In 1626, Francis Bacon—English philosopher, scientist, and statesman—published The New Atlantis, a novel describing the discovery of a mythical island utopia in which the modern scientific method of empiricism conducted at Salomon's House, a type of modern research university, served the advancement of science and technology for the good of the people. Bacon’s vision was central to the goals of the Scientific Revolution of the 17th century in which he found himself.
In many ways, now in the 21st century, we find ourselves living in a kind of New Atlantis, with the promises of what artificial computer intelligence may be able to do for humanity, particularly in the field of medicine. For some today, the promise of a scientific and technological utopia continues to be the goal seen through the looking glass of Artificial Intelligence.
But an artificially intelligent super-computing machine holding all the data in the world is by itself meaningless. This is true philosophically because machines and humans are of different and mutually exclusive ontologies. Computers are impersonal, non-living, amoral machines—adept at processing large amounts of data as code, but still only things that have no ability to morally discern any meaning about anything in the world. Humans, on the other hand, are personal, living, moral beings made in the image of God, who by nature make meaning in the world through their human persons.
The vocation of medicine—being a moral, human endeavor at its core dedicated to the dignity, care, and well-being of human persons—must not erroneously conflate the ontologies of moral human persons with that of immoral machines in its caring for human beings. Copious use of technology in medicine, in the place of humans, runs the risk of marring the image of God by degrading the anthropology of human beings. How medicine responds to the promise of AI has yet to be determined, but the vocation of medicine must resist the desire to supplant human beings for machines in healthcare.
From CBHD's 2024 Summer Conference, The Future of Health: Faith, Ethics, and Our MedTech World
FEATURED
Dr. Collier is a graduate of the University of Michigan Medical School and she completed her internal medicine residency and chief medical resident year at the University of Michigan Health System. Her special clinical interests include preventative medicine, primary care, depression and heart disease. She enjoys cooking, sports and spending time with her husband and sons.
