Future-Making From Afar: Digital Twins in Medicine.

Area of Science:

• Digital Health Technologies
• Medical Informatics
• Sociology of Technology

Background:

• Digital twins are presented as revolutionary healthcare tools.
• Clinical integration of digital twins is progressing slowly.
• Existing research often overlooks the human actors and their visions behind these technologies.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the visions of the In Silico medicine community regarding digital twins.
• To analyze the gap between the intended possibilities of digital twins and their practical implementation.
• To understand how the distance between developers and clinical settings impacts digital twin integration.

Main Methods:

• Multi-sited fieldwork was conducted.
• The study focused on the In Silico medicine community.
• Analysis traced the embedded ideas and logics shaping future visions.

Main Results:

• A friction exists between narrowed visions of medicine/clinicians and the expansive potential of digital twins.
• Digital twins are developed distant from clinical practices.
• The field navigates this distance through training, placing adjustment burdens on clinicians.

Conclusions:

• "Future-making from afar" constrains and enables specific engagements with digital twins.
• Understanding this distance is key to demystifying digital twins in medicine.
• The study reflects on the types of futures promoted by the digital twin field.