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Human intelligence always trumps Artificial intelligence

12/16/2020

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Today I read that Monash university have been successful in gaining several NHMRC ideas grants. Congratualtions to them!!
One of these is $1M to fund
Soft wearable patches for stillbirth prevention
I quote from the press release: 

Professor Wenlong Cheng from the Faculty of Engineering will lead a project to develop next-generation soft wearable patches that use artificial intelligence (AI) to help prevent stillbirths.
This project aims to directly tackle this unmet clinical challenge by revolutionising the way fetal movements are evaluated through the development of a compact, soft, inexpensive, smart patch, which can automatically detect and report fetal movements anytime anywhere taking advantage of the world-leading advanced electronic skin sensing technologies and AI.
“If successful, this will be world-first wearable technology enabling out-of-hospital screening with the penultimate goal of stillbirth prevention,” said Professor Cheng.

Sounds exciting right?
But I have my concerns because as good as AI may be it can’t replace human intelligence, neither should it. Further AI can’t be programmed for maternal intuition or human response.
I have often heard mothers report a ‘decrease’ in their baby’s movements which machines like a CTG dont seem to detect. This is because it is often the case that the woman is reporting not so much a decrease in frequency but concern about a change. In my experience women will often say “I cant put my finger on it but my baby's movements just feel different”
The algorithm for this new device is going to have to include strength, frequency and pattern all of which have been shown to be important in fetal wellbeing. Pattern includes time of day the baby moves and their usual response to things like hearing a siblings voice, or startling when there is a loud noise. AI is good but can it possibly be that good ?
I am not suggesting for one minute that this patch wont be useful but I do fear that we as a society tend to put our trust in machines  and technology . In the case of maternity care this is often at the expense of trusting the woman, her baby, her understanding of her baby and her maternal instincts. PROVIDED this patch is used as a supplement to all then it can be useful however I suspect that it may be yet another device , in a long line of devices, that are overly relied upon and hence further disempowers the pregnant woman.
 I hope that we don’t EVER see this patch marketed as “better than a woman” but I suspect we may. I hope I am wrong…we shall see!
 
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Shocking but true

12/4/2020

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I think it would be fair to say that many social media-ites were shocked to hear that a grieving mother was asked to return her baby gifts following her baby’s stillbirth.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/lifestyle/2020/12/grieving-mother-of-stillborn-shares-shocking-exchange-with-friend-who-asked-for-baby-gifts-back.html
This story has received wide condemnation because of the shockingly insensitive actions of this poor mums ‘friend’
One has to ask, why on earth would a “friend” act in such a way?  And I would like to offer that it is for two reasons:
  1. Mother blaming and
  2. Societal lack of understanding that a stillborn baby is still a baby.
To explain what I mean, imagine that the gift was for a wedding that was cancelled at the last minute.  In this case a “friend” may feel that if the wedding didn’t go ahead that their gift wouldn’t be needed or perhaps even wanted. Certainly, there would be a sense that if the giftee was the one who called off the wedding that the “friend” may even think that having the gift as a reminder of the failed wedding might cause them pain and distress.  
Using this as an analogy helps us understand that while the actions of this person were deplorable, that they came from a place of complete ignorance of the true meaning and impact of stillbirth. Further while the actions of this “friend” were obviously completely insensitive, society and even mothers themselves do tend to overtly or covertly blame themselves for their baby’s death. Many think that reminders of the baby’s existence are harmful rather than healing, distressing rather than comforting. Further the “friend” clearly didn’t understand that a mother of a stillborn baby would still want to wrap their baby in something to keep them warm. This depth of maternal care defies logic but is certainly there for most of us who have lost a baby.
So, the actions of this “friend” really represent the extreme end of widely held societal views. Society needs to understand that having a stillborn baby is not at all like calling off a wedding. Having a stillborn baby is a lifechanging event with lifelong impact. As this couple have discovered, having a stillborn baby provides opportunities for friendships to be lost but also for friends to be made. Further, having a stillborn baby causes a quantum shift in one’s life where old paths are forever blocked but new paths forged. 

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    Still Talking

    Talking openly about all aspects of stillbirth.

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