Tag: afraid

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Health

Why A.I. Ought to Be Afraid of Us

Why A.I. Should Be Afraid of Us

Artificial intelligence is gradually catching up with ours. AI algorithms can now consistently beat us in chess, poker and multiplayer video games, create images of human faces indistinguishable from real ones, write news articles (not this one!) And even write love stories and drive cars better than most teenagers .

But AI isn’t perfect when Woebot is an indicator. Woebot, as Karen Brown wrote in the Science Times this week, is an AI-powered smartphone app that aims to offer low-cost advice and dialogue through the basic techniques of cognitive behavioral therapy. However, many psychologists question whether an AI algorithm can ever express the kind of empathy required for interpersonal therapy to work.

“These apps really cut down on the essential ingredient that much evidence shows that helps in therapy, which is the therapeutic relationship,” said Linda Michaels, a Chicago-based therapist and co-chair of the Psychotherapy Action Network, a professional group, said the Times.

Empathy is of course not a one-way street, and we humans don’t show much more of it for bots than bots for us. Numerous studies have shown that people placed in a situation where they can collaborate with a benevolent AI are less likely to do so than if the bot were a real person.

“Something seems to be missing from reciprocity,” said Ophelia Deroy, philosopher at the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich. “In principle, we would treat a complete stranger better than AI”

In a recent study, Dr. Deroy and her neuroscientific colleagues try to understand why this is so. The researchers paired human subjects with invisible partners, sometimes humans and sometimes AI; Each couple then played a series of classic business games – trust, prisoner’s dilemma, chicken and deer hunting, and a game they developed called reciprocity – designed to measure and reward cooperation.

It is widely believed that our lack of reciprocity towards AI reflects a lack of trust. It is, after all, hyper-rational and callous, certainly only to itself, barely cooperating, so why should we? Dr. Deroy and her colleagues came to a different and perhaps less reassuring conclusion. Their study found that people were less likely to cooperate with a bot, even if the bot is interested in cooperating. It’s not that we don’t trust the bot, but we do: the bot is guaranteed benevolent, a capital S sucker, so we’re taking advantage of it.

This conclusion was confirmed by the subsequent discussions with the study participants. “Not only did they tend not to reciprocate the cooperative intentions of the artificial agents,” said Dr. Deroy, “but if they were basically abusing the bot’s trust, they were not reporting guilt while they were doing it on humans.” She added, “You can just ignore the bot and don’t feel like you’ve broken a mutual obligation.”

This could have an impact on the real world. When we think of AI, we often think of Alexas and Siris of our future world with whom we may have some kind of intimate relationship. But most of our interactions will be one-off, often wordless, encounters. Imagine you are driving on the motorway and a car tries to pull in in front of you. If you notice the car is driverless, you are much less likely to get in. And if the AI ​​doesn’t take your bad behavior into account, an accident could ensue.

“What supports cooperation in society on any scale is the establishment of certain standards,” said Dr. Deroy. “The social function of guilt is precisely to get people to follow social norms that lead them to compromise, to work with others. And we didn’t evolve to have social or moral norms for non-sentient creatures and bots. “

That is, of course, half the premise of “Westworld”. (To my surprise, Dr. Deroy had never heard of the HBO series.) But a guilt-free landscape could have ramifications, she noted, “We’re creatures of habit. So what guarantees that the behavior that is repetitive and where you show less courtesy, less moral obligation, less cooperation does not color and pollute the rest of your behavior when you interact with another person? “

There are similar consequences for AI. “When people treat them badly, they are programmed to learn from what they experience,” she said. “An AI that has been put on the street and programmed to be benevolent should start not being so friendly to people, otherwise it will get stuck in traffic forever.” (That is basically the other half of the premise of ” Westworld “.)

There we have it: The real Turing test is Road Rage. When a self-driving car starts honking wildly from behind because you cut it off, you know that humanity has reached the peak of achievement. By then, hopefully AI therapy will be mature enough to help driverless cars solve their anger management problems.

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Health

The right way to Get Vaccinated If You are Afraid of Needles

How to Get Vaccinated If You're Afraid of Needles

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“It would be heartbreaking for me if the fear of needles stopped someone from getting this vaccine because there are things we can do to help ease it,” said Dr. Nipunie S. Rajapakse, an infectious disease expert at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota.

A University of Michigan study found that 16 percent of adults from multiple countries avoided annual flu shots and 20 percent avoided tetanus shots for fear of needles.

Mary Rogers, a retired professor at the University of Michigan and one of the study’s authors, said it was too early to know if a similar number of people would be without the Covid-19 vaccine. However, that fear tends to subside as people get older – which is worrying given that the number of coronavirus cases have been caused by young people who are more likely to develop a phobia.

Experts say that whether fear is keeping you from getting the vaccine or just distressing you is a problem that can be overcome. Here are the steps they suggest.

A therapist can help people with the most severe fears by using some of the techniques that will help people overcome other fears that can affect their lives.

“When we are really concerned about a fear, it goes to the point where it bothers the person receiving adequate medical care or causes the person to get the flu shot or the vaccine. But they’re sick for a month and thinking about getting it, ”said Dianne Chambless, a retired professor of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania.

For other phobias, professionals often recommend slowly exposing yourself to fear, like someone who is afraid of heights and gradually spends more time on a balcony. However, this is more difficult with needles as shots are rare and easy to avoid.

Dr. Chambless suggested working on your comfort by looking at photos of needles and syringes first, then photos of someone taking a picture, and editing videos. But a therapist can offer a more comprehensive plan.

If you can’t see a therapist, self-help books on overcoming phobias might be a faster option, she said.

There may be techniques they can use or products available to help relieve the pain or be more patient, said Dr. Rajapakse.

Updated

March 20, 2021, 8:52 p.m. ET

If it would be helpful to have someone with you to assist, some vaccination centers might allow it, but you would need to ask beforehand.

Some people’s fears can be so severe that they may faint. If so, the nurse may be able to deliver the shot lying down or otherwise help reduce the risk, said Dr. Rajapakse.

If fainting is a risk and you feel light-headed, Dr. Chambless involves tensing the muscles of your body to push blood pressure to the head.

It will all be over in seconds, and a distraction can help you get through.

It could be a YouTube video on your phone or it could be your favorite song. You can practice deep breathing or meditative techniques or wiggle your toes or look around and count all the blue objects you can see in the room.

Many people choose not to look directly at the needle. You don’t have to see it.

“Take your attention away from what’s going on,” said Dr. Rajapakse.

For some people, the nervous anticipation of the shot is almost as bad as the pinch itself.

In the case of the Covid-19 vaccine, however, there is much to be expected if the vaccine manages to allow a return to normal. Dr. Rajapakse said when she got her first dose, “I personally felt more optimistic and excited than nervous.”

“With that in mind, you may find this a little less nervous,” she said.

The media can do its part by showing fewer pictures of people feeling uncomfortable while a needle penetrates their skin, which can worsen feelings of anxiety, said Dr. Rajapakse.

A good countermeasure is all of the positive photos popping up on social media of people holding their vaccination cards, she said. (Just be careful with how much information you share.) The more selfies, stickers, and grateful posts people see, the more likely they are to associate the vaccine with positive feelings, she said.

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World News

Chirlane McCray, N.Y.C.’s first woman, will get a vaccine shot and says ‘there actually is nothing to be afraid of.’

Chirlane McCray, N.Y.C.’s first lady, gets a vaccine shot and says ‘there really is nothing to be afraid of.’

New York first lady Chirlane McCray was given a Covid-19 vaccine at Kings County Hospital in Brooklyn Tuesday afternoon as New York health officials attempt to eradicate severe racial inequality in the introduction of the vaccine.

Ms. McCray, who is 66 years old, meets the state’s current age requirements that allow New Yorkers over 65 to receive the vaccine. Her husband, Mayor Bill de Blasio, who is 59 years old, does not.

So far, residents of Black and Latino have received far fewer doses of vaccine than residents of White, although color communities are hardest hit by the virus. The city’s demographics are incomplete, but the latest data available shows that of the nearly 375,000 city residents who received a vaccine dose and whose race was recorded, about 46 percent were white, 16 percent Latin American, 16 percent Asian, and 12 percent black.

Latino and Black residents were particularly underrepresented: the city’s population is 29 percent Latinos and 24 percent black.

The city health department has been working to encourage New Yorkers Black and Latino to get vaccinated in hopes of addressing vaccine hesitation, given the history of unethical medical research in the US. But Mr de Blasio said last week that he and his wife, who is black, would not receive the vaccine until they met state approval criteria, citing a desire to reassure New Yorkers that the process was fair and equitable .

“People need to see that people they know, trust and respect are getting the vaccine,” de Blasio said at a press conference. “You also need to know that priorities are respected and those who need them most get them first.”

After Ms. McCray received her shot, the Eligible New Yorker encouraged her to sign up for vaccine appointments – although access to those appointments, which are listed on dozen of different websites, was one of the barriers to the fair distribution of the vaccine.

“There’s really nothing to worry about,” Ms. McCray said of the vaccination. “We want to do this for our families, we want to do it for our loved ones, and of course we want to do it for our city.”

As of Tuesday, New York City had given more than a million doses of the vaccine. Mr de Blasio had hoped to give so many doses in January alone, but blamed a lack of supply for the slower pace.