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This weekly blog is to explore the news around the larger issues around Digital Health, data security, data privacy, AI / ML. technology, social media and any related matters.
I will also try to highlight ADHA Propaganda when I come upon it.
Just so we keep count, the latest Notes from the ADHA Board were dated 6 December, 2018 and we have seen none since! It’s pretty sad!
Note: Appearance here is not to suggest I see any credibility or value in what follows. I will leave it to the reader to decide what is worthwhile and what is not! The point is to let people know what is being said / published that I have come upon, and found interesting.
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The rise of AI – a technological odyssey begins
12:00AM December 30, 2022
In the film 2001: A Space Odyssey, HAL (called Heuristically programmed ALgorithmic computer) is a highly advanced artificial intelligence that controls the systems of spacecraft Discovery One. HAL is notable for his calm, even-tempered demeanour and his ability to perform a wide range of functions, including maintaining the ship’s systems, communicating with the crew, and making decisions based on its programming. And given HAL’s lines from the movie he is continuously evolving and learning.
One of HAL’s most memorable lines is “I’m sorry, Dave. I’m afraid I can’t do that”, which he says when he is ordered to open the pod bay doors. Other memorable lines spoken by HAL include “I am putting myself to the fullest possible use, which is all I think that any conscious entity can ever hope to do” and “I know I’ve made some very poor decisions recently, but I can give you my complete assurance that my work will be back to normal. I’ve still got the greatest enthusiasm and confidence in the mission and I want to help you.” Very reassuring words. But the movie’s end can be interpreted as technology overcoming humanity.
I first saw 2001: A Space Odyssey as a very young 17-year-old, and man had just landed on the moon. Director Stanley Kubrick was many decades ahead of his time and I thought that his suggestions would never come to light. In my mind Kubrick’s work was pure science fiction. Now more than 50 years later we can see that, indeed, if not carefully managed, AI technology may well overcome humanity.
AI technology is exciting. It clearly has its place in the modern world and already assists in many applications such as medical diagnoses, natural language processing, image and video analysis, predictive analytics and robotics.
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https://www.news-medical.net/health/How-Could-the-Metaverse-Transform-Healthcare.aspx
How Could the Metaverse Transform Healthcare?
Introduction
What
are virtual hospitals?
How
could the Metaverse transform data sharing?
How
could the Metaverse transform data visualization and training?
How
could the Metaverse transform patient therapy?
References
Further
reading
The Metaverse is a virtual environment under development by Meta (formerly Facebook), with numerous potential applications in the healthcare field. Primarily, it is envisioned that enhanced communication between patients, physicians, and collaborators could be achieved using such virtual environments, which are in high demand in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Further potential benefits of the Metaverse include easy and secure data sharing, where it can be ensured that data ownership is tracked and protected while making it simple for patients to approve or for doctors to forward patient information. A few potential applications of virtual environments will be discussed below.
What are virtual hospitals?
Early triage of patients over the phone or at outpatient clinics before a referral is not a new concept, and such methods are increasingly employed to reduce the burden on emergency healthcare. Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, such methods have become increasingly important in redirecting non-vital cases away from emergency rooms and giving health advice remotely, minimizing travel and contact. Beyond these advantages, the concept of specialized virtual hospitals may have significantly more to offer if fully embraced. For example, specialized triage centers staffed by junior doctors and healthcare professionals, overseen by a consultant, would be able to advise a patient as to whether they should seek treatment at home, visit an outpatient clinic for further investigation, or go to hospital. These centers could be staffed by specialists in particular areas of medicine, and therefore be able to easily collaborate to discuss cases.
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Facebook owner pays $1.1bn to settle Cambridge Analytica case
By JAMES HURLEY
The Times
5:40PM December 25, 2022
The owner of Facebook has agreed to pay $US725m ($1.08bn) to settle legal action related to the Cambridge Analytica scandal.
The figure, set to be the largest achieved in an American data privacy class action, is intended to draw a line under claims the social media group allowed third parties to access users’ personal information.
Meta, which did not admit wrongdoing, said it was “in the best interest of our community and shareholders”.
It would be the biggest sum that the company, which also owns Instagram and WhatsApp, had paid out in a lawsuit.
Cambridge Analytica, a London-based political consulting firm, allegedly used Facebook in an attempt to influence the outcome of the 2016 US presidential election and Britain’s European Union referendum by using the personal data of millions of people.
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https://www.afr.com/technology/social-media-may-be-terminal-i-hope-they-re-right-20221225-p5c8qo
Social media may be terminal. I hope they’re right
There is a reason that so little has gotten better and so much has gotten worse. The cost of so much connection and information has been the deterioration of our capacity for attention and reflection.
Ezra Klein
Dec 26, 2022 – 5.00am
For what feels like ages, we’ve been told that Twitter is, or needs to be, the world’s town square. That was Dick Costolo’s line in 2013, when he was Twitter’s CEO (“We think of it as the global town square”), and Jack Dorsey, one of Twitter’s founders, used it, too, in 2018 (“People use Twitter as a digital public square”). Now the line comes from the “chief twit,” Elon Musk (“The reason I acquired Twitter is because it is important to the future of civilisation to have a common digital town square”).
This metaphor is wrong on three levels.
First, there isn’t, can’t be and shouldn’t be a “global town square.” The world needs many town squares, not one. Public spaces are rooted in the communities and contexts in which they exist. This is true, too, for Twitter, which is less a singular entity than a digital multiverse. What Twitter is for activists in Zimbabwe is not what it is for gamers in Britain.
Second, town squares are public spaces, governed in some way by the public. That is what makes them a town square rather than a square in a town. They are not the playthings of whimsical billionaires. They do not exist, as Twitter did for so long, to provide returns to shareholders. (And as wild as Musk’s reign has already been, remember that he tried to back out of this deal, and Twitter’s leadership, knowing he neither wanted the service nor would treat it or its employees with care, forced it through to ensure that executives and shareholders got their payout.) A town square controlled by one man isn’t a town square. It’s a storefront, an art project or possibly a game preserve.
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David.
1 comment:
Love the last article
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