Over the past few years, it has come to pass that robotic surgical tools allow surgeons to operate on patients over the Internet, from thousands of miles away.  This has obviously been assisted by on site medical personnel, to oversee that the devices are working correctly and that all necessary "pre and post" steps are taken (as in, before and after the patient is actually opened up) to ensure that the entire operation goes off without a hitch.  But of course, science is just like the rest of human kind – nothing is ever going to be good enough.  And while this has generally been of some overall benefit to our species and its dominion over the world, it can also lead to some very interesting, potentially very troubling questions that we are all going to ask ourselves sooner than many people would like to consider.

Duke University roboticists (a fancy word for engineers who specialize in robotics, and probably don’t see the Sun very often) are working on the little details of creating robots that do not need to have a physician, in order to perform basic surgeries.  These robots will never have the tremors that a physician might develop, which could lead to an incredibly safe operational record.  They could also be used for training purposes, as they will follow what they are programmed to do every time without failure or issue – a robot will never have a hangover, and it will never "just feel like" doing something erratic that could cause suffering and law suits.  From a technical standpoint, a robot is the perfect surgeon.  But then, it has no actual mind.

The physicality of having a robot that is under the direct supervision and control of a read, bona fide, experienced surgeon is one thing – if asked, most people probably wouldn’t have a problem with that kind of operation.  But how comfortable would you be with the decision making skills of a robot that is given full autonomy to open up your body, conduct an operation, then close you up?  Would you feel comfortable?