So I trekked out to Harvard Medical School to participate in some study involving virtual reality surgery teaching technology. It was a simulation of laparoscopic surgery. Basically the surgeon makes two small incisions and then inserts the instruments and proceeds to do the surgery and fiddling around with your insides while watching in real time on a monitor with the aid of fiber optic technology. Sounds really fascinating, right? My task was basically to match up some arrows in a three-dimensional space by picking them up with these instruments and moving them around. Except these arrows don't actually exist. They only exist on the tv screen in front of me.
It was basically me and another guy. The other guy finished in like twenty minutes. Me? I was 30% done when the software timed out about an hour and half in. So yeah. Things we've learned:
- Surgeons are gods among men.
- I cannot and never will be the dudes from Nip/Tuck. But maybe House.
- Performing surgery is an incredibly specialized physical talent that is not merely a function of intellectual capacity and those guys deserve the money they get paid.
- Also being a doctor is really hard and mad props to both of my readers at Vanderbilt Medical School. Much love to both of you.
If you're a Harvard student and are interested in participating in this study, let me know in the comment section and I will hook you up with the people in charge.
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