Matthew's Blog
Microsoft, Nuance, and Emotional Analysis via AI and Voice Data
Microsoft recently purchased the speech recognition software company Nuance (Microsoft completes acquisition of Nuance, ushering in a new era of outcomes-based AI) for 16 billion dollars. At first glance, this looks like a good thing for both healthcare and...
EHRs and Data Harvesting
I am not necessarily opposed to a healthcare institution acquiring high volumes of data from my electronic health record (EHR), even without my explicit consent. Data harvesting often results in public health benefits and sometimes results in patient population...
Stress, Creativity, And Neural Networks
For me, stress is the enemy of creativity. For example, in preparation for my tax visit in two weeks, I discovered a significant error on my bank’s tax form (it didn't list several significant tax transactions). I believed this was going to be a hassle to correct, and...
Evolving
About two years ago, my 4-month old kitten Roo used to play “fetch.” I threw my wife’s ponytail hairband down the hallway, and Roo would run after it, put it in his mouth, and bring it back to me. We played this game dozens and dozens of times. But after about a month...
Creativity and Kant’s Togetherness Principle
Here is Kant’s “Togetherness Principle”: Thoughts without content are empty, intuitions without concepts are blind.Kant Although this is usually considered part of Kant’s theory of cognitive dualism about sensibility and understanding, I think it also has something to...
A Self-Check System for Running (and Writing?)
When I used to run marathons and half-marathons, I performed 4-5 periodic self-checks during the race. I would start from my toes and feet, making sure the shoes felt right, I didn't have any injuries in my feet, and I wasn’t developing blisters. I would then work my...
The Early Morning Ikigai Clue
Here's a clue to discovering your ikigai. When you wake up at 5 a.m. on a cold winter morning, and then you leap out of bed, start your cup of coffee, and deep-read a book with a pencil in hand, I can guarantee the subject of that book has something to do with your...
Experiment—But Be True To Your Own Nature
Curious cats and jigsaw puzzles are never a good fit. To live a creative life, I do think it’s important to stretch myself and to try different things. But (and like I should have with my cat during my recent jigsaw puzzling-time!) it’s equally important to respect my...
Geopolitical Distractions
It's important as an informed citizen to be aware of our country's foreign policy decisions, and that does require an awareness of the military actions of our allies, our adversaries, and ourselves. But this does not mean being glued to “War TV” every waking minute of...