What would happen if the demented patient is turned out in the street by the eviction? If a lost and wandering dementia patient is not found within two days, there is a one in four chance they will be found face down in a ditch or canal. But if someone is not looking for a demented patient, the odds are worse. […]
Scholars, like most everyone else, are social creatures, and are eager to please their teachers. This means they usually repeat the narratives they have been taught. Additionally, professors are often so hyper-specialized that they overlook connections to other fields. And, as Professor Steven Pinker noted, back in the day, professors dared not study consciousness until they attained tenure.
Is there anything new under the sun? What I hope to find is someone from the past who confirms my insights, because original insights are most valuable when they are old truths long forgotten, or connections are overlooked because prior generations were blind to how current events affected their views. Even when there is no direct confirmation, I sometimes find reflections from past generations that indirectly confirm, or at least do not disprove my perspectives.
For me, creativity is not a problem, so I prefer to include quotes from ancient and modern authors, to encourage my listeners to read them on their own. Why restate aphorisms in my own words when they are so inspiring when originally uttered? The eastern Church Fathers did not see a need to reword inherited ancient teachings, so why should I? […]
On homicide week in our Sunrise Community Police Academy, the police instructor showed us the ghoulish face of a dementia patient found face down in a canal. The officer commented that for some strange reason, dementia patients have a strange attraction to water, often drowning.
Roughly sixty percent of dementia patients wander. Experts note that when someone suffering from dementia wanders away, one in four will lose their lives if they are not found within two days. This is why police urge citizens to report a missing person sooner rather than later. […]
What is artificial intelligence? The original definition by Alan Turing is that a program is deemed artificially intelligent if the user conversing by keyboard is convinced that a live human being is responding. But keep in mind that artificially intelligent computer programs have zero comprehension. Although they can do quite well on intelligence tests, answering questions instantaneously, they are incapable of original thought. However, they excel at pattern matching, and the latest AI programs can replicate text from existing text samples. The program does not comprehend the meaning of these text samples, which means it has trouble evaluating their credibility. Thus, the generated output is often what programmers call GIGO: garbage-in, garbage-out. […]
Cicero advises us: “The first and sacred law of friendship: Seek only good from friends, do only good for the sake of friends, and don’t wait to be asked! Be always attentive! Banish hesitation! Be ready to give advice freely! Take seriously the good advice of friends. Be ready to offer it openly, even forcefully, if the occasion demands, and also be ready to follow when it has been offered.”
In contrast, Antisthenes, the first Cynic philosopher who studied under Socrates, advises us: “Pay attention to your enemies, for they are the first to notice your faults.” Often, friends are reluctant to tell us what we need to know, preferring to tell us what they think we want to hear. […]
Caution is a policeman’s main defense against bullets headed their way. Police are rarely in a rush to approach the driver during a traffic stop, nor are they in a rush to knock on the door for a domestic dispute call. If possible, they wait until other policemen arrive. The more backup, the better.
I was surprised to learn how policemen respond to other police pulling them over when they are in other jurisdictions. They politely roll down their windows, put their hands on their steering wheels, and tell them that they too are police officers. They volunteer where they have their guns, which all policemen carry. They don’t put any documentation in the glove box, because they don’t want to reach in to grab it. […]
Copyright 2017
