Covid-19

last modified on Wed, 22 Mar 2023

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May 2, 2020	»	Health Ethics 3 min; updated Mar 22, 2023 Harden, a liberal behavior geneticist, is publishing a book, “The Genetic Lottery: Why DNA Matters for Social Equality”. Watch this space as it casts doubt on prevailing social justice thesis that environmental factors, and not genetics, influence behavior or social outcomes. Check back in Sept 2022 (one year from now). Faster Human Trials In 1986, AZT (AIDS treatment) showed 1/145 deaths compared to the placebo’s 16/137. 6,000 AIDS patients were offered AZT, helping it get to the public much faster. ...
Sep 18, 2018	»	On DNA Testing 3 min; updated Sep 5, 2022 The human genome has sequences of nucleotide base pairs that are repeated over and over again. At each locus of interest, a person has two sets of repeats inherited from each parent. Each possible difference at a locus is an allele. The combinations of the possible differences at multiple loci form a DNA profile that can be used to tie suspects to a crime scene. The Accuracy of DNA Testing is Wanting 74/108 crime labs erroneously incriminated a suspect during a mock study. The reported match statistic for whether the match was coincidental varied over 100 trillion-fold. ...
May 6, 2020	»	COVID-19 3 min; updated Sep 5, 2022 Contact Tracing “Apps” in this context means contact tracing apps released by public health authorities to do contact tracing. The APIs are limited to them. Big Picture Release APIs to enable apps to interoperate between Android and iOS devices. Bluetooth-based contact tracing baked into Android and iOS, such that no app is needed for broadcasting/listening. This ensures broad adoption, but will be on an opt-in basis. Interesting debate for privacy, ethics and public health. Public health officials have a duty to warn, but patients risk stigma. ...
Nov 21, 2020	»	Experiments/Theories in Socioeconomics 2 min; updated Sep 5, 2022 Programmable Money South Korea’s COVID-19 stimulus payments were programmed to expire in Aug 2020, and could only be spent at qualifying shops. Australia’s cashless welfare card [currently in pilot stages] cannot be withdrawn as cash, nor used at alcohol, tobacco and gambling joints. Monzo, a UK-based digital-first mobile baking app, supports IFTTT recipes. This enables budgeting logic, “If I spend at KFC, then move $5 to my penalty pot”. The Self-Esteem Craze in America In the 80s and 90s, there was research that low self-esteem was related to undesirable results, but there wasn’t any conclusive work that high esteem causes good outcomes. The self-esteem craze was defined by a simple inspiring message, a lot of half-baked research, prevalent confirmation bias, cottage-industry (books, videos, seminars). Self-esteem grew into a panacea for academic performance, crime, teen pregnancy until more rigorous research arrived. Similar overhyped[?] panaceas: power posing, growth mindset, grit. ...