Innovation Roundup (( by Hamid Ghanbari, MD ))
A newsletter about innovation, technology and empathy in medicine (5-11-21)
Hi
It has been a busy few weeks. I have been working on a few new projects recently and they are finally live this week! I am hosting a new podcast where we discuss the latest ideas and papers in digital health. It has been a fun experiment so far and I look forward to expanding in new directions as the project matures. Let me know if there are any areas or topics you want me to cover in future episodes.
Hamid
Why digital health trials fail- A conversation with Dr. Christoph Oliveri
Department of Reading
The erosion of deep literacy via David Perrel
The capacity for abstract reasoning, too, is integral to liberal-democratic politics: The concepts of representation; the virtues of doubt, dissent, and humility; and the concept of a depersonalized constitutional order are all very abstract ideas. Is it possible that an emotionally more volatile post-deep-literate society may at a certain tipping point regress to accommodate, and even to prefer, less-refined and -earned forms of governance?
Why people feel like victims- I got introduced to “Tendency Toward Interpersonal Victimhood” through this article. It reminded me of Antigone.
The first pillar is a relentless need for one’s victimhood to be clearly and unequivocally acknowledged by both the offender and the society at large.
The second is “moral elitism,” the conviction that the victim has the moral high ground, an “immaculate morality,” while “the other” is inherently immoral.
The third pillar is a lack of empathy, especially an inability to see life from another perspective, with the result that the victim feels entitled to act selfishly in response. The fourth pillar is Rumination—a tendency to dwell on the details of an assault on self-esteem.
Fourth pillar is rumination: we define rumination as a deep and lengthy emotional engagement in interpersonal offenses, including all kinds of images and emotions. And what’s interesting is that rumination may be related to the expectation of future offense
Alphonse Bertillon and the Troubling Pursuit of Human Metrics
The pursuit of human metrics has a rich and fascinating history, dating back to the ancient Greeks, who viewed proportion itself as a physical projection of the harmony of the universe.
The world, to say truth, is a corrupt spot – a tainted orange, or pear, or whatever shape it is. Public spirit burns with but an intermittent flame in most of us. The love of money, the love of power, and other forms of egoism are notorious seducers of men in all climates and under all constitutions.
Whether the ethics drives the aesthetics or vice versa, once they have fused it is to be expected that some of the recalcitrance of a person’s ethical “intuitions” will be due to the fact that they are also visceral aesthetic responses.
The plurality of aesthetic points of view is a product of the genuine diversity between human beings, and the fact that they are free to judge for themselves what appeals to them. It should occasion respect, not contempt.
Department of Classics
This month we read Beowulf. I am glad that I read it but it has been my least favorite in the series so far. My friend David McDougall summarizes it well here:
We talked about theories of kingship, the tensions between Christianity and paganism in the poem, and the moral and ethical universe of 6th century Scandinavia. We drew comparisons with the warrior ethics of The Iliad, and discussed whether Beowulf's battle ethics made him, in the end, a good king or a flawed one. We concluded that the poem is an elegy not to a king, but to a people.
Next up in our series is Canterbury Tales. I have also been reading Anna Karenina to mix things up a little bit!
Department of Innovation
I have been thinking about how to integrate accelerometer and ECG data to understand activity patterns in patients. They used an activity rhythm for a given day, by using the Lomb–Scargle periodogram in a 3-day of window of step-count data leading up to and including the day of interest. It is an intersting way to summarize activity data and one that I hope to explore in the near future.
Multichannel Electrocardiograms Obtained by a Smartwatch for the Diagnosis of ST-Segment Changes- This is a great example of how innovation can happen after the the device is in the market.
Department of Productivity
The best questions I ask myself-
Am I attempting to mind-read somebody else's intentions in this situation?
How could I give myself what I'm hoping this other person will give me?
Is this thought arising from shame or fear? What is a thought I can have from self-compassion or hope instead?
Can I name three things I need right now?
Can I name three things I could let go of right now?
Can I figure out a way to make this 5% easier on myself?
What answer feels easiest to me?
What if what felt right to me, was right?
Who may be benefiting from how I am thinking or feeling right now?
Is there a way I am benefiting or protecting myself from continuing to believe or act this way?
Where is this situation reflecting some hurt inside of me, and how can I tend to that hurt?
… and many more
How not to get hacked- This is a good reminder for me to pay attention to cyber security
Album of the week
April in Paris- Charlie Parker
Art of the week
The Adoration of the Magi- 1609. by Rubens
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Talk Soon,
Hamid