vivweb01blog

AI development has continued apace since this blog was first published in June, with little sign of a slowdown. Herewith an early autumn update.....   Introduction There has been much discussion, and not a little concern, voiced in the press and on social media recently about Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the dangers it might pose for humanity.. How dangerous is it really, and what if anything can, or indeed should, we do about it ? First, let’s try to pin down what we mean by the term ‘AI’. The OED dictionary definition is: “.. the theory and development of computer systems able to perform tasks normally requiring human intelligence, such as visual perception, speech recognition, decision-making, and translation between languages. ” This rather narrow definition focuses on the use of AI as a tool, to be used to enhance what we as humans already accomplish, rather than considering what a new ‘cohort of intelligent machines’ might do themselves in the future. Apocalyptic

  The short answer to this question is…yes, it already has. First, some background…. World Health Organization (WHO) has been monitoring data from Chinese surveillance systems that have been showing an increase in respiratory illness in children in northern China this autumn. In mid-November, China’s National Health Commission reported a nationwide increase in the incidence of respiratory diseases, predominantly affecting children. They attributed this seasonal increase primarily to the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions and known circulating pathogens such as influenza,  Mycoplasma pneumoniae , respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). Also relevant was the continued prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 in the Chinese population. Both  Mycoplasma pneumonia  and RSV are known to affect children more than adults. To follow up their report, WHO made an official request to China to provide additional epidemiologic and clinical information, as well as laboratory results from the reported cases and data

I last published in April on the whys and wherefores of our ‘broken’ immigration system .  By that stage the government had realised that 'Stopping the Boats' was a make or break problem for them, and was just starting to get focused on more active deterrence measures. The PM is now sporting it as one of his 5 principal objectives. However, since then their increasingly fraught campaign has, perhaps predictably, come up against many obstacles and delays, mainly due to unwelcome human intervention. As the Bard might have put it, “..One barge-load does not a solution bring….”, particularly if the new 'clients' are disembarked within a week of taking up residence because of 'health concerns'.  In the absence of either of our major political parties coming up with any really effective solution, and to avoid becoming even more of a laughing stock for the people smugglers, we should perhaps consider some more off the wall suggestions. One of the more inventive one

  The short answer to this question, I’m afraid, has to be:   Yes. Read on to find out why...... Introduction ‘Vaping’ is the administration of vaporised nicotine solution by inhalation. This form of nicotine intake has been growing in popularity for a number of years since it was first introduced as an aid to smoking cessation. Tobacco smoking was recognised as a major cause of death in the late 20 th century, but due to vested interests in the tobacco industry ( and the associated government revenues from taxation on tobacco products) serious attempts to limit the practice did not emerge until the late 1990s with anti-smoking campaigns and ultimately the banning of smoking in public places in the early 2000s by statute.  Smoking is still widely practised, however, and the use of vaping as a smoking cessation aid remains valuable and necessary from a health perspective. There is little doubt that the well-established harmful effects of smoking far outweigh the risks of vap