Every so often a neglected group comes to our attention, a group that deserves our compassion. Imagine being deaf and incarcerated. How would you communicate? Being disabled in prison is difficult and each disability has its own challenges, I was so touched by the challenges of deaf prisoners in this article. Some are essentially condemned to communication solitary confinement. The TTD system is 50 years old and if the prison has it, the family of the inmate may have switched to a more modern video system, Continue reading “The Deaf in Prisons”
Category: Better Relations
Rendering Aid
An 83 year old man went to the ATM in Essen, Germany, and surveillance cameras show he made three attempts but couldn’t reach it. He would fall. After the third attempt he couldn’t get up and stayed on the floor. The cameras further show that 4 people went by, ignored him and went around him to the ATM. The 5th person finally called for an ambulance. The man died a week later. The courts have just fined 3 of the people who ignored the man. The fourth, said the NYT article, was deemed unfit for trial. The incident may be striking in Germany since they have a strong civic culture, but it could happen Continue reading “Rendering Aid”
Kids and Robots
I was in the car this morning with a seven year-old when a text announced the prospect of a play date. “Give me the phone,” the child asked, and she proceeded to use the Voice feature to answer the text using language she understood but was still beyond her capacity to spell out and write. Children are now growing up with technology, a lot of them with Alexa, Echo and other robotics aides. Researchers at the Personal Robots Group at MIT Media Lab are now looking at the consequences of their growing up relying on digital assistants. There’s of course the privacy issue—that the more one uses them, the more one needs to be connected and the more our privacy is compromised. But leaving aside the privacy issue, can these manifestations of AI help or Continue reading “Kids and Robots”
Sex and Gun Violence
Young people in cities like Baltimore may not like gun violence, but telling them that gun violence may shorten their lives does not seem to reach them. James Evans an advertising executive who was born in Baltimore and who wanted to try to reach these young people, mainly young men, did some research, mainly through focus groups. He found that the old adage of sex sells applied. If you tell a young man that guns could make him impotent, he is more likely to listen. So does the idea of living in a wheelchair, and since most gun victims do survive, the message has a chance to resonate. So Mr. Evans raised some money and Continue reading “Sex and Gun Violence”