So, You Want to Be a Doctor in 32 Years? ( Brace Yourself)

True or not true????

The year is 2057. Medicine has changed, but the coffee is still terrible. I like my cappuccino with hazelnut, but most likely I will drink it in heaven.

Back in 2025, if you wanted to become a cardiologist, surgeon, or psychiatrist, you signed up for:
• A decade of brutal training.
• Sleep deprivation that would make war criminals blush.
• A debt so large you’d consider selling a kidney—ironically, the very thing you were trained to save.

But now? Medical training has “evolved.” Sort of. Let’s take a look at how future doctors will be made—if they survive the process.

General Medical Training: “Welcome to the Age of AI. Try to Keep Up.”

Med School: The Survival Edition

Gone are the days of memorizing every artery, enzyme, and obscure Latin term. That’s AI’s job now.

Instead, medical school now focuses on:
✅ How to interpret AI-generated diagnoses. (Because AI will give 20 possibilities, and it’s your job to figure out which one isn’t complete nonsense.)
✅ Ethics & legal training. (Because when AI misdiagnoses someone, lawyers will still come after you.)
✅ How to communicate like a human. (Because AI can diagnose depression, but it still sucks at small talk.)
✅ Surviving a world where patients Google their diagnosis before you even open your mouth.

Med school is now shorter—maybe 5 years instead of 7—but much more intense. The final exam? A battle of wits against AI. If you lose, you become a hospital administrator.

So, You Want to Be a Cardiologist?

Old-school cardiologists spent years learning how to interpret ECGs, diagnose heart murmurs, and perform catheter procedures.

But in 2057?
• AI detects heart disease before symptoms even appear.
• Robotic arms place stents with perfect precision.
• Personalized AI-driven lifestyle plans prevent most heart attacks.

So what do cardiologists do now?
• Supervise AI & robotic procedures. (And step in when something goes wrong.)
• Handle the messy, human side of things—like breaking the news that, no, your smartwatch isn’t smarter than a real doctor.
• Treat the heart problems AI didn’t predict (because humans are still full of surprises).

Future cardiologists train faster, focus more on big-picture care, and spend less time memorizing things AI already knows.

Surgeons: “Do We Even Need You?”

Surgical training used to be brutal. Years of sleepless nights, relentless practice, and praying your hands didn’t shake at the wrong moment.

Now? Surgeons are half-doctor, half-technician.
• Robots perform most surgeries with laser precision.
• AI plans every step of an operation in advance.
• Medical students practice in VR for years before touching a real patient.

So why even train as a surgeon?
• Because AI doesn’t handle the unexpected well. When things go wrong, a human brain is still required.
• Because some patients don’t trust machines. (Yes, even when they’re 99.9% accurate.)
• Because sometimes, you need a personal touch. Try telling a robotic arm to comfort a nervous patient before surgery.

Surgical training is shorter but more intense. Surgeons learn to work with AI, not against it. And if they fail? They get reassigned to… data entry.

Neurosurgeons: “Still Smarter Than the Robots… For Now.”

Neurosurgery remains one of the hardest specialties. But instead of spending a decade memorizing anatomy, future neurosurgeons focus on:

✅ AI-assisted brain surgery. (Because why rely on shaky human hands when a robot can cut with sub-millimeter accuracy?)
✅ Brain-computer interfaces. (Because in 32 years, we’ll probably be downloading memories and emotions.)
✅ Fixing AI mistakes. (Because when an AI confuses a brain tumor with a smudge on the scan, you’ll be the one fixing it.)

Neurosurgery will still take forever to master. But at least in 2057, you won’t have to dig through 10,000 pages of textbooks. AI already did that for you.

And Now… Psychiatrists 😂

Ah, psychiatry. The field where half the job is talking, and the other half is figuring out which medication won’t make things worse.

How will psychiatric training change?
• AI diagnoses most mental illnesses by analyzing speech, facial expressions, and biometric data. (Your phone already knows when you’re depressed.)
• AI customizes therapy based on personality type. (Goodbye, generic CBT.)
• AI prescribes meds based on genetic markers. (No more “let’s try this and see what happens.”)

So what do psychiatrists actually do?
• Handle complex cases AI can’t figure out. (Because human emotions are still insanely unpredictable.)
• Deal with the messy, human part of mental health. (AI can suggest therapy, but it can’t make people want to get better.)
• Keep up with the latest “miracle” treatments. (Like brain implants that cure depression—unless they accidentally make you love pineapple on pizza.)

Psychiatry will evolve, but one thing won’t change: Some people just need another human to talk to.

So, Should Anyone Study Medicine in 2057?

Only if you:
✅ Love problem-solving. (Because AI still gets things wrong.)
✅ Enjoy working with technology. (Doctors will be part-human, part-IT specialist.)
✅ Like being the person who gets blamed when AI screws up.

Training will be shorter but more intense. Medicine will be more tech-driven, less memorization-heavy. And AI will handle the boring stuff— leaving doctors with the real job:

Being human in a world where AI does almost everything else.

I might be happy to drink my cappuccino with honey or hazelnut in heaven near that time, – because I feel this prospect may be called by some “progress”. But for me applies that when I did my initial surgical, obstetric and ED training in Sneek ( the Netherlands), I loved to be “ hands on”, like later in my life in Africa, England, Scotland and Australia.

Paul Alexander Wolf

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