TY - JOUR
T1 - Will virtual rehabilitation replace clinicians
T2 - a contemporary debate about technological versus human obsolescence
AU - Krasovsky, Tal
AU - Lubetzky, Anat V.
AU - Archambault, Philippe S.
AU - Wright, W. Geoffrey
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2020, The Author(s).
PY - 2020/12
Y1 - 2020/12
N2 - This article is inspired by a pseudo Oxford-style debate, which was held in Tel Aviv University, Israel at the International Conference on Virtual Rehabilitation (ICVR) 2019, which is the official conference of the International Society for Virtual Rehabilitation. The debate, between two 2-person teams with a moderator, was organized by the ICVR Program committee to address the question “Will virtual rehabilitation replace clinicians?” It brought together five academics with technical, research, and/or clinical backgrounds—Gerry Fluet, Tal Krasovsky, Anat Lubetzky, Philippe Archambault, W. Geoffrey Wright—to debate the pros and cons of using virtual reality (VR) and related technologies to help assess, diagnose, treat, and track recovery, and more specifically investigate the likelihood that advanced technology will ultimately replace human clinicians. Both teams were assigned a side to defend, whether it represented their own viewpoint or not, and to take whatever positions necessary to make a persuasive argument and win the debate. In this paper we present a recapitulation of the arguments presented by both sides, and further include an in-depth consideration of the question. We attempt to judiciously lay out a number of arguments that fall along a spectrum from moderate to extreme; the most extreme and/or indefensible positions are presented for rhetorical and demonstrative purposes. Although there may not be a clear answer today, this paper raises questions which are related to the basic nature of the rehabilitation profession, and to the current and potential role of technology within it.
AB - This article is inspired by a pseudo Oxford-style debate, which was held in Tel Aviv University, Israel at the International Conference on Virtual Rehabilitation (ICVR) 2019, which is the official conference of the International Society for Virtual Rehabilitation. The debate, between two 2-person teams with a moderator, was organized by the ICVR Program committee to address the question “Will virtual rehabilitation replace clinicians?” It brought together five academics with technical, research, and/or clinical backgrounds—Gerry Fluet, Tal Krasovsky, Anat Lubetzky, Philippe Archambault, W. Geoffrey Wright—to debate the pros and cons of using virtual reality (VR) and related technologies to help assess, diagnose, treat, and track recovery, and more specifically investigate the likelihood that advanced technology will ultimately replace human clinicians. Both teams were assigned a side to defend, whether it represented their own viewpoint or not, and to take whatever positions necessary to make a persuasive argument and win the debate. In this paper we present a recapitulation of the arguments presented by both sides, and further include an in-depth consideration of the question. We attempt to judiciously lay out a number of arguments that fall along a spectrum from moderate to extreme; the most extreme and/or indefensible positions are presented for rhetorical and demonstrative purposes. Although there may not be a clear answer today, this paper raises questions which are related to the basic nature of the rehabilitation profession, and to the current and potential role of technology within it.
KW - Artificial intelligence
KW - Automation
KW - Clinical roles
KW - Futurism
KW - Technology
KW - Telehealth
KW - Virtual reality
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U2 - 10.1186/s12984-020-00769-0
DO - 10.1186/s12984-020-00769-0
M3 - Article
C2 - 33298128
AN - SCOPUS:85097429541
SN - 1743-0003
VL - 17
JO - Journal of NeuroEngineering and Rehabilitation
JF - Journal of NeuroEngineering and Rehabilitation
IS - 1
M1 - 163
ER -