Posted on 09/20/2017 12:58:24 PM PDT by mairdie
Could chatbots lend a non-judgemental ear to people making decisions about the end of their life? A virtual agent that helps people have conversations about their funeral plans, wills and spiritual matters is set to be trialled in Boston over the next two years with people who are terminally ill.
People near the end of their lives sometimes dont get the chance to have these important conversations before its too late, says Timothy Bickmore at Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts. So Bickmore and his team which included doctors and hospital chaplains built a tablet-based chatbot to offer spiritual and emotional guidance to people that need it. We see a need for technology to intervene at an earlier point, he says.
And it has already seen some success. Bickmores team initially tested the chatbot with 44 people aged 55 and over in Boston. Just under half those adults had some kind of chronic illness, and nearly all had spent time with someone who was dying. After spending time talking to the chatbot, most of the participants reported that they felt less anxious about death and were more ready to complete their last will and testament.
(Excerpt) Read more at newscientist.com ...
Perhaps...but at that moment in time, He did not yet know Sol’s secret.
And...some of the tears were over the incredible beauty of the earth that he and Sol had never seen before.
I DO recommend the whole movie, but be warned, it is DARK.
You’re talking to someone who watches Ice Age and movies where the good guys always win. But I’ll try.
Oh dear...if you like happy endings, you probably should skip “Soylent Green”.
Seriously! :-)
When I was writing screenplays, I wrote romantic comedies. The first one was read by 17 agents and I had 7 offers of representation. One of the agents wanted to take my play and turn it dark because he knew Fox was looking for a vampire show and he was sure he could make mine work. I went with another agent because I couldn’t bear to darken the vision in my head. John Grisham’s NYC book agent, who subcontracted me out to Writers&Artists in Hollywood. 2 year contract but it didn’t sell and I always wondered if I should have let the other gentleman darken it.
I understand how hard it is keeping one’s Vision intact when dealing with the “Industry”. I am a Singer-Songwriter, and, while it is a delight to have someone else record my songs, I would hate to see them mauled beyond recognition.
But, when someone buys the license to record the song, or the rights to a book to make a movie, they can do whatever they want with it, unless contractually obligated not to change it.
“God Bless America” by Irving Berlin actually had such an ironclad agreement that the arrangement could not be tampered with. But that is very unusual!
It must take immense strength to create that vision and let it go so completely. I was awfully naive back then and don’t think I was strong enough for what I was trying to do. But it was so glorious to create an entire world. I still remember slowing down my writing on the last page because I knew that when I typed the last word, I’d never enter it the same way again.
What joy you must have to be able to hear music. I sang in choirs, but never really learned to read music or play an instrument. When I found myself with a 200 page music manuscript from about 1800, the only thing I could do was lay in every single note separately in the Mozart program and hold my breath until the whole piece was in and I could hit play to hear the midi. Wiped out after putting in maybe half the book.
The idea that you can HEAR music awes me.
Is there another way I can listen to these?
My computer doesn’t seem to want to play them in that format. Are they on You Tube by any chance?
It was really hard for me to read music at first, because I played, wrote, and arranged totally by ear. My ears and hands worked faster than my eyes, so i didn’t feel the need. Then I ran into some studio situations where I was embarrassed because I couldn’t read notation. So I taught myself, and now am able to teach others, because I learned “the Hard Way”.
I experienced similar pangs when arranging a multi-track recording. Because of digital capabilities, it is possible to keep adding things to the arrangement and not knowing when to stop! let’s see...a little horn section here, some back-up vocals there...how about a thousand strolling strings, or some ethereal angelic “ooos and ahhhhs?”
And then there’s that rack of digital and analog effects processors...yummm.
Now...after all that, I get more pleasure just playing my acoustic guitar and singing alone in front of a small audience.
Surprisingly, it seems more satisfying for some reason.
Yikes...Google wants to to SIGN IN before I can go to your You Tube. I have never joined Google, so this must be a private You Tube site?
I never had this issue when clicking on some of your other threads to You Tube videos that you have put up.
I guess I am not having a good night.
Machines are NOT neutral. They have the biases of their programmers, and in the case of AI, the biases are built in based on both the data sets selected and the “training” they receive.
No “euthanasia” chat bot is neutral - it is programmed to affirm the decision. Just as a pro-life chatbot will say here’s where you can get help to keep the baby.
Soylent Green
I appreciate your trying to show me your work. It’s too bad that things aren’t working as they should.
(I have a very old MAC and sometimes run into problems like this...my dear husband(RIP) used to fix everything “computer” for me, and I worked on the recording studio. Audio is so different from computers, even though they are both digital and both electronic)
EUREKA! I got it to work!
(((Had to install a new version of quick time)))
Now I am getting to listen...thanks! I used to make MIDI files and store them on 3” floppies, which I could pop into my keyboard at a gig. The midi file would operate the sampled sounds in my keyboard and sound like a 16 piece band.
It’s been AGES since I did that.
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Go to the wav directory and you should see some files appearing now. I’ve transferred the wav files of the original score and husband is transferring the wav files of the music manuscript. That’s the file labeled zip that he’ll unzip in a few minutes.
These aren’t my works. I’m just transcribing what Henry copied into his music manuscript book back from 1775 or so when he first joined the Revolutionary Army. Then he kept adding to it over the years. I’m absolutely fascinated by being able to hear the music of that period that was passed around, person to person.
Try playing one of the files you can see and let me know if you hear it.
Yes...I was able to listen to the MIDI, once I reinstalled Quick time. You don’t need to convert them to WAV files after all.
I feel like such a doofus!
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