Political Discussion

@nolalady How about when used in healthcare? Should AI exist in this space. My thoughts are yes, as I don't see this use judging people by systemic biases, but I do see insurance rates being increased should you be determined to be high risk.

In the video below, AI was able to catch an area in a mammogram that 4 years before it developed into breast cancer.

 
RenegadeMonster said:
@nolalady How about when used in healthcare? Should AI exist in this space. My thoughts are yes, as I don't see this use judging people by systemic biases, but I do see insurance rates being increased should you be determined to be high risk.

In the video below, AI was able to catch an area in a mammogram that 4 years before it developed into breast cancer.

Click to expand...

The problem with AI in health care is that it operates on some of the same logic flaws and biases. While I think the potential is there for certain targeted use, I think that it will be used mainly as a risk assessment rating and that’s going to be very biased.
 
So what's the deal with this so called "Cop City" in Atlanta that they want to build.

I have only heard bits and pieces. But from what I gather they want to build a police training complex, which opponents say will further militarize the police. The public has had little to no input on this project and oppose it.

Protesters have been camping out in the woods for weeks / months to prevent the site from being developed. I guess there was a clash with protesters, who resisted arrest when the police tried to clear them out last weekend and things got violent. The protesters who have been arrested have been charged with "domestic terrorism".

Domestic terrorism? Really? That seems like a wild overreach with charges to me.
 
RenegadeMonster said:
So what's the deal with this so called "Cop City" in Atlanta that they want to build.

I have only heard bits and pieces. But from what I gather they want to build a police training complex, which opponents say will further militarize the police. The public has had little to no input on this project and oppose it.

Protesters have been camping out in the woods for weeks / months to prevent the site from being developed. I guess there was a clash with protesters, who resisted arrest when the police tried to clear them out last weekend and things got violent. The protesters who have been arrested have been charged with "domestic terrorism".

Domestic terrorism? Really? That seems like a wild overreach with charges to me.
Click to expand...
They want to spend 90 million dollars to tear down part of a forest in an Urban area outside Atlanta to build an Urban warfare training simulation city to further militarize our police. This is partially being funded by Delta, Waffle House, the Home Depot, Georgia Pacific, Equifax, Carter, Accenture, Wells Fargo and UPS, among others. So corporately funded militarized police.

There had been protesters camping out there for a while, then the cops moved in one day, and shot one. They spun it like the protester shot at them and they returned fire with an officer even taking a bullet. Then body camera footage shows this was false and the and the only bullets that hit an officer were actually fired by another officer.

Fast forward to this past weekend when the protectors held a sit-in concert festival type thing. Very peaceful, there was even a bouncy house. People were chillin' camped out in tents, then a group of mostly white males all dressed in black and fully masked up (all the other protesters were just in plain clothes, no masks) walked through, claimed they were "Antifa" started throwing fireworks at the police that had surrounded the area, police did nothing but stay back, the masked men set construction equipment on fire, no one stopped them police stayed back, then the masked men all left... And then police moved in and began arresting the peaceful protesters.

I've seen the videos and heard the first hand accounts from people there. My friends drummers son was one of the protesters arrested a month or so ago the first time they did this and they're trying to label him a domestic terrorist. I believe him when he says he did nothing to warrant that treatment.

Fuck the police.
 
That whole masked men "Antifa" thing is just strange. Likely people from the right invading the protest to make it violent and give the protesters a bad look. But damn, the police did nothing to them, and let them just walk? Makes you wonder if the police were somehow in on it or knew what was going on.
 
RenegadeMonster said:
That whole masked men "Antifa" thing is just strange. Likely people from the right invading the protest to make it violent and give the protesters a bad look. But damn, the police did nothing to them, and let them just walk? Makes you wonder if the police were somehow in on it or knew what was going on.
Click to expand...
Not really wondering as much as assuming at this point.
 
RenegadeMonster said:
That whole masked men "Antifa" thing is just strange. Likely people from the right invading the protest to make it violent and give the protesters a bad look. But damn, the police did nothing to them, and let them just walk? Makes you wonder if the police were somehow in on it or knew what was going on.
Click to expand...

Almost definitely the police themselves. They've been busted doing the Agent Provocateur thing in Canada more than a few times.

All Cops Are Bastards
 
RenegadeMonster said:
@nolalady How about when used in healthcare? Should AI exist in this space. My thoughts are yes, as I don't see this use judging people by systemic biases, but I do see insurance rates being increased should you be determined to be high risk.

In the video below, AI was able to catch an area in a mammogram that 4 years before it developed into breast cancer.

Click to expand...


nolalady said:
The problem with AI in health care is that it operates on some of the same logic flaws and biases. While I think the potential is there for certain targeted use, I think that it will be used mainly as a risk assessment rating and that’s going to be very biased.
Click to expand...
I think there are different uses in ai. Pattern recognition ai used in mammogramms, cts, xray scans is probably a great tool to help identify illnesses with a manageable risk of bias.
If you do it for insurance quotes or employment or school choice there are many examples showing that these things basically mirror or increase human bias against races, sexes, age etc. Because the data sets they are learning from a from guman evaluaters, recruiters etc ( which will be biased) . Problem is machine learning from that biased data sets and reproduce that biases. But oftentimes it will be argued by companies that there cannot be biases because the algorithm decided and can't be biased
 
Interesting. Learned something new from being included at kickoffs of project verses only being involved in the tail end production work.

When it comes to launching a new prescription drug, while the drug may be FDA approved and now available it likely isn't covered by insurance yet and available to the masses until the following year. When doctors prescribe a prescription it needs to be coded against insurance companies code for said prescription. And in the case of a new drug, new codes aren't available until January.

So say if a Drug launches in April, most people's insurance are incapable of covering it January the following year. If you need that drug, you're paying out of pocket. Meany that it's likely only available to the wealthy initially. And those that depend on insurance very well have to wait for access because the insurance code does not exist yet and is hot built into the current years plan.

If I were to take a guess, the United States is probably the only country that has that issue due to our complicated for profit systems.

Some insurance plans may have a way to handle drugs that do not have a code, but most people's do not and have to wait. The focus of advertising and uptake of patients is not until January.

This sounds like something that is common sense to fix and uncomplicated. Why should people who can't afford to buy the drug without insurance be forced to wait. Especially if it's something they need now and the longer they wait the worse their condition gets. Just mind boggling how much things are tied to insurance
 
RenegadeMonster said:
Interesting. Learned something new from being included at kickoffs of project verses only being involved in the tail end production work.

When it comes to launching a new prescription drug, while the drug may be FDA approved and now available it likely isn't covered by insurance yet and available to the masses until the following year. When doctors prescribe a prescription it needs to be coded against insurance companies code for said prescription. And in the case of a new drug, new codes aren't available until January.

So say if a Drug launches in April, most people's insurance are incapable of covering it January the following year. If you need that drug, you're paying out of pocket. Meany that it's likely only available to the wealthy initially. And those that depend on insurance very well have to wait for access because the insurance code does not exist yet and is hot built into the current years plan.

If I were to take a guess, the United States is probably the only country that has that issue due to our complicated for profit systems.

Some insurance plans may have a way to handle drugs that do not have a code, but most people's do not and have to wait. The focus of advertising and uptake of patients is not until January.

This sounds like something that is common sense to fix and uncomplicated. Why should people who can't afford to buy the drug without insurance be forced to wait. Especially if it's something they need now and the longer they wait the worse their condition gets. Just mind boggling how much things are tied to insurance
Click to expand...
Many drugs will have structured discount programs to help offset this.
 
RenegadeMonster said:
When doctors prescribe a prescription it needs to be coded against insurance companies code for said prescription. And in the case of a new drug, new codes aren't available until January.
Click to expand...
Is there a specific reason it only occurs annually? Seems like with today’s tech centric world there should be at least a quarterly cadence to update these systems.
 
A lot of banks are hurting right now and it was a rough day on Wall Street for the top banks.

The report I heard was banks bought a lot of bonds and treasuries when interest rates were near zero. Now that interest rates are high again, they are sitting on a large inventory of bonds and treasuries that they can't sell/move.

And the ramifications could be bankruptcies. Meaning we could be in for a "too big to fail" scenario again or a real world of financial hurt.

The stock selloffs for banks is because the stock ratings show an increase in bankruptcy probability. Goldman Sachs for example, currently has a probability of bankruptcy of 49%. So pretty much 50/50 odds.

Inflation is currently heating up again, rather than cooling off so the Feds are considering more aggressive rate hikes this year if inflation continues to heat up.
 
RenegadeMonster said:
The one we are working on does not. It's only going to have a co-pay discount program, that doesn't start until January.
Click to expand...
That still counts. Pharma isn’t only concerned with sales; they also want market share. Your drug either needs to be first in class or best in class to have a significant presence, and on top of that you still need to corner the market. They want uptake from the average consumer to get them locked in their product before a competitor comes along and tries to demonstrate superiority.

Edit: I should mention this kind of aggressive discount launch is probably more true for “lifestyle” drugs. For lifesaving therapies there’s less of a need to convince people they need it, for all the obvious reasons.
 
Last edited:
nolalady said:
So glad this is happening. I wonder what the outcome will be:

www.nytimes.com

Five Women Sue Texas Over the State’s Abortion Ban

The women, backed by an abortion-rights group, say they were denied abortions under state law despite risks to themselves and their fetuses that made the procedure a medical necessity.
www.nytimes.com www.nytimes.com
Click to expand...
The outcome will be that extremists harass and threaten them and viciously disregard their suffering for decades to come.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top