2020 BRN Discussion, page-3173

Hey @MADX, regarding a successful financial outcome (a bit more seriously) another use for funds might be to seed a spin-off non-profit organisation headed by Simon Thorpe (sorry you've been nominated or a non-BRN affiliated independent singularity) purely to educate and lobby governments on the best ways to restructure economies/communities in order to accommodate and direct uses for automation. What most interests me (other than changed taxation systems) is uses of AI and robots in healthcare and especially aged/disability care - anything that can help to soften the inevitable downward spiral of loneliness, loss of independence, fear and frailty that we all face to some extent or other is extremely welcome. Both from freeing up families to have more time to spend (unpressured by work commitments) to help but also to enable potentially a robotic companion who can assist physically and emotionally where family members might not want to sacrifice that time at the expense of their own life goals (which can be many years) and enabling people to keep their independence instead of families/aged ending up in a cycle of resentment. Not totally altruistic I know but I've seen my grandmother slip into dementia and go through stuff in hospital no one should have to endure largely because of poor communication and over-worked/poorly trained (and underpaid) staff. In her situation it was a 24/7 job. What my mother (and occasionally her siblings) went through and the guilt and simply the time spent caring for her trying to get her the best outcome... a dignified end to her life... was heartbreaking for all of them. Even if the AI was used to take the pressure off medical and home-care staff (technical/emotional/physical support) and families (some respite). All somewhat in the future but I'm hopeful of people and their families having more options for getting through what is more a hugely challenging and often soul destroying experience. Not that looking after a loved one isn't very rewarding but it isn't easy and at times impossible.

On that subject I could probably use a predictive smart hearing device that automatically blocks out comments about how much better things were in the good old days... some of it may well be true (but certainly not all of it) and I don't need to hear about it all the time! Maybe a VR therapy experience to encourage alternative theories to form..... oh what a slippery slope.

Ok I've purged. Maybe next rant we'll all be doing much better SP wise.... or living in caves.