations at Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas. The surgical residents worked day and night for five years with very little rest and rare days off. The number of “edge” decisions made during a major surgery including control of bleeding, unexpected anatomical findings, and use of multiple different methods of retraction to gain surgical exposure truly made these surgeons among the top professionals in the world. My senior resident said something on rounds that stuck with me: “the reason why surgery residency is five years is to learn when NOT to operate.” This judgement seems irreplaceable. So I was shocked with Elon Musk’s prediction about robotic surgeons.
🤖 Robotic Surgeons: Will Musk’s Prediction Come True—and When?
Elon Musk’s claim that autonomous robots will perform “superhuman” surgery within 3–5 years, that medical school is “pointless,” and that top surgeons can be “built in factories” is a seductive vision. It’s also a profound category error that conflates executing a motion with performing surgery. Let’s separate the marketing from the mechanics.
