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The Shoulder Physio Podcast · March 31 · 24 min

#55: Will AI Replace Physiotherapists?

The argument that AI replaces "the science" while clinicians should "lean into the art" has become common across healthcare. In this episode, I explain why I think both sides of that framing get it wrong, and why the art vs. science debate was always a false dichotomy that AI has simply made harder to ignore. I draw on four thinkers to make the case: Michael Polanyi on tacit knowledge, Donald Schön on reflective practice in the swampy lowlands, Aristotle on phronesis, and Herbert Dreyfus on the limits of artificial intelligence. Together, they point toward a different answer, that what makes a clinician an expert isn't information retrieval or technical craft, but practical wisdom: the capacity to think with another person under conditions of uncertainty. Register for the complete shoulder online course Register for my Brisbane workshop Connect with Jared and guests: Jared on Instagram: @‌shoulder_physio Jared on X: @‌jaredpowell12 See our Disclaimer here: The Shoulder Physio - Disclaimer

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show notes

The argument that AI replaces "the science" while clinicians should "lean into the art" has become common across healthcare. In this episode, I explain why I think both sides of that framing get it wrong, and why the art vs. science debate was always a false dichotomy that AI has simply made harder to ignore.

I draw on four thinkers to make the case: Michael Polanyi on tacit knowledge, Donald Schön on reflective practice in the swampy lowlands, Aristotle on phronesis, and Herbert Dreyfus on the limits of artificial intelligence. Together, they point toward a different answer, that what makes a clinician an expert isn't information retrieval or technical craft, but practical wisdom: the capacity to think with another person under conditions of uncertainty.

Register for the complete shoulder online course

Register for my Brisbane workshop 

Connect with Jared and guests:

Jared on Instagram: @‌shoulder_physio

Jared on X: @‌jaredpowell12

See our Disclaimer here: The Shoulder Physio - Disclaimer

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