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The death of the reign of the knowledge worker

Outsourcing is over-hyped in the short term, but it’s under-hyped in the long term… If standardized, routine, L-directed (left brained) work such as financial analysis, radiology, and computer programming can be done for a lot less overseas and can be delivered to clients instantly over fiber optic links, that’s where the work will go… Many of today’s knowledge workers will have to command a new set of aptitudes. They’ll need to do what workers abroad can not do equally well for much less money: Using R-directed (right brain) abilities such as forging relationships rather than executing transactions, tackling novel challenges instead of solving routine problems, and synthesizing a big picture rather than analyzing a single component.

(Daniel Pink - A Whole New Mind)

In a nutshell this is why I have not even entertained radiology. Services like Nighthawk are already out sourcing the reading of films. Radiologist are primed for large pay cuts. Likewise, other image based specialties like pathology will be next as slides become increasingly digitized.

Enteropathogenic E. coli (EPEC) on human

This pair of images demonstrates how EPEC bacteria brings about diarrhoea by breaking down the waterproof barriers between the cells. First of all the bacteria, seen as small red dots, attach to the surface of intestinal cells, making tiny pedestals out of one of the cell’s own proteins (bright green). Once attached, the bacteria send signals into the cells, causing the tight junctions (blue) between the cells to break down. Water is then able to seep out between the cells into the intestine, leading to diarrhoea. The top image shows an early stage in the process where the tight junctions are still intact and show as continuous blue lines between the cells. The bottom image is taken later in the process, once the tight junctions have broken down. Their remnants appear as blue dots.
Confocal image by Stephanie Schuller.