A digital (r)evolution: introducing The Lancet Digital Health

The digital future is rooted in our analogue past. It is therefore no surprise that The Lancet archives provide inspiration for this new journal's first Editorial. A 1959 article describes the potential uses of a computer in health care and rather charmingly states, “If it be objected that the machine is doing no more than imitate the mental processes of the medical practitioner, it can be pointed out that the machine needs less training, and is subject to fewer aberrations, than the doctor.” Fast forward 60 years: although computers can be found in virtually every room of a hospital—and in every doctor's pocket—technological advances in health care have not yet aligned with human expectations.