I’ve just uploaded the third and final edition of this. Maybe I should have let some form of AI edit it but I have a feeling that it wouldn’t have gone well. 😎 I may write a more forward looking book next, a how to.
Merry Christmas
Human rights – diversity – neurodiversity – equality – inclusivity – discrimination – otherisation – speciesism – planet – consumerism – bioethics sensu lato
Truths
AI
I’ve previously talked about ChatGPT referring to non-existing articles in The Guardian and accusing a professor in Canada of sexual harassment during a group trip that never even took place.
A few days ago, Microsoft offered to use AI to translate the Dutch word “bonestaak” for me. It’s suggestion was “bone stake”. Instead of “bean stalk”.
Let the dumbing down begin. I’m not worried about people’s employment yet.
CRISPR treatments for sickle cell disease
The FDA approved both of them today.
See also my previous update.
This involves four companies, Vertex, Bluebird Bio, CRISPR Therapeutics and Editas. There’s a lot more in the works.
This ain’t easy peasy, cat’s in the bag stuff.
Not by a long shot.
The cutting edge never is but that’s where stuff happens.
Continue reading
CRISPR updates
Antonio Regolado in MIT Technology Review:
https://www.technologyreview.com/2023/12/07/1084629/lucky-break-crispr-vertex/
The UK has already approved one of them. The matching FDA decision is coming up this Friday. There will be another one by 20 December. Both treatments are for sickle cell disease but they can come at the expense of the person’s fertility and certainly the first one requires a long period of hospitalization.
CRISPR is what sparked this book:
The truth about the cost of living crisis
Read it. Then decide if you really want to keep voting for the politicians that want as much money as possible to flow from your pockets into those of their pals.
This phenomenon is not exclusive to the UK.
Appropriate taser use
Charles is growing into his new role
In all sorts of ways. Including the Greek-flag tie.
ERC Annual Conference 2023: Research on Diversity & Diversity in Frontier Research
The conference will showcase ERC-funded frontier research projects that both study diversity in society and that exemplify the importance of taking diversity into account in research design.
Programme
8.30 – 9.00 | Registration
9.00 – 9.15 | Opening address by European Commissioner for Equality, Helena Dalli
9.15 – 9.25 | Introduction by Maria Leptin, ERC President
9.25 – 10.20 | Keynote: The Female Turn: How Evolutionary Science Shifted Perceptions About Females
- Malin Ah-King, Stockholm University, SE
10.20 – 10.40 | Coffee break
10.40 – 12.10 | Session I: Diversity in Health Research
Moderator
- Geneviève Almouzni, ERC Scientific Council Member, Chair of the Gender & Diversity Issues Working Group
Rapporteur
- Philippe Cupers, Head of Unit Life Sciences, ERCEA
Speakers
- Social inequalities in health: an intersectional approach, Pierre-Yves Geoffard, CNRS, FR
- Molecular insights in “real-life” immunology, Maria Yazdanbakhsh, Leiden University, NL
- Hypertension in African migrants: Lessons learnt from the RODAM study, Charles Agyemang, Amsterdam University Medical Centers, NL
- ECAP: Genetic/epigenetic basis of ethnic differences in cancer predisposition, Gian-Paolo Dotto, University of Lausanne (UNIL) ,CH, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois (CHUV), CH, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard University, US
12.10 – 13.10 | Lunch
13.10 – 14.40 | Session 2: Diversity from a Technological and Legal Perspective
Moderator
- Tom Henzinger, Member of the ERC Scientific Council
Rapporteur
- Alejandro Martin Hobdey, Head of Unit Physical Sciences and Engineering, ERCEA
Speakers
- Diversity in the Machine Learning Age, Louise Amoore, Durham University, UK
- Improving Decision Making with Machine Learning, Fairly, Manuel Gomez Rodriguez, Max Planck Institute, DE
- Diversity in Body Representation for Neuroprosthetics, Giovanni Di Pino, University of Rome, IT
14.40 – 15.10 | Coffee break
15.10 – 16.40 | Session 3: Perceptions of Diversity
Moderator
- Harriet Bulkeley, Member of the ERC Scientific Council
Rapporteur
- Lino Paula, Head of Unit Social Sciences and Humanities, ERCEA
Speakers
- Tracing Queer Citizenship over Time: older LGBTI+ lived experiences in Southern Europe, Ana Cristina Santos, University of Coimbra, PT
- NEUROEPIGENETHICS: investigating neurodiversity in a neuromixed research group, Kristien Hens, University of Antwerp, BE
- CEC – The Cognitive-Ecological Challenge of Diversity, Hans Alves, University of Bochum, DE
- Coexistence and conflict in the age of complexity, Eeva Puumala, Tampere University, FI
16.40 – 17.45 | Session 4: Roundtable: The Importance of Diversity in Research
Moderator
- Angela Liberatore, Head of Scientific Management Department, ERCEA
Speakers
- Joanna Drake, Deputy Director-General for Research & Innovation, European Commission
- Semiha Denktaş, Erasmus University, Rotterdam, NL
- Emilia Gómez, Joint Research Centre (European Commission) & Pompeu Fabra University, ES
- Gian-Paolo Dotto, University of Lausanne (UNIL), CH, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois (CHUV), CH, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard University, US
- Ana Cristina Santos, University of Coimbra, PT
17.45 – 18.00 | Concluding remarks
- Geneviève Almouzni, ERC Scientific Council Member, Chair of the Gender & Diversity Issues Working Group
- Laurence Moreau, Director of the ERC Executive Agency
Other information
Frontier Research on Diversity factsheet
Science story: interview with Kristien Hens
Speaker’s bios
Professor of Global Migration, Ethnicity and Health, Amsterdam University Medical Centres, NL
Associate Professor in Gender Studies, Stockholm University, SE
Director of research exceptional class, CNR, FR
Professor of Social Cognition, Ruhr University Bochum, DE
Professor of Political Geography, Durham University, UK
Full professor, Utrecht University, NL
Head of the Life Sciences Unit, European Research Council Executive Agency
European Commissioner for Equality
Chief Diversity Officer (CDO) at Erasmus University Rotterdam
Professor of Human Physiology, Campus Bio-Medico University of Rome, IT
Director of the Laboratory of Skin Aging and Cancer Prevention Dermatology Department, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, USA
Deputy Director-General of the European Commission’s Directorate-General (DG) for Research and Innovation (DG RTD)
Professor of economics, Paris School of Economics, FR
Researcher, Joint Research Centre (JRC), European Commission
Tenured faculty, Max Planck Institute, DE
Research professor, University of Antwerp, BE
Professor, Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA), AT
Head of the Physical Sciences and Engineering Unit within the Scientific Department, European Research Council
ERC President
Head of the ERC Scientific Department
Director of the ERC Executive Agency
Head of Unit Social Sciences and Humanities at the scientific department of the European Research Council Executive Agency (ERCEA)
Senior research fellow, Tampere University, FI
Principal Researcher, University of Coimbra (CES-UC), PT
Professor in cellular immunology, Leiden University Medical Center, NL
I was very disappointed to learn from Malin Ah-King (Stockholm University) that we are still struggling with this issue of male bias and heteronormativity in science (that is, biology). I was a Master’s student in the 1980s and I carried out a study into gender bias in sociobiology research as part of my degree requirements. Relatively little has changed since then. Not only is a lot of research biased, but there is also a bias in favor of biased research.
Partiality supposedly has no place in science – science is “objective” (non-biased) – but all science is partial by definition because we all bring our personal backgrounds to the table.
In the west, “objective” has always implicitly meant “as seen from a well-to-do white male’s perspective”, except perhaps in times when society was matriarchal or was matriarchal behind the scenes, such as possibly in ancient Greece, as one member in the audience brought to our attention.
That same person, however, appeared to assume that only men produce testosterone and that only produce estrogen and that hormones direct behavior. Behavior and various other factors can impact hormone production and estrogen and testosterone aren’t the only hormones that interact with behavior.
This interaction alone already pointed out how important diversity in research is.
My main question for all presenters/discussion
How would you have attempted to prevent what happened with the Spectrum 10K study in the UK?
The Wellcome Trust, which is funding the study, halted it after a massive backlash from the autism community. A second ethics review took place, followed by a two-year consultation with the autistic community. I believe that this is what people call an ass-backward approach? In my view, the Wellcome Trust and the researchers could have seen this backlash coming, because of the way in which the researchers handled matters.
Why Autistic People Are Worried by Spectrum 10K | Psychology Today: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/neurodiverse-age/202108/why-autistic-people-are-worried-spectrum-10k
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spectrum_10K
I also asked how we can address ageism in the scientific community. For example, grants often have age limits. Some leeway is occasionally available for for example parenthood but not for researchers who went to university at a later age. This seems to be much less the case in the US and this limitation in diversity too puts restrictions on research output.
I later decided to drop Kristien Hens a note and I downloaded two books that she wrote. I hadn’t looked into the program and the presenters in great detail before attending. I preferred to wait and see if I would be pleasantly surprised. I was.
ERC grant: public engagement in research
Far-right shift in the Netherlands: my views on the election results
Thoughts: Neurodiversity challenges
Very odd that this video went live all by itself. That’s never happened before. I was asleep at the time. I added the description later.
Continue readingHow people can become cold and cruel
There’s an article in the Atlantic – https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2017/06/when-your-child-is-a-psychopath/524502/ – that also talks about this.
How people become cold and cruel. This is one of many reasons why we shouldn’t have wars any longer.
I also have a theory about the endocrine system having something to do with it. A constant high level of stress hormones is very unhealthy, so when that happens, the endocrine system starts changing some of its responses. (There’s research that supports this idea, yes.) That’s how cruelty can become associated with feelings of excitement and perhaps even of joy, except that it’s just the effect of a protective response from the endocrine system. Children have no way of knowing and controlling that.
It’s different for adults who become exposed to a lot of cruelty, but even for them, it’s hard.
Dutch elections. I’m making that up too. I’m so delusional.
So a guy who in the past was even banned from visiting the UK, which has now already been pretty hostile to all foreigners for at least one or two decades, as many people in England were already pretty hostile toward foreigners in 2004 and Theresa May introduced her hostile environment in 2010 or thereabouts, gets to rule this country. The Netherlands.
That’s like saying that the Easter bunny and the tooth fairy exist. Except that the tooth fairy and the Easter bunny are positive characters.
In 2011, an Englishman who hadn’t lived in England for around three decades kept telling me that I was so wrong, so mistaken, about various things that I told him about my experiences there. He too has had several harsh wake-up calls since.
We’ve had Trump, we’ve had Bolsonaro, we have Argentina and now the Netherlands.
The Netherlands has historically always welcomed those who were persecuted abroad, whether it was in Spain and Portugal (Sephardic Jews) or England (Mayflower). Suddenly that’s changed. That’s major.
And that’s scary.
The Dutch were always the voice of reason and of fairness, the ones who stood up for everyone’s rights. Even if this often made them perceived as dull or annoying, we need some country to play this role in the world.
Which country can we count on now? The voices of Merkel, Marin and Ardern have already disappeared too.
Who will add the badly needed dash of moderation to the global stew?
Continue readingYou just want to hug her
Maya Kowalski. But things aren’t going to be okay again any time soon. Not for a long time. Not for her brother either. What a nightmare.
The money will feel like, finally, validation, like a strange, uneasy form of comfort because it spells “finally, justice”, but it doesn’t replace her mother’s hug, for example.
Jeez. This really reminds you that things can always be worse. So if you’re going through a rough spot, remember that.
Somehow, this whole story passed me by until today. Then YouTube dished this up because it’s noticed my interest in certain court cases. I did a quick web search and was startled to discover that this was in St Petersburg, where I used to live. There is another hospital along the same street; I did some training there. One is at 501, the other at 701.
A happy story
The video about what Kylie went through in Iran is also on this website. Yes, it marks you, going through something like that. It’s hard to describe. It changes you profoundly.
Di’s story
In the first video, at 14:40, professor Heather Douglas says that “good stalkers make you doubt yourself” and that when you’re no longer sure of anything, you become much easier to control.
Consumerism (materialism) as an expression of a greater need for love
… and/or an expression of the feeling that one isn’t worthy of love.
(It’s also the story of grandiose narcissism.)
Here is more
When I look at the comments under videos about CPTSD, coercive control, gaslighting and so on, I see lots of people who are going through the same things that the others are going through and that only they understand. And the way they do their best to support each other is awesome. It’s probably one of the quickest ways to get that warm blanket feeling back.
(It actually got me crying the other day. Suddenly, you are no longer alone going through something like this. It’s amazing.)
The sad thing about the experiences that Alex Skeel went through is that people around you who see you, people of all ages, people who don’t know you, will usually just mock you.
Continue reading
This
This is a long, and apparently Dutch-made, documentary about narcissistic abuse in a relationship.
At some point, the revenge gets mentioned, the fact that all aspects in your life become attacked and undermined, including your career.
People you know and even a few who you don’t know will be approached with bullshit stories about you. Many people will fall for the lies, which will often have an element of truth to them, making it very hard to defend yourself.
So don’t even try. People who instantly believe bullshit stories about you are not good to have in your life. Do your best to see other options instead of focusing on all the avenues that become blocked for you.
That is tricky. After many years of narcissistic abuse, your world has shrunk immensely and your thoughts have become trapped in a small circle. They go round and round, like leaves in a mini tornado.
It’s like becoming paralyzed to some degree. You often get completely torn down. You end up doubting yourself a lot and stop liking yourself and stop believing in good.
Only people who have been in this type of situation will understand this.
Don’t expect empathy from people who have no clue as to what it’s like. Don’t expect validation to come from anyone else but yourself. Acknowledge what you have been through and what it has done to you. Focus exclusively on your own well-being… because you really must.
Continue reading
Caged in
I drew my first cage drawing in Southsea. Must have been in 2010. I posted it online and explained why. He punished me by cutting off access to my business email. I managed to grab and print a traceroute that showed the diversion before he interfered with that too. I didn’t take it to the police. A) They wouldn’t have had a clue as to what it was. B) I was a woman, an older woman, a single woman, and a foreign woman.
Crazy story
You can’t make it up. It remains incomprehensible… My explanation is that some people know that they are so impossible to live with that they feel that they have to do this. In the end, they can’t keep living the lies and everything goes to pieces. But what do I know?
This sounds incredibly interesting! #narcissism
I almost signed up for it. I thought “oh, I might be able to combine this with that lifecoach course that I saw.”
True.
Upon further exploration I initially decided that this is not for me. This is not my kind of profession. I would like to see many things happen, but that doesn’t mean that they are all up to me. I don’t need to make sure that they all happen.
Then I saw this, and this really resonates with me.
I still think that this course probably is not for me. No need to sleep on it and explore some more. I remember a man I met earlier this year. I would not want to be dealing with him. This is not my profession, even though it may be a matter of finding the right context. But I’ve explored this in the past. It’s just not me.
I like understanding it so that I can apply the knowledge in my own life. I find people with narcissistic tendencies easier to deal with than autistic people.
This following is probably very useful for people with narcissistic tendencies. It’s useful for me, too, but being conscientious is not the same as being a relentless perfectionist.
(Hmm. And now I suddenly have the right context. And a difficult test case pops right into my mind. Making several clicks. Will make a call.)
Others may find this course package very interesting too. It certainly sounds like a very refreshing change from how narcissism is usually portrayed, much more holistic.
https://www.nicabm.com/program/fb-narcissism-1/
This video below is probably also highly relevant within this context.
(So sad that the YouTube algorithm instantly started dishing up sensationalist content in my stream next. This algorithm does what Twitter’s started doing some years ago. It shoves nonsense in your face and tries to take you into Daily Mail land, so to speak.)
In times of division, kindness to animals unites people
That’s the heading of one of my incoming emails this morning.
I agree. It was one of the reasons why I wanted to get pigeon rescue going in Portsmouth. It’s a town with a lot of poverty and misery. Just about everyone seems to hate everyone else there and help for the poor often contains an element of rubbing it in, of contempt, of criticism.
It’s easy to get a pigeon rescue effort going as long as you stick to pigeons and send all other species to a different facility.
I figured that through volunteering and working with these animals, people would not only become more compassionate toward animals but also toward eachother. They would get a free meal in the process. It might even give their lives a sense of purpose again.
To overcome the costs and other practicalities involved in having an actual facility, I came up with the idea of a “distributed” rescue. Rehab a pigeon in your home. Materials and support provided. Makes it harder to provide free meals, though.
I’m trying to be as animal-friendly and considerate toward the environment as possible. Particularly the latter often gets you mocked. You’re supposed to be spending as much as possible and buying stuff new as much as possible.
And you’re supposed to be using and exploiting animals, even if it’s only because they’re sweet and soft and cuddly.
Even dogs can worry and toss and turn in their sleep. And pigeons are very intelligent and capable of empathy. Did you know that?
I find it very hard to avoid animal exploitation in my food. But I’m trying and the more I try, the more often I succeed.
This is my breakfast today. The plate and the cutlery were thrifted. The food is tofu – like scrambled eggs – and mushrooms. Salt, pepper, organic olive oil. Too much plastic involved. I take it to the plastic and metal recycling bin but fear that the plastic will turn up on a beach in Africa. The nonstick wok has forever chemicals associated with it. A real wok would be metal and wood only, but then again, steelworks and metal mining often cause a great deal of pollution. I could probably have thrifted a wok. Can’t explain why I didn’t other than “wasn’t thinking”.
But at least I am trying. So can you.
Meanwhile, the Fareham MP who currently happens to head the UK Home Office effectively wants to criminalize any foreigners naive and optimistic enough to take up a teaching position in the UK only for them to discover that they can no longer pay the rent or get kicked out through a Section 21 Notice for example because Airbnb brings landlords more money. That’s not a lifestyle choice, Ms Braverman. That’s the result of bad government.
Okta is lying. So is Ars Technica. And… I’ve caught my stalker.
Everybody knows that there’s no such thing as hacking. That’s just something that old cows like me make up to hide that they can no longer hack it. Life. They’re too old and too feeble-minded to handle modern technology. Everybody knows that. They can no longer hack real life. Warehouse the bitches. They just get in the way.
(Or as Boris Johnson said, let them have cake, and covid.)
Continue readingPost-Roe England: Police officers now on the payroll of American rightwing conservatives?
This is tremendously dystopian. Police in England and Wales are blood-testing women who’ve had a miscarriage for abortion-related medications. They’re also studying women’s period apps on their seized phones.
The Guardian had several related articles about a year ago.
Yeah, right, that may explain A LOT with regard to my own life, too. A heck of a lot.
😭
If women cannot trust police officers in any circumstances in England, it may be time for female vigilante human rights defenders to organize themselves into an alternative for the police.
Oh! This is fun!
He could “never carry a tune” so he played the bongo.
Also, “jiggling atoms”, the essence of the microwave. It’s a machine that makes the atoms jiggle. And the bicycle pump, that’s the essence of a fridge.
What inclusivity is not
Having a poster on the office wall with the word “autism” in a huge font size, that isn’t inclusive but akin to greenwashing.
This morning I received this image in my mailbox. That’s not what inclusivity is like either. It’s only inclusivity if literally everyone does it, otherwise it’s a guarantee for becoming stalked at some point.
Have people repeatedly called you a stalker? Are you in England?
Crazy story
Yet even today, most people still assume that electronic communications are 100% genuine. Really creepy story. It’s giving me some new food for thought with regard to my own experiences. (But not really!)
