[ExI] ok geezer, was: RE: Meta question again

[spike]

From: extropy-chat [mailto:extropy-chat-bounces at lists.extropy.org] On Behalf Of William Flynn Wallace
Sent: Saturday, August 27, 2016 9:26 AM
To: ExI chat list <extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org>
Subject: Re: [ExI] ok geezer, was: RE: Meta question again

 

 

re distractibility again

 

>…f they are so distractible then the caregiver can ask the person about some other incident in their past and perhaps evoke another memory that the person has not remembered in a long time, diverting them from repetition..  This saves the caregiver from the frustrating repetition and gives the person perhaps a new old memory to talk about.  Now both are happy… bill w

 

 

Eh, not so much.  If we are talking about a memory care facility, some arrive with no friends and no family.  Some unfortunate patients live out their last few years without a single visitor, not one, for their earthly contacts have already moved on into that dark empty void or are in similar facilities elsewhere.  If you meant the staff at the facility could do these things, BillW that is part of the reason I urge people to go see it if they have never.  The first thing they will notice is most of the patients are silent and alone.  The harried staff are busy changing diapers, bathing still-warm corpses, cleaning up messes, feeding those incapable, such a depressing topic and my apologies for that.  But one thing you will be unlikely to find, even in the high-end establishments, is any staff member talking to or listening to a patient.  I have been in and these facilities, I don’t recall ever seeing that happen.  They do not and cannot: they are not being paid for that, but they are being paid to take steps to make the place live-able for the visiting families of the patients (do ponder that comment please.)

 

I do recognize there are potential downsides: the patients may soon prefer the digital Dr. Stein to their actual relatives, for the relatives give them negative feedback upon repetition, but Jill doesn’t, she’s so sweet and attractive.  For the families, that would be a downer to lose out to a file, and might even provide a convenient excuse to not visit.

 

In any case, this is why I continue vexing my talented software hipster friends: we can do this, and because we can, we must do this.  The suffering we could relieve is beyond any paltry donation we can afford, regardless of its noble intent.  Feeding the hungry and clothing the naked are good deeds, and I commend you for doing them (even the ambiguously good deed of clothing the naked attractive ones (give them Saran-wrap sweaters?)) but this OK Geezer notion wouldn’t even cost very much.  I think and a lot of it can be done with user-supplied content written by volunteers.  If we just had a software platform where we could take the computer’s best guess at what the patient said, then we derive an Eliza-like response or do a hash table lookup and hand back a witty or patient pleasant funny response, and text to speech it, that’s all we need.  I am not a code geek, but that just doesn’t seem this would be all that hard to do.  

 

I have no currently living friends or relatives in memory care, but I have been thinking of a bunch of stuff (I am known to do that) and I would give it all over to Google’s OK Geezer or anyone else who wanted to do this.  I don’t mind a bit if someone gets rich and famous, leaving me poor and pissed; that will easily be compensated by the satisfaction of having that product that I can buy and give to those who need it desperately. 

 

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