Mind Matters Natural and Artificial Intelligence News and Analysis

CategoryMedicine and Health

rest-in-peace-posters-of-dr-li-wenliang-who-warned-authorities-about-the-coronovirus-outbreak-seen-at-hosier-lane-in-melbourne-australia-hosier-lane-is-known-for-its-street-art-stockpack-unsplash.jpg
Rest in Peace Posters of Dr Li Wenliang, who warned authorities about the coronovirus outbreak seen at Hosier Lane in Melbourne, Australia. Hosier Lane is known for its street art.
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post
Author
Heather Zeiger
Date
February 1, 2020
Categorized
Global Technology, Medicine and Health, Social Media, Surveillance
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Censorship? But Coronavirus Doesn’t Care!

Back when SARS was a threat, social media wasn’t the giant it is today. Censorship, secrecy, and detention are less effective tools of control now
Heather Zeiger
February 1, 2020
10
Global Technology, Medicine and Health, Social Media, Surveillance

Coronavirus provides a test. The Chinese Communist Party offers mainland Chinese people security and prosperity in exchange for the sacrifice of personal freedom. But when the government cannot uphold its end of the agreement—security—the people may become less tolerant of the human rights violations. And the age of information makes it much easier to discover them.

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Demographic Change
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post
Author
Brendan Dixon
Date
January 28, 2020
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Medicine and Health
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Can The Machine TELL If You Are Psychotic or Gay?

No, and the hype around what machine learning can do is enough to make old-fashioned tabloids sound dull and respectable
Brendan Dixon
January 28, 2020
5
Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Medicine and Health

Media often co-operate with researchers’ inflated claims about machine learning’s powers of discovery. An ingenious “creative” approach to accuracy enables the misrepresentation, says data analyst Eric Siegel.

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Empty plate with parsley leaf
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post
Author
News
Date
January 27, 2020
Categorized
Medicine and Health
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What Your Brain Wishes You Knew About Fasting…

But you'd have to give it a try in order to find out
News
January 27, 2020
6
Medicine and Health

Why does fasting clarify the mind, instead of making us dizzy and anxious for food? Jay Richards, author of Eat, Fast, Feast (2020), says researchers now think that ketosis (burning stored fat for energy instead of blood sugar) naturally produces clearer thinking.

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Obstetric Ultrasonography Ultrasound Echography of a first month
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post
Author
Michael Egnor
Date
January 21, 2020
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Abortion Advocate Admits in a Medical Journal That Unborn Children Feel Pain

The scientific community has for decades misrepresented the straightforward science of conception and fetal development for ideological reasons
Michael Egnor
January 21, 2020
3

I have cared for hundreds of premature infants and it is very clear that these very young children experience pain intensely. An innocuous needlestick in the heel to draw small amount of blood would ordinarily not be particularly painful for an adult. But a tiny infant will scream at such discomfort.

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Photo by Bret Kavanaugh
Type
post
Author
Michael Egnor
Date
January 17, 2020
Categorized
Medicine and Health, Neuroscience, Philosophy of Mind
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Yes, Split Brains Are Weird, But Not the Way You Think

Scientists who dismiss consciousness and free will ignore the fact that the higher faculties of the mind cannot be split even by splitting the brain in half
Michael Egnor
January 17, 2020
5
Medicine and Health, Neuroscience, Philosophy of Mind

Patients after split-brain surgery are not split people. They feel the same, act the same, and think the same, for all intents and purposes. Materialists like Jerry Coyne focus on subtle differences and distort the big picture.

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Breast cancer histology: Lobular carcinoma in situ (LCIS) is seen in the lower left with invasive (infiltrating) lobular carcinoma in the upper right. Screening mammography can detect early tumors.
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post
Author
Brendan Dixon
Date
January 6, 2020
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How AI Can Help Us Fight Cancer

Breast cancer is an excellent example of how AI can speed up early detection
Brendan Dixon
January 6, 2020
5

AI catches things doctor miss, and doctors catch things AI misses. Using the AI to highlight what may be cancer tissue helps the radiologist focus on ambiguous situations, reducing the chance of missing early cancers.

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GPS navigator in desert
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post
Author
Brendan Dixon
Date
January 4, 2020
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Business and Finance, Medicine and Health
Tagged

AI Should Mean Thinking Smarter, Not Less

We should be all the more engaged when we use technology
Brendan Dixon
January 4, 2020
3
Artificial Intelligence, Business and Finance, Medicine and Health

Tim Harford points to the Sanchez tragedy to raise an important question: How do we know when a given technology is really helping us? And when we are taking too great a risk or paying too high a price?

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Face made of shiny metal cubes. Looking Down.3d render
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post
Author
Jonathan Bartlett
Date
December 27, 2019
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Medicine and Health, Neuroscience, Philosophy of Mind, Programming, Transhumanism
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2019 AI Hype Countdown #5: Transhumanism never grows old

The idea that we can upload our brains to computers to avoid death shows a fundamental misunderstanding of the differences between types of thinking
Jonathan Bartlett
December 27, 2019
5
Artificial Intelligence, Medicine and Health, Neuroscience, Philosophy of Mind, Programming, Transhumanism

Computers are very effective but they operate with a very limited set of causal abilities. Humans work from an entirely different set of causal abilities. Uploading your brain to a computer is not a question of technology. It can’t work in principle.

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science-in-hd-1WBN-JKSmKI-unsplash
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post
Author
Jonathan Bartlett
Date
December 26, 2019
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture, Business and Finance, Global Technology, Medicine and Health
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2019 AI Hype Countdown #6: AI Will Replace Scientists!

In May of this year, The Scientist ran a series of pieces suggesting that we could automate the process of acquiring scientific knowledge
Jonathan Bartlett
December 26, 2019
6
Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture, Business and Finance, Global Technology, Medicine and Health

In reality, without appropriate human supervision, AI is just as likely to find false or unimportant patterns as real ones. Additionally, the overuse of AI in science is actually leading to a reproducibility crisis.

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Asia cyclist injured on the street bike after collision accident car and bike.
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post
Author
Jonathan Bartlett
Date
December 16, 2019
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Global Technology, Medicine and Health
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New Tech to Warn Drivers and Cars of Cyclists Ahead

Most people I have talked know (or knew) people who were struck by motor vehicles, either as cyclists or pedestrians
Jonathan Bartlett
December 16, 2019
4
Artificial Intelligence, Global Technology, Medicine and Health

Hopefully, in ten years’ time, a bike suddenly emerging from behind a roadside dumpster will be fully visible to both the car and the driver long before a driver would usually see it today.

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A man going through the dark old tunnel. Tunnel with traffic lights and a silhouette of a man
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post
Author
News
Date
December 5, 2019
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What If a Near-Death Experience Is a Vision of Hell?

Oddly, even distressing near-death experiences have had positive effects, say researchers
News
December 5, 2019
7

One researcher observes at Psychology Today that the strongest predictor of a successful suicide attempt is a previous failed suicide attempt—unless the person has had a near-death experience, in which case further suicide attempts are unlikely.

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Robot's body
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post
Author
News
Date
December 3, 2019
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Medicine and Health, Philosophy of Mind
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Would You Want Immortal Life as a Cyborg?

Would you give up your right arm for a robotic device that performs better? Think about it
News
December 3, 2019
8
Artificial Intelligence, Medicine and Health, Philosophy of Mind

Transhumanism can mean uploading one’s mind into cyberspace. But some transhumanists hope to slowly morph into “immortal cyborgs” with endlessly replaceable parts. Five years ago, we were told, we were all turning into cyborgs: Did you recently welcome a child into the world? Congratulations! An upstanding responsible parent such as yourself is surely doing all you can to prepare your little one for all the pitfalls life has in store. However, thanks to technology, children born in 2014 may face a far different set of issues than you ever had to. And we’re not talking about simply learning to master a new generation of digital doohickeys, we’re talking about living in a world in which the very definition of “human” Read More ›

Clouds tunnel
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post
Author
News
Date
November 25, 2019
Categorized
Medicine and Health, Neuroscience, Philosophy of Mind
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Do Near-Death Experiences Defy Science?

NDEs do not defy science. They sometimes challenge human senses. which are based on our biology
News
November 25, 2019
4
Medicine and Health, Neuroscience, Philosophy of Mind

For example, if the human eye’s usual limitations were not a factor, previously unknown colors—which we know from science to exist—might be perceived.

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Concept of brain surgery or neurosurgery. Neurosurgeon holding scalpel in hand over 3D anatomical model of human brain. Brain surgery operations for treatment of diseases - tumor, aneurysm, epilepsy
Scalpel on model of brain
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post
Author
News
Date
November 21, 2019
Categorized
Medicine and Health, Philosophy of Mind
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Some People Think and Speak with Only Half a Brain

A new study sheds light on how they do it
News
November 21, 2019
5
Medicine and Health, Philosophy of Mind

A range of neuroscience research findings is more readily explained by assuming that some aspects of thought–– abstract intellectual thought and free will–– are immaterial.

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light at the end of the tunnel
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post
Author
News
Date
November 21, 2019
Categorized
Medicine and Health, Philosophy of Mind
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Why Medical Scientists Take Near-Death Experiences Seriously Now

Today, we know much more about what happens to people when they die—and what we are learning does not support materialism
News
November 21, 2019
10
Medicine and Health, Philosophy of Mind

Near-death experiences are generally seen as real, even among hardcore skeptics, and research focuses on how to account for them.

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Man trying to whistle
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post
Author
News
Date
November 15, 2019
Categorized
Data Privacy, Ethics, Medicine and Health
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Google’s Secret Health Data Grab: The Whistleblower Talks

This is the fourth whistleblower in the last eighteen months
News
November 15, 2019
3
Data Privacy, Ethics, Medicine and Health

“The decision came to me slowly, creeping on me through my day-to-day work,” we are told, until it came down to “how could I say nothing?”

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Medical Research Scientist Typing Information Obtained from New Experimental Drug Trial. She Works in a Bright and Modern Laboratory.
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post
Author
News
Date
November 13, 2019
Categorized
Data Privacy, Medicine and Health
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The Nightingale Sings — About Your Health Data

The skinny from Google’s health care data grab: Your privacy may not be anywhere near as well protected as you might think
News
November 13, 2019
6
Data Privacy, Medicine and Health

The biggest question coming into focus is whether traditional patient confidentiality protection really works in the age of the internet. As to what changes are needed and who will sponsor them, both US Sen. Amy Klobuchar and US Sen. Josh Hawley, on opposite sides of the aisle, are watching the file.

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Beautiful Male Computer Engineer and Scientists Create Neural Network at His Workstation. Office is Full of Displays Showing 3D Representations of Neural Networks.
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post
Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
November 12, 2019
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Medicine and Health, Social Media
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How Algorithms Can Seem Racist

Machines don’t think. They work with piles of “data” from many sources. What could go wrong? Good thing someone asked…
Denyse O'Leary
November 12, 2019
7
Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Medicine and Health, Social Media

Some of the recent conflicts around algorithms and ethnicity are flubs that social media entrepreneurs will regret. Others may endanger life.

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COSM-3128
Type
post
Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
October 24, 2019
Categorized
Machine Learning, Medicine and Health
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Former Microsoft Head of Research: Machines Will Soon Know Better Than Your Doctor

Other experts at the COSM Technology Summit were skeptical of Craig Mundie’s claims
Denyse O'Leary
October 24, 2019
3
Machine Learning, Medicine and Health

Mundie, former Microsoft Chief Research & Strategy Officer, formerly told his audience that Big Data will enable each person to be “completely understood” by machines that can produce a computer facsimile of each detail. It would be far too complex for human physicians to make sense of, he said.

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Near death experience Andrew Charney Unsplash 4gP2EKPlU1Q-unsplash
Type
post
Author
Michael Egnor
Date
September 19, 2019
Categorized
Medicine and Health, Neuroscience, Philosophy of Mind
Tagged

Near-Death Experiences Are More Real Than Some of the Research

At Scientific American, we learn of an analysis that tries to link them to recreational drug highs, based only on language use
Michael Egnor
September 19, 2019
5
Medicine and Health, Neuroscience, Philosophy of Mind

The scientific “method” of inferring a common biological cause of the experiences by analyzing the language used to describe them is junk science. One may as well infer that lung cancer and tuberculosis have a common cause because sufferers from both diseases report cough, shortness of breath, chest pain, and weight loss.

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