End-of-life chatbot can help you with difficult final decisions

New Scientist ^ | 18 September 2017 | Matt Reynolds

[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 don’t get the chance to have these important conversations before it’s 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. Bickmore’s 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.

[left that other site]

Wow...”Yankee Doodle” really WAS different!

[mairdie]

It’s a place with which I’m much familiar. I had all the wav files. I just hadn’t uploaded them because of their size. Also, the midi files were only accessible by finding their link. The wav directory I’ve made for you lets you click on any song with an interesting title and listen.

I’d be surprised if some of them aren’t intriguing. And do remember that they’re all out of copyright.

Sharing is what I do.

They’re up now. Massive numbers of Revolutionary era songs.

[left that other site]

I got into Civil War Era Music for a while, and was so much into Gilbert & Sullivan that I recorded 4 of their entire operas, making MIDI backing tracks, and then singing ALL the parts! LOL.

The last 15-20 minutes prior to curtain in ACT 1 is traditionally a huge ensemble piece, with all the characters conversing in song at the same time and both female and male choruses going as well.

the four operas that I produced completely on CD using only my own voice and MIDI are:

The Pirates of Penzance
The Mikado
Iolanthe
Patience

I did it mostly for my own enjoyment, but there are some cds floating around somewhere.

Now, even cds are obsolete.

BUT...(Huzzah!) Vinyl is coming back! ;-)

[mairdie]

When I wrote my e-book on Henry I really wanted to include some wav files but the sizes stopped me. I used to play the CDs of these songs over and over again in the car. Henry, by the way, was the one who actually wrote Night Before Christmas. That's the research area in which I've worked since 1999.

People Magazine

[mairdie]

I’d love to hear some. I sang in The Mikado in high school and Princess Ida in college.

SO WONDERFUL to meet another obsessive!!

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Is that you? Here’s one of my cd’s but only excerpts are available on this site.

https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/marylou/from/payplay

I don’t know if you can get these ones to play...

https://myspace.com/maryloukirshon/music/songs

[left that other site]

There is nothing on line from the G & S...only my original stuff (Rock)

[mairdie]

Yes, that's me. Didn't expect the article to be using a picture that big, but when I compared notes with Don later, his interview was half an hour and mine was 4 hours.

Someone actually wrote an opera about the quest to prove Henry's authorship and sent me a copy so I could vet my dialog for him! Incredibly strange to be a character in an opera.

I will buy your CD as soon as I get my husband to figure out how to. He does all the financial computer stuffies. Blessed be husbands. Extremely exciting.

Can you see the YouTube videos yet? If so, try

Melania Trump Fashions

or

Wild Animals and the People Who Love Them

I met Joseph Blanchard when he was playing for patients in a hospital lobby. He composes on the fly and sometimes loses what he writes while he's composing. I suggested he never sit at a piano without turning on a recorder.

[mairdie]

>>nothing on line from the G & S

Very sad!

>>only my original stuff (Rock)

Wonderful! Love rock!

[left that other site]

Your You Tubes are GREAT...I really enjoyed Melania. She is SO lovely.

[mairdie]

Thank you. I love making them. She impresses me a great deal.