Category: EBM and CQI

Reading two thoughtful articles attached re: physician cognitive health, well-being, and motivation brought to my mind three thoughts: Wittgenstein wrote that all of ethics was outside the realm of language.  For him, the whole point of ethics would be lost if it were but straightforward cognition of something objective that resides in the world, like a tree or gravity or…

‘Reason’ is what enables us to understand just how ‘unreasonable’ we are.  And that is a thrilling feature of Homo sapiens’ consciousness. “Churchill’s poodle” metaphor in our University of CQI:  WC’s poodle knew many details of Master’s habits, moods, daily routines, as only a beloved pet could.  But the poodle could not possibly grasp WWII,…

Continuing the thread of Nietzsche’s “anti-foundationalism” let’s consider “foundationalism”. Plato is the model of foundationalism, his impact upon Western thought incalculable.  Plato exposited ideals of reason and pure knowledge as Forms.  These are ultimate conceptions of Wisdom, Courage, Temperance, Justice (his 4 primary virtues) as well as essences of matter and objects.  These Forms exist apart from our earth-bound material world,……and understanding…

I estimate there is no greater intellectual in History than Friedrich Nietzsche (defined as original, impactful, durable, influential, stylistic).  Since his tragic death in 1900 his phenomenal breadth and depth of aphoristic writings have rung more prescient with each passing decade,……it’s exhilarating and rather spooky. Sometimes when reading him late at night I think “He…

“We don’t have the time or money for CQI right now.” Like Marie Antoinette, Rasputin, Lord Kelvin, Neville Chamberlain, Decca Records*, and notable others through history,…….let’s not be exactly wrong.   In these moments of Sturm and Drang, budget constraints, fatigue, overwork, much of it COVID-related,…….the inherent proficiency of CQI is more apparent than ever.     Wu Wei (Action by Non-action)…

Supposing for this moment our Hindu friends are correct and we do rebirth as part of Mother Nature’s cycle,…..if so, I might desire to be an anthropologic archeologist (recognizing ‘desire’ has no such role in karma). The attached report from last week’s Science is exhilarating.  Humans roamed North America much earlier than previous estimates suggest,…..archeologists have now unearthed Homo sapiens’ footprints…

History doesn’t repeat itself,……but it does offer insights as to what might happen if we choose to do “X” rather than “Y”.  Timothy Snyder writes with learned and earned power, his concise book of essays ‘Tyranny’ is a brief history book worth considering.   He’s awfully concerned with our collective disregard of thoughtful study of the past,…

We derive both pleasure and insight from travel writing, and few have composed such essays with better clarity and human sympathy than Ryszard Kapuscinski of Poland (1932-2007). His observations are tonic for the disharmony and confusion of 2021.  Travels with Herodotus is reading-rapture for me; I’ll never see nor understand Eastern Europe and post-colonial Africa,…

For everyone working so diligently with compassion during this C-19 pandemic, attached is the largest robust report yet published that concisely and comprehensively reviews the safety and side effect profile of the Pfizer mRNA vaccine.   You can efficiently digest the manuscript just following the yellow highlightsand glancing at the beautifully powerful Figure 4.  The Moderna vaccine is also mRNA…

Quite much to fret in August 2021, no call to rehash.  Let’s take a break and celebrate science/math/technology at one zenith, just to bolster cosmic spirits.   The attached article is a gorgeous illustration of the phenomenal discoveries by astronomers over the past ~100 years re: our galaxy and the expanding universe.  Lessons galore for…