It Is Fairly Obvious We Need To Be Making Sure The Health System Does Not Have A Harmful Sex Bias.

These appeared last week:

Labor invest in female health, argue system ‘wasn’t working for women’

Improved access to birth control and treatments for UTIs, menopause and endometriosis will reform care for a health area ‘shrouded in shame and stigma’.

James Dowling

9 February, 2025

The Albanese government will announce half a billion dollars in women’s health investments, highlighting improved access to contraception and menopause care, with changes set to take effect on either side of the federal election.

On Sunday, Minister for Women Katy Gallagher, Health Minister Mark Butler and Assistant Health Minister Ged Kearney will announce a $573 million swath of policies including new subsidised oral contraceptives, more endometriosis clinics, access to intra-uterine contraceptive devices and greater Medicare support for menopause treatments.

A portion of the announcements, namely newly subsidised medicines, will take effect next month, while longer term goals such as constructing endometriosis and pelvic pain clinics are commitments Labor would take to its second term if re-elected. A joint announcement said the health package was informed by recommendations from relevant senate inquiries and the National Women’s Health Advisory Council.

Mr Butler said the government’s independent medicine subsidy agency, the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, had not kept pace with social progress in ensuring access to a multitude of contraceptives, while keeping hormone replacement therapies out of reach for many women.

“With no new contraceptive pill or menopausal hormone therapy added to the PBS in decades, it was clear the PBS wasn’t working for women,” he said. “That’s why I asked our medicines experts to find a way to right that wrong.”

“It’s about time Australian women had more choice, lower costs and better health care

“Today’s announcement is a tribute to all the Australian women who have worked so hard, for so long, to have their voices heard and acknowledged.”

Two new contraceptive pills, sold under the brand names Yaz and Yasmin, will be listed on the PBS from March. The Health Department estimates one in three Australian women currently pay for birth control outside of the PBS, citing a lack of new subsidies in more than 30 years.

It will cut annual prescription costs from $380 to $126.40, or $30.80 for concession card holders.

Also from March, three new HRT types will be subsidised: Prometrium, Estrogel and Estrogel Pro.

While the Health Department frequently cites the independence of the PBS, it confirmed Mr Butler personally requested the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee consider supporting HRT and contraceptive subsidies.

“Women have asked government to take their healthcare seriously, and we have listened,” Senator Gallagher said.

“Our investment of more than half a billion dollars will deliver more choice, lower costs, and better healthcare for women at all stages of their lives.

“These changes could save women and their families thousands of dollars across their lifetimes.

“Whether it’s saving hundreds of dollars on contraceptives, opening more endo and pelvic pain clinics, or ensuring more reliable support for women going through menopause – this comprehensive package will deliver for millions of women and their families.”

Complimenting HRT access will be greater support for menopause health assessments under Medicare, along with a national awareness campaign, doctor training drive and new clinical guidelines to unify care. The rebate would take effect from July.

In May last year, Mr Butler announced more than $100 million in endometriosis supports through Medicare, with a new suite of endometriosis and pelvic pain clinics intended to build on this.

The construction of eleven new clinics will bring the national total to 33, while expanding their role to also assist in specialised care for menopausal and perimenopausal women.

Finally, the health package included a boost to Medicare rebates for IUDs and two national trials to ramp up access to treatment for uncomplicated urinary tract infections.

Australia’s IUD uptake tracks below comparative countries, at around 10 per cent compared to 12.5 per cent in New Zealand and 33 per cent in Sweden. By raising the rebate by 150 per cent and investing in eight specialised training centres, Labor hoped to drive up use while improving supplementary health outcomes from implants like reductions to heavy menstrual bleeding, endometriosis and period pain.

UTI treatment trials will begin from early next year, allowing concession card holders to receive free pharmacy consultations.

“From our first periods as young girls to menopause in older age, women’s health has been shrouded in shame and stigma. I’m proud to be part of an Albanese Labor Government that stands up for women and says this is not good enough, and it never has been,” Ms Kearney said.

“Women deserve choice and control when it comes to their healthcare needs, and they deserve a healthcare system that understands and responds to these needs as they change throughout their lives.

“This investment in women’s health of over half a billion dollars will shift the dial on an entrenched culture of medical misogyny – we’re talking about alleviating pain, reducing delays in diagnosis, avoiding unplanned pregnancies, and transforming menopause care.”

Health policies have been a central pillar in the early days of the Albanese government’s second term election campaign, driving up its contrast with the opposition through a revived ‘Mediscare’ tactic. It also comes after polling by the Nine Publishing newspapers indicated women were increasingly inclined to vote Labor, compared to a cohort of young men more partial to Peter Dutton.

Here is the link:

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/health/labor-invest-in-female-health-argue-system-wasnt-working-for-women/news-story/0518eea1490b9518243d217b177054b4

We also have reaction from the College of GPs:

RACGP applauds Albanese Government’s $573m women’s health package

The Royal Australian College of GPs has applauded the Federal Government’s $573.3 million package for women’s health which includes new funding for menopause health assessments and increased funding for long-acting reversible contraception (LARCs). 

The Albanese Government package announced today includes more funding for LARC insertion and removal, and to establish LARC training centres. It also includes new funding for menopause health assessments, the development of national guidelines for menopause and perimenopause, and for new generation contraceptive pills to be listed on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS). 

RACGP President Dr Michael Wright said: “The RACGP has been calling for more funding for women’s health and we applaud the Albanese Government for this package, particularly funding for health assessments and LARCs. 

“We know cost-of-living is hitting women hard. Surveys show women are more likely to have delayed seeking essential healthcare due to costs than men. And, on top of this, medical misogyny is embedded in Medicare. 

“The current subsidy for Intrauterine Device (IUD) insertion is just $77, while a vasectomy, which is equally complex and time consuming, gets much more funding at $222. The RACGP spoke about this issue and the need for more funding with Health and Aged Care Assistant Minister Ged Kearney just last year. 

“Women across Australia need better access to affordable and comprehensive care for health issues like endometriosis, chronic pelvic pain, menopause, and perimenopause.  

New funding for menopause health assessments will immediately improve access to affordable and high-quality care from specialist GPs for those who need it. 

“The new generation contraceptive pills being added to the PBS will also give women greater options and choices. 

“There is no substitute for the quality care you get from a GP who knows you are your history. Everyone needs affordable access, no matter your gender, income, or where you live in Australia. 

“The RACGP has a comprehensive plan for accessible and affordable GP care, which includes a suite of initiatives for women’s health, which we’ll be releasing next week. As part of this, we have been calling for more funding for LARC insertion, and women’s health assessments.  

“Better funding women’s health including contraceptives and health assessments is an investment that will pay off. It will improve health and wellbeing, reduce pressure on our health system, and help reduce gender bias in our health system.” 

---

Media enquiries

Journalists and media outlets seeking comment and information from the RACGP can contact John Ronan, Ally Francis and Stuart Winthrope via:

RACGP Media

• 03 8699 0992
• media@racgp.org.au

Here is the link:

https://www.racgp.org.au/gp-news/media-releases/2025-media-releases/february-2025/racgp-applauds-albanese-government-s-573m-women-s

Somehow all this has the sincerity of big business applauding making profits – it goes without saying there should be a balanced and effective approach to female health issues – and given that women  outnumber men in medical graduations it seems pretty certain to happen without gratuitous press releases!

I must be getting too cynical in my dotage I guess! Anyway it is true there is some ground to be made up with female health issues with many years of under-investment in research etc. in female specific problems.

Let’s see what the next decade or two brings! Change will come for sure!

David.

AusHealthIT Poll Number 780 – Results – 9 February 2025.

Here are the results of the poll.

Do You Believe Donald Trump Has The Cognitive Capacity To Safely Be President Of The US?

Yes                                                                  3 (10%)

No                                                                  24(80%)

I Have No Idea                                               3 (10%)

Total No. Of Votes: 30

An interesting outcome with a huge majority not confident in Mr Trumps cognitive capacity!

Any insights on the poll are welcome, as a comment, as usual!

Very good voter turnout. 

3 of 30 who answered the poll admitted to not being sure about the answer to the question!

Again, many, many thanks to all those who voted! 

David.

I Fear This Sort Of Manipulation Will Be A Major Problem Going Forward.

This appeared last week…

Audio deepfakes ‘the most effective we’ve seen so far’, says Microsoft

Tom McIlroy Canberra Bureau Chief

Feb 2, 2025 – 2.19pm

Deepfake audio content could be used to mislead voters and disrupt the federal election campaign, global technology giant Microsoft has warned, highlighting the risk to polls around the country.

Visiting Australia ahead of the poll – due on or before May 17 – Microsoft’s Democracy Forward initiative boss Ginny Badanes said manipulated audio content and deepfake videos designed to sound like a political candidate’s real voice could spread quickly on social media.

Ms Badanes said the company’s research into threats against recent US elections found foreign influence operations were focused on so-called “down-ballot” races, at the state and local government levels.

China, Russia and Iran are among the global leaders in electoral interference, often hacking accounts and spreading content to mislead voters.

The warning follows an Australian Electoral Commission assessment last month that found foreign interference was “a more prolific threat than ever before” as a wide range of individuals and groups were engaging in covert campaigns.

“Audio deepfakes are the thing people should be most focused on and interested in because they’re the most effective that we’ve seen so far,” Ms Badanes told The Australian Financial Review.

“The technology is in the best place, and access to that technology seems to be pretty easy for these actors. It’s also the hardest to detect. There aren’t as many signals to look at from a detection perspective.”

She said Australia would benefit from going to the polls after billions of people voted in elections around the world in 2024.

“We got to see how nation-state actors were behaving. We got to see how they were using AI, if they were using AI, and a lot of those lessons can carry over and inform, to a certain extent, how Australia is going to approach this election,” she said.

In a threat assessment published in January, the AEC said while attempts to interfere in Australia’s democratic processes were common, successful interference was not.

“Our democracy remains robust, our parliaments remain sovereign, and our elections remain free and fair.”

Campaigns in marginal electorates could see interference and hacking attempts, including targeting the personal email accounts of candidates and party officials.

In 2024, foreign operatives targeted Republican candidates and members of Congress who had advocated anti-China policies, sometimes parroting antisemitic messages, spreading baseless corruption accusations and promoting rival candidates.

Ms Badanes said elections in smaller countries such as Moldova and Romania had been targeted and similar activities in Australia were possible.

Iran has used fake videos and “pink slime sites” – websites purporting to provide local news but actually used to spread misinformation.

“We saw Iran set up 12 or more local news sites, likely created with or supported by AI. We think it’s likely that they were able to create more content, whitewash existing content into new articles,” she said.

“And these fake local news sites were meant to mislead people about news and stories and propaganda under the pretence that it was a trusted new site within the US.”

Crossbenchers in federal parliament have called for the Albanese government to take action on artificial intelligence threats, including deepfake video content.

Greens senator David Shoebridge last week co-operated with the ABC to produce a bogus video of him calling for cannabis to be legalised.

Independent David Pocock commissioned deepfake videos of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Opposition Leader Peter Dutton last year. He has flagged he will raise the issue of AI threats when parliament begins its first sitting fortnight for the year on Tuesday.

Here is the link:

https://www.afr.com/politics/federal/audio-deepfakes-the-most-effective-we-ve-seen-so-far-says-microsoft-20250127-p5l7eh

With our election coming in the next 3 months we may get early experience of how badly things can play out!

Watch this space!

David,

 

Given His Influence On Our Current World This is Worth Reading…

This appeared last week:

Bill Gates’ memoir Source Code reveals how a boy genius conquered the world

Bill Gates’ memoir Source Code delves deeply into his childhood with an undiagnosed gift, as he seeks to explain (and perhaps understand) his own, unique operating system.

Caroline Overington

12:00AM February 01, 2025.

Updated 8:52AM February 01, 2025

Bill Gates has written a memoir in which he says he would probably be ­diagnosed with autism were he a kid in school today.

Looking back, he can see how fidgety in class he was. He remembers how he liked to be left alone to nut out knotty problems. Other kids may have dipped excitedly into the Encyclopedia Britannica; by the age of nine, the young Bill Gates had read through every volume, A to Z. He knew the different heights of all the world’s penguins, and could talk about that for hours.

“And I had that rocking habit,” he writes, which he used to soothe himself.

“But, you know, no terms (like autism) were applied in those days,” says Gates, in a Zoom ­interview with Inquirer ahead of the launch of his book, and while many adults are these days seeking a formal diagnosis, he won’t be one of them.

Bill Gates reflects on his new book Source Code: My Beginnings, sharing insights into his childhood, early passion for computers, and the experiences that shaped Microsoft. He discusses his learning style, social challenges, and the possibility of being on the…

“I’m not going to start taking medicine or something,” he says. “That learning style I had, of intense concentration, was very beneficial to me, even though the social things were much more difficult … For kids nowadays, you know, is it better or worse that they are ­diagnosed?”

Gates stops short in his book of describing his autism – if that is indeed what he has – as a gift, or superpower. He thinks it only partly explains his success as a computer programmer who started Microsoft, invented Windows, and became, at least for a time, the world’s richest man. His book, which covers only the first 25 years of his life, delves deeply into all aspects of his childhood, as he seeks to explain (and perhaps understand) the development of his own, unique operating system. In that sense, the title, Source Code, is perfect, and I’m keen to know if Gates himself came up with it.

“No, but I approved it,” he chuckles down the line.

Gates explains the book is “a collaboration” with a former journalist from The Wall Street Journal, who “typed more words than I did”. He told the stories, and says Gates “ended up doing quite a bit of editing because things like my relationship with my mum, nobody else can really get … those are complex topics”.

The result is a surprisingly tender account of an all-American childhood in Seattle, in the wildly optimistic post-war boom years. Gates, 69, was one of three kids born to middle-class parents who encouraged good manners (“don’t put your elbows on the table, don’t eat in front of the TV”). He had his own room in a pleasant neighbourhood, where he could hear the crack of baseball bats through his bedroom window. A keen hiker and boy scout, he liked to play cards as a kid; he clearly remembers the moon landing and the arrival of the Jetsons on TV. That said, his parents recognised quite early “that the rhythm of my mind was different from that of other kids”.

He could go days without speaking, “emerging from my room only for meals and school”. One teacher said that he did not know – or seem to care – how to “put on his own coat”.

His parents sought the help of a psychiatrist, who “just talked to me” about ways of managing school work and friendships. His parents also decided to send him to a small private school – Lakeside, in North Seattle – where he was “given the opportunity at age 13 to play around with a computer funded by a mother’s club rummage sale”.

He was soon obsessed.

“I loved how the computer forced me to think. It demanded that I be logically consistent and pay attention to details. One misplaced comma or semicolon and the thing wouldn’t work,” he says.

He spent hours, days, weeks writing code, without the aid of guidebooks, because there simply weren’t any. So, he was a complete nerd, then? Well, no. Readers of his book may be surprised to hear that he smoked pot as a kid, dropped acid as a college student, and once spent a night in jail. He liked girls, too. There is a lovely moment in the book where he works up the courage to ask a pretty student to the prom. She says she’ll think about it, but ultimately turns him down and goes with a quarterback instead. It makes his heart hurt, but what’s a geeky kid to do? Boys like Bill just weren’t considered boyfriend ­material. His awkwardness with women accompanied him to Harvard. Gates still remembers attending “mixers” in 1973 – the year that Roe v Wade guaranteed the right to abortion, and the start of America’s slow exit from Vietnam – dressed in “an expensive brown leather jacket that I paired with blue velvet bell-bottoms (but) I never had any luck meeting women at these parties … Guys in our wider circle would come back (from the mixers) claiming they had. Almost in unison the rest of us would stammer, “How do you do that?”

Then, in 1987, at a trade fair in New York, Gates met Melinda French, who had just started working for Microsoft, the company he had founded with a former school friend, Paul Allen. They married in 1994, and stayed married for 25 years, raising three children. That marriage has since ended, and the terrain here is tricky, since Gates has acknowledged an affair, and poor behaviour. Given that he had always looked up to his parents, who had such traditional values, does he regret that his own marriage ended?

“Sure,” he says, without hesitation.

I figure it must have occurred to him, at some point: “Hang on, I’m the rock star now. I’m the quarterback. I’m the richest guy in the world…” and maybe that led him into temptation?

He’s not sure about that, but says: “I do remember going to a high school reunion once, and one girl – not the girl I asked out to the prom, but another girl – came up and said, Bill, I didn’t even know you had a personality.

“A lot of the time, when I was going into a cocktail party or something, I would think, ‘Oh, God, will anybody want to talk to me?’ That problem definitely did get solved.”

Gates’s former wife told Vogue magazine a few years ago that she had forgiven Bill for his transgressions, but loathed her husband’s connection to the vile sex predator Jeffrey Epstein, describing him as “evil ­personified”.

Gates has said that he, too, ­regrets the time he spent with ­Epstein. He was a bit lost after the divorce, rattling around his $US200m mansion on Lake Washington (it has 24 bathrooms and six kitchens, which he knows is ridiculous; he says he offsets the enormous footprint of his house and the near constant travel with carbon credits). He now has a new partner, Paula Hurd, who is the widow of the former Hewlett-Packard chief executive, Mark Hurd (they came to Australia last January for the Open tennis) and his relationship with his children seems good.

Of course, his memoir stops well short of any of those developments, but he is likely to get to them, since Source Code is merely the first volume of a planned trilogy.

Why three books?

Like many men approaching the final quarter, Gates is thinking about his legacy, and it’s clear that he hopes to help shape it. You can sense his frustration in that regard. He was a boy genius – his invention, the Windows operating system, changed almost everything about the world in which we live – and he’s ploughed tens of billions of dollars from the colossal fortune he made into reducing poverty and curing malaria in some of the poorest countries on earth. He loves doing it – he has a jet that he can use to travel from one hot spot to another; he has teams of people working on all manner of exciting breakthroughs – and yet, when you go online, you’re likely to find his name linked with thousands of bat-poo crazy conspiracy theories (Gates is trying to depopulate the world by poisoning the water supply; Gates is using the Covid-19 vaccine to sterilise women in poor countries; Gates is not preventing but actively spreading viruses).

Does he try to counter these ­stories when they come up?

“Look, most of them are probably best to ignore,” he says. “They are a few thousand people in some weird group … like, there was a recent one about how I’m trying to change the weather … It’s such a fringe thing that any notice I take of it would actually make it worse. They’d be like, ‘Oh, must be true. He’s denying it’.

“But things that go mainstream, like the Robert Kennedy Jr book (he doesn’t name it, but it’s called The Real Anthony Fauci: Bill Gates, Big Pharma, and the Global War on Democracy and Public Health, and it has sold more than a million copies in the US) which says I’m making money from vaccines, because it’s been widely read, I do feel the need to speak out and say, ‘hey, this is completely the opposite of the truth’. I saw another story where I was trying to track people’s location by embedding something in the virus. I mean, you just have to laugh at some of it … You really do have to have a sense of humour about it, because it’s so random.”

Does he have a view as to why he, in particular, has become a target of such wild claims?

“Well, if you’re looking for simple explanations, the idea that there’s a weird billionaire who somehow behind the scenes is ­manipulating things is an (easy) story to understand,” he says.

Gates also now finds himself on the wrong side politically, having donated $50m to Kamala Harris in her bid for the White House.

Was he surprised that Donald Trump won?

“I don’t pretend to be good at predictions. I wasn’t sure who would win … and he won,” he says, grinning.

Plenty of other tech bros, like Mark Zuckerberg, who were also once seen as progressive, are now sidling up to Trump, hoping for treats and favours. That’s not really Gates’s style, but does he feel that he will be able to work with the ­returning President?

“I had a chance to meet with him in Mar-a-Lago for a long dinner,” he says, cautiously.

“He’s obviously getting input from tonnes of people.”

He’s not yet sure how Trump will respond to the idea that the US should continue to support the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in its vital work across the globe (they say they have halved the number of deaths from malaria, and from HIV-AIDs, which is nothing to sneeze at).

As for the man who stole Gates’s title as the world’s richest man, Elon Musk … does Gates have any thoughts about him?

“He’s an incredible genius,” Gates says, without hesitation. “And he’s at the centre of the world right now. I’ve talked to him about technology and about philanthropy … I hope he becomes a good philanthropist too.”

Source Code: My Beginnings by Bill Gates (Penguin Books Australia, $55 HB) will be published on February 4.

Here is the link:

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/inquirer/bill-gates-memoir-source-code-reveals-how-a-boy-genius-conquered-the-world/news-story/6af0f2ab547e46a2a7589f5c96b8ceaa

I suspect this may be an autobiography that is worth reading for all sorts of reasons!

David.

I Suspect The World Has Moved A Little On Its Axis In The Last Few Weeks…

This appeared a few days ago…

Firms ditch OpenAI for DeepSeek

Danny Fortson

2 Feb, 2025

DeepSeek released its first free chatbot app, based on the DeepSeek-R1 model which had surpassed ChatGPT as the most-downloaded free app on the iOS App Store in the United States.

The arrival of DeepSeek, a super-cheap yet powerful artificial intelligence system from a little-known Chinese firm, has sent Silicon Valley into a psychological tailspin. Over just a few days, Big Tech appeared to go through all seven stages of acceptance. It started with shock. This was “a Sputnik moment”, exclaimed billionaire investor Marc Andreessen about DeepSeek, which, depending on how you crunch the numbers, offers a state-of-the art AI reasoning model for one-twentieth the cost of a rival such as OpenAI.

Denial and anger swiftly followed. San Francisco-based OpenAI said the firm may have “inappropriately” pirated its technology. Depression - one commentator called DeepSeek’s breakthrough an “extinction-level event” for investors who had ploughed hundreds of billions of dollars into AI start-ups - was followed by reconstruction, the “upward turn” and, finally, acceptance. And all before Thursday.

Indeed, even as OpenAI alleged malfeasance, Microsoft, its single biggest investor and most important partner, was integrating DeepSeek into its Azure cloud computing offering. Amazon’s AWS did the same. DeepSeek is here to stay.

Why have America’s Big Tech champions - the same companies that have poured billions of dollars into the AI companies that DeepSeek undermines - embraced the Chinese interloper founded by Liang Wenfeng?

“Because customers want it,” said Ed Sim, founder of Boldstart, a venture capital firm. All of his start-ups, he said, were looking at ways to swap DeepSeek for the expensive AI models being pumped out by OpenAI and its ilk. “A few years’ worth of cost compression just happened in a matter of days,” he added.

As the dust cleared, businesses worldwide were asking the same question: should they use DeepSeek too? The answer for many will be a resounding yes - but with important caveats.

OpenAI and Anthropic, the leading developers of private AI models, are not cheap. Companies that use their tools to, say, power a customer service chatbot pay a fee based on “tokens”. OpenAI defines a token as four letters or spaces, so that 100 tokens roughly equals about 75 words that are either entered into its chatbot as a question, or produced as an answer. The price per token depends on the model being used; the more powerful the model, the higher the price.

Enter DeepSeek. The most profound move by the company, spun out by founder Liang Wenfeng from his hedge fund, High Flyer, was to make its model open source. That means anyone can download it onto their servers, use it free of charge and, importantly, modify it as they see fit.

Chipmaker Nvidia lost nearly $600B in market value as China’s AI model DeepSeek shook confidence in US tech dominance.

Doing so is not trivial. DeepSeek’s models are large and require immense amounts of computing power. What is more, changing its “weights” - the algorithmic values that determine the answers it gives - requires deep technical knowledge. But it can be done.

Perplexity, an AI-powered search engine start-up in San Francisco, downloaded DeepSeek’s reasoning model, the system that shows the “thought process” that leads to its answers, onto its servers on US soil. It then doctored it to “Americanise” the output, before launching a version of its search engine last week that runs on top of it.

Making those changes was critical, as DeepSeek’s default settings do not allow content critical of, say, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) or the Tiananmen Square massacre. “We’ve been sprinting to make it truly uncensored,” said Dmitry Shevelenko, a Perplexity executive. “For the vast majority of cases, it gives very impartial answers.”

There is also the question of data security. DeepSeek’s servers are based in China, where any company must comply with stringent oversight from the CCP, up to and including allowing the government to access user data. That is why, Sim said, he advises anyone against downloading the DeepSeek app, the number-one “productivity” app in Apple’s App Store. “All that data on your phone gets tracked, it goes into China. Who knows what they do with it?”

The US navy banned the use of DeepSeek last week due to “security concerns”.

However, what is certain is that the breakthroughs underlying DeepSeek are an unalloyed good for businesses and governments seeking to integrate AI. That is because its advances will be swiftly integrated by rivals across the industry.

Because of America’s semiconductor export ban against China, DeepSeek was forced to use mostly Nvidia’s H800 chip, a less powerful processor than the H100s used by other AI labs to train their models. DeepSeek rewrote some of the chip’s software, a huge technical feat, for extra performance.

They also pioneered an approach that draws only on relevant portions of the system rather than asking the entire model to weigh in. The result is a steep reduction in computing power, and thus electricity, and thus price.

“You’re talking about a twentyfold price reduction,” Shevelenko said. DeepSeek’s innovations will surely be integrated by rivals.

Shevelenko said: “We always thought there’s not going to be some enduring edge any one company has. The private AI companies no longer can charge a heavy premium for access to their models. You’re gonna see tectonic plates shifting.”

THE TIMES

Here is the link:

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/world/the-times/firms-ditch-openai-for-deepseek/news-story/7e9d9bc22acf70413dba2c0d83a3e0bf

Sorry, all I can do is just watch and see the amazing pace of developments in this area. What I really need now is a guide-book to show me how best to apply these tools in day-to day life and answers as to what it will mean for all of the rest us.

We also need to watch for 'built-in' biases and possible distortion and false answers.....

I can imagine a wide variety of professional organisations wondering just what all this means for them and their members. I suspect it will take weeks, if not months, for sensible answers to emerge!

Stay tuned…

David.

 

It Looks Like The Crazies Are Loose In Queensland Again!

This appeared a week of so ago!

When it comes to fluoride, let’s do what’s best for children

TIM KEYS and MATT HOPCRAFT

3:31PMJanuary 21, 2025.

The debate over whether to fluoridate or not fluoridate local water supply in our towns and centres has become an issue once again, with anti-fluoride votes by a number of Queensland councils, and a political debate emerging in the United States.

In Queensland, several local councils have decided recently to remove fluoride from the water or continue to reject fluoridation, including Gympie, Cairns and Gladstone councils. They are joining about 50 of Queensland’s 77 counils that do not have fluoride in their water.

As a regional paediatric dental specialist, anecdotally I see much more tooth decay, and of greater severity, in children from non-fluoridated communities than their southeast Queensland counterparts.

Today a quarter of Queenslanders do not have access to a fluoridated drinking water supply, while 90 per cent of Australians do. Fluoride has been added to water supplies in Australia for seven decades, starting in 1953. The majority of Australian states and territories have laws requiring the fluoridation of public water supplies, with the exception of Queensland.

The results of this decision from an oral health perspective are not good.

Facts and fictions of water fluoridation in Queensland.

The removal of fluoride from regional water supplies in Queensland has been gaining pace since the decision to devolve decision-making responsibility to local councils in 2012. This is leaving the state’s most vulnerable children at an increased risk of pain, infection and preventable dental disease. With claims of potential harms, including lower IQ and cognitive impairment, now driving this debate, it’s time to reframe the discussion. Evidence, not fear, should guide public health policies, especially when the stakes involve children.

The proven benefits of fluoridation

Water fluoridation is one of the simplest, most efficient, equitable and cost-effective public health measures available to reduce dental decay. It works by adjusting fluoride levels in drinking water to strengthen tooth enamel and protect against cavities. This benefit is universal, regardless of income, location or access to dental care. However, it overwhelmingly benefits low socio-economic communities and regional and remote areas.

In Queensland, where children experience some of the nation’s highest rates of dental decay, fluoridation is not just beneficial – it is essential. Children in these regions face alarmingly high rates of dental disease. According to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, up to half of children in some Queensland regions have untreated decay before starting school. These children also have fewer dental services available.

Misguided claims: debunking the myths

Opposition to fluoridation, and fluoride, often hinges on claims that it poses health risks, including cognitive impairment or lower IQ. These claims have been amplified by figures such as Robert F. Kennedy Jr, the incoming secretary of health in the Trump administration. He recently called for the removal of fluoride from water supplies in the United States, citing concerns over neurotoxicity on the back of studies purporting to show a link to lower IQ or neuro-behavioural problems.

These claims of potentially harmful effects from fluoridation have garnered media attention but they do not stand up to scientific scrutiny. A recent University of Queensland study found no link between water fluoridation and cognitive impairment in Queensland children. People involved in the study who had a lifetime exposure to fluoridated water had an IQ score 1.07 points higher on average than those with no exposure. This is consistent with a long-term study from New Zealand following nearly 1000 people since their birth in 1972. There was no evidence that fluoride exposure was associated with lower IQ scores.

This local evidence aligns with global research. Organisations including the National Health and Medical Research Council, the World Health Organisation and the Centres for Disease Control agree that fluoridation at optimal levels is safe and effective, and poses no risk to cognitive development, cancer rates or other health conditions.

The cost of inaction

Despite the overwhelming evidence in favour of fluoridation, regional Queensland councils are opting out, often citing community pressure or cost concerns. However, the real cost of removing fluoride is borne by children and families. Without fluoridation, decay rates rise, leading to preventable pain, infection and expensive dental treatments.

Every dollar invested in fluoridation can save up to $18 in dental treatment costs, according to the National Health and Medical Research Council. With many families increasingly finding dental care unaffordable in the midst of a cost-of-living crisis, water fluoridation is critical to mitigating health inequities.

Where to from here?

It is vitally important that key health decisions are based on evidence, and not the influence of a vocal minority.

At its core, access to water fluoridation is about equity. It ensures that every child, regardless of where they live or their family’s income, has a chance to grow up with healthy teeth and without preventable pain. In Queensland, where children are already grappling with high rates of decay and insufficient dental services, fluoridation is not a luxury – it is a necessity.

By denying water fluoridation, we are not just ignoring the science – we are neglecting our children. The new Queensland government needs to take back control of this issue. It will save them more money in the long-term, with a lower burden of disease for Queenslanders. They need to stand up and mandate that water fluoridation occurs in all communities possible. Hopefully, all of our state and federal health policy decision makers take note.

Dr Tim Keys is a paediatric dental specialist in public and private practice. He is also the head of advocacy and policy for the Australasian Academy of Paediatric Dentistry.

Associate Professor Matt Hopcraft is a dental public health expert at the Melbourne Dental School.

REFERENCES

• Community Water Fluoridation and Intelligence: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24832151/
• Early Childhood Exposures to Fluorides and Cognitive Neurodevelopment: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/00220345241299352
• NHMRC

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This column is published for information purposes only. It is not intended to be used as medical advice and should not be relied on as a substitute for independent professional advice about your personal health or a medical condition from your doctor or other qualified health professional.

Here is the link:

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/health/when-it-comes-to-fluoride-lets-do-whats-best-for-children/news-story/0ee58cde92deba65f02d4a1ddce2bff1

I have got to the stage where I reckon the best thing to do is just fluoridate all water supplies and tell no-one so no-one will know or care except for a few water supply staff.

Simple and stops the nonsense! Unless someone tells you it is impossible to know of water has fluoride or not – and no one has ever shown any harm from the low amounts involved!

Can we please move on to something that matters?

David.

Has Donald Trump Totally Lost It And Become A Global Menace?

This appeared earlier today.

Canada targets $170b of US goods, China takes matter to WTO

2.03PM Jan 2, 2024

China will take US to WTO over tariffs

Reuters, Bloomberg

China will take the US decision to impose an extra across-the-board 10 per cent tariff on Chinese goods to the World Trade Organisation.

The imposition of tariffs by the US “seriously violates” WTO rules, the commerce ministry said in a statement, urging the US to “engage in frank dialogue and strengthen co-operation.”

“China is strongly dissatisfied with this and firmly opposes it,” the statement said according to a Bloomberg translation.

“The US’s unilateral imposition of tariffs seriously violates WTO rules. It is not only ineffective in solving its own problems, but also undermines normal economic and trade co-operation between China and the United States.

“Regarding the wrong practices of the United States, China will file proceedings with the WTO and take corresponding countermeasures to firmly safeguard its rights and interests.

“China hopes that the United States will view and handle its own fentanyl and other issues objectively and rationally, instead of threatening other countries with tariffs. China urges the United States to correct its wrong practices, meet China halfway, face problems head-on, engage in candid dialogue, strengthen cooperation, and manage differences on the basis of equality, mutual benefit, and mutual respect.”

US President Donald Trump ordered 25 per cent tariffs on Canadian and Mexican imports and 10 per cent on goods from China starting on Tuesday, risking a new trade war that economists said could slow global growth and reignite inflation.

35 mins ago – 1.56PM

Americans stockpile toilet paper before tariff war

Bloomberg

Some Americans have already been prepping for an increase in the price of everyday goods. In a recent survey of 2000 US residents, one in three reported stockpiling daily necessities such as toilet paper and non-perishable food out of fear that tariffs would lead to higher prices.

Some 77 per cent of survey respondents said they were stockpiling toilet paper, just ahead of non-perishable food on 76 per cent.

Medical supplies and medicines were being stockpiled by 58 and 54 per cent of respondents.

Firearms came in at 26 per cent.

42 mins ago – 1.49PM

US aluminium industry calls for exemption for Canada

Bloomberg

The US aluminium industry called on President Donald Trump to exempt Canadian imports of the raw metal from his planned tariffs to help protect jobs and domestic manufacturers.

Trump announced Saturday 25 per cent tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico and 10 per cent from China.

The US is heavily reliant on imported aluminium, which is used in construction and a wide range of manufactured goods, from car components to food packaging. Shipments of the lightweight metal from other countries accounted for 44 per cent of the approximately 4 million tonnes consumed in 2023. Canada was the source of more than half those imports, according to Morgan Stanley.

“To ensure that American aluminium wins the future, President Trump should exempt the aluminium metal supply needed for American manufacturers, while continuing to take every possible action at the US border against unfairly traded Chinese aluminium,” the Aluminium Association said in a statement on Saturday.

1 hr ago – 1.24PM

Canada responds with tariffs on $170b in US goods

Andrew Hobbs

Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau slammed Donald Trump’s decision to impose tariffs on it, saying he will put tariffs on $C155 billion ($170 billion) of US goods.

“Tonight, I am announcing Canada will be responding to the US trade action with 25 per cent tariffs against $C155 billion worth of American goods,” Trudeau said.

“This will include immediate tariffs on $C30 billion worth of goods as of Tuesday, followed by further tariffs on $C125 billion worth of American products in 21 days’ time to allow Canadian companies and supply chains to seek to find alternatives.”

Trudeau lamented Trump’s decision saying it will drive the two countries apart after years and years of close co-operation.

“From the beaches of Normandy to the mountains of the Korean Peninsula, from the fields of Flanders to the streets of Kandahar, we have fought and died alongside you,” Trudeau says.

“During your darkest hours during the Iranian hostage crisis, those 444 days, we worked around the clock from our embassy to get your innocent compatriots home.

“During the summer of 2005 when Hurricane Katrina ravaged your great city of New Orleans, or mere weeks ago, when we sent water bombers to tackle the wildfires in California” we were always there for you.

Trudeau encouraged Canadians to buy Canadian products and vacation at home rather than in the US.

He said some non-tariff measures, including some relating to critical minerals, energy procurement and other partnerships are being looked at.

Here is the link:

https://www.afr.com/politics/federal/trump-s-tariffs-will-start-on-tuesday-20250202-p5l8v1

All I can say it that I believe Donald Trump has become a global menace and I am not sure how the world can survive 47 more months of this utter stupidity. The world should be pretty worried with this lunatic loose….

I am sure glad I am not Justin Trudeau and the other leaders he is attacking!

Put simply, Trump has lost it.

David.

AusHealthIT Poll Number 779 – Results – 2 February 2025.

Here are the results of the poll.

Who Are You Presently Expecting To Be Elected Prime Minister Later This Year?

Anthony Albanese                                               11 (58%)

Peter Dutton                                                          6 (32%)

I Have No Idea                                                      2 (11%)

Total No. Of Votes: 19

An interesting outcome with a fair majority backing Albo at present – but a very small sample!

Any insights on the poll are welcome, as a comment, as usual!

Very poor voter turnout. 

2 of 19 who answered the poll admitted to not being sure about the answer to the question!

Again, many, many thanks to all those who voted! 

David.