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31 Dec 21, 9 tweets, 5 min read
I want to share some essays I wrote & talks I gave in 2021 🧵 1/
Machine Learning + Medicine:
- Data can be biased, missing, incorrect
- Expertise of patients overlooked
- Med system is already disempowering & often traumatic for patients
- Machine learning systems can centralize power

Jan 2021 @BostonReview 2/
bostonreview.net/articles/rache…
In topics ranging from #LongCOVID to HIV research to the long history of wrongly assuming women’s illnesses are psychosomatic, we have seen again & again that medicine, like all science, is political. 3/

fast.ai/2021/10/12/med…
11 Short Videos About AI Ethics 4/

fast.ai/2021/08/16/ele… Screenshot of Youtube Playlist. Titles: What are ethics and
Fairness, Explainability, and Diverse Datasets Are Not Enough

My talk at @QUTDataScience Responsible Data Science Symposium 5/ Screenshot of video. On left it reads: "How the EU's F
"Deep Learning is Overhyped" is Overhyped, together with @jeremyphoward 6/

@QUTCDE Slide reading "Deep learning is overhyped" is over
You CAN and SHOULD get involved with AI, keynote at Brisbane @women_in_ai launch @QLD_AI_Hub 7/

Things can go disastrously wrong in data science projects wrong when we:
- undervalue data work
- ignore the context of data
- neglect the role of humans
- don't listen to the people most impacted 8/

fast.ai/2021/11/04/dat…
Data for good, responsibly:
- be specific about goals & impact on different stakeholders
- center problem, not a flashy solution
- take privacy seriously
- include people most impacted & recognize different values
- avoid answering the “wrong problem” 9/

fast.ai/2021/11/23/dat…

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More from @math_rachel

Rachel Thomas Profile picture
1 Jan
“Covid zero is impossible with omicron, so what’s the point in even trying to reduce/slow transmission?”

My answer: 🧵 1/
False binaries are harmful, and don’t lead to good reasoning 2/

Not everyone is going to get omicron. And the difference between 80% vs 60% (both still very big) of a population catching it would be a huge difference in absolute numbers of people that wind up permanently disabled. 3/
Read 14 tweets
Rachel Thomas Profile picture
30 Dec 21
My state has pivoted to herd immunity (saying widespread covid is not just inevitable but “necessary”) BEFORE they have even STARTED vaccinating 5-11 year olds. I will be taking my child out of in-person school. #auspol 🇦🇺 1/
Research shows covid can cause changes to the brain, blood vessels, & kidneys in CHILDREN. (Much more research has been done on adults showing covid impacts: brain, heart, pancreas, central nervous system, vascular system, ovaries, & more) 2/

Long covid sounds like hell, and children can get it too. #LongCovidKids 3/

Read 8 tweets
Rachel Thomas Profile picture
22 Dec 21
If there was a vaccine for cholera, would you be willing to drink sewage-contaminated water?

"We are constantly breathing in one another’s lung secretions." @sarahzhang 1/

For decades, governments have passed legislation & invested heavily in food safety, sanitation, & drinking water for public health. By contrast, airborne pathogens & respiratory infections are addressed weakly, if at all. 2/

science.org/doi/full/10.11… A paradigm shift to combat ...
Ireland has > 2.5 million buildings, yet half of the people who died from Covid there were infected in fewer than 400 buildings 3/

Read 10 tweets
Rachel Thomas Profile picture
19 Dec 21
Read 4 tweets
Rachel Thomas Profile picture
19 Dec 21
Focusing on vaccines ALONE:
- Does not work (many countries tried & failed)
- Hospitals can still collapse
- Sig # of vaxxed get LongCOVID
- Rooted in neoliberalism: individual responsibility as soln to collective problems
We need: vaccines + N95s + ventilation + air filters 1/
Vaccines alone are not enough. We saw this with Delta in UK, Israel, Denmark, & others that reopened w/out masks. Denmark had >90% vax rate for over 12s and here’s what happened with Delta. (for vax: 2x against delta may be like 3x against omicron) 2/
If you are 3x vaxxed, you should still care:
- Breakthroughs not rare
- Significant # of breakthroughs get LongCovid
- You may need functioning hospital system
- Many are ineligible for vax (kids) or can’t mount antibody response (eg cancer patients) 3/

Read 21 tweets
Rachel Thomas Profile picture
18 Dec 21
Many leaders say people are fed up w/ restrictions, so we can’t try to do anything about Omicron:
- Premise questionable, as several polls show majority want mask mandates
- There is a TON government could do (but isn’t) that does NOT involve individual restrictions 1/
Things govt could do that are NOT individual restrictions:
Mail everyone free KF94s & rapid tests
Fund ventilation upgrades & air filters
Set indoor air quality standards
Paid support to isolate when sick
Public education: #LongCovid is hell
Public education: #COVIDisAirborne 2/
More things govt could do that are NOT individual restrictions:
Public education: KF94/N95 >>> cloth/surgical mask
CO2 monitors for all indoor spaces, results displayed clearly for all occupants to see
Replace all the "fight covid w/ hand-washing signs" 3/
Read 6 tweets

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