Jamesian Philosophy Refreshed

The murder of Brian Thompson, CEO of United Healthcare, has been a compelling news story.  On the one hand, there was the excitement of a who-dunnit and a will-he-get-caught. On the second hand, there was and is the opportunity to pontificate about the health care and health insurance industries in the United States and their rage-producing dysfunction. UHC is the largest health insurance company in the United States. On the third hand, there is the opportunity to go "meta," to react to how other people, especially through these new-fangled social media lenses, are talking about the murder of Brian Thompson.  THAT has become a big deal, because it turns out the head of a private health insurance company -- especially one whose rates of coverage denial seem to have risen strikingly under his command -- is not a sympathetic victim. Who'd a thought? Thompson's company has actually pioneered the use of artificial intelligence to find reasons to deny claims. Hence the soci...

 Reuters, in a recent report about the success of facial-recognition software company AnyVision, mentioned that a hospital in Los Angeles, California is one of its customers.   I've never heard of a hospital using such technology before so this was something of a jolt. Is security such a problem in US hospitals at present that they have to recognize potential trouble makers by face, so the private guards know who to encircle?  Perhaps it isn't so much violence that caused the admins at Cedar Sinai to make a purchase from AnyVision. Perhaps it is drug fraud. Joe Smith may be known to the police as someone who goes into emergency rooms, fakes an injury, and begs for a scrip for a powerful pain reliever. Could the AnyVision algorithms alert Dr. Jones before he writes that scrip? Or sends Smith home with a bottle of the stuff with a high street value? I would imagine the latter is more important than the former. And that the next time you, dear reader, visit a hospital, ...