Heart sound (yeah) and other matters.
I had a follow up today at Heart Specialists of Sarasota following my cardiac procedure last year.
The news was good. My heart rate is perfect, as is my blood pressure. My next follow up is not for a year.
I like the Heart Specialists practice. Every member of staff is friendly and amenable, and the appointments are always on time.
My surgeon is one Dr. Frederick Yturralde. He is extremely skilled. His "bedside manner" is so great that I want to greet him by saying "Hallo Fred"!.
Since my follow up was uncomplicated we had time to chat about other matters.
We pondered about the importance of good information and "facts".
We agreed that information and facts have a very limited range when it comes to behaviour.
e.g.
The Diabetic will nod her/his head in assent in the Doctor's Office when given information about diet, but continue to cheat on dietary restrictions.
The Cardiac patient will receive sound information, but continue to smoke.
The Alcoholic will promise to quit when told about her/his liver disease, and stop for a Six Pack on the way home.
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The good Doctor and I prattled on a bit. I mentioned the recent Starbuck's Coffee trainings of their staff about unconscious racial bias.
It was a noble, but ultimately futile effort.
For at the end of such training the good Baristas will have good information about unconscious bias:- information which will be useful in a utilitarian sense ("I must remember this at work"), but which will not necessarily change his/her way of life in the neighborhood, at the local bar, or at the polling station.
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Of course the facts are important. But facts alone will not change beliefs, attitudes and behaviors.
For that we need encounter. Face to face encounter. Every dime which Starbuck's has expended on staff training is wasted unless their Baristas encounter people who are not a bit like them, as colleagues, middle managers, and upper level managers.
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Here are the facts: so say people of the left and of the right in the U.K and in the U.S.A. in these days of utterly polarised and divisive politics.
" Here are the facts": - 'tis a useless way to change minds and behaviours.
Information and facts have their place, but they are of dubious value with regard to discussing and amending attitudes in the U.K. Brexit debate; and in the American immigration disagreements.
We can choose to lob our right or left factual grenades into the thin air of Facebook ( purposefully designed by Facebook to make each "side" feel good, whether left or right). That's all to easy.
The harder way is by encounter, learning, and careful listening to those who are not a bit like us.
That encounter, learning, and careful listening will never happen in cyber-space, and is doomed to failure on Facebook.
Good try, but ultimate failure by Mark Zuckerberg.
The news was good. My heart rate is perfect, as is my blood pressure. My next follow up is not for a year.
I like the Heart Specialists practice. Every member of staff is friendly and amenable, and the appointments are always on time.
My surgeon is one Dr. Frederick Yturralde. He is extremely skilled. His "bedside manner" is so great that I want to greet him by saying "Hallo Fred"!.
Since my follow up was uncomplicated we had time to chat about other matters.
We pondered about the importance of good information and "facts".
We agreed that information and facts have a very limited range when it comes to behaviour.
e.g.
The Diabetic will nod her/his head in assent in the Doctor's Office when given information about diet, but continue to cheat on dietary restrictions.
The Cardiac patient will receive sound information, but continue to smoke.
The Alcoholic will promise to quit when told about her/his liver disease, and stop for a Six Pack on the way home.
---------------------------------------------------------
The good Doctor and I prattled on a bit. I mentioned the recent Starbuck's Coffee trainings of their staff about unconscious racial bias.
It was a noble, but ultimately futile effort.
For at the end of such training the good Baristas will have good information about unconscious bias:- information which will be useful in a utilitarian sense ("I must remember this at work"), but which will not necessarily change his/her way of life in the neighborhood, at the local bar, or at the polling station.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Of course the facts are important. But facts alone will not change beliefs, attitudes and behaviors.
For that we need encounter. Face to face encounter. Every dime which Starbuck's has expended on staff training is wasted unless their Baristas encounter people who are not a bit like them, as colleagues, middle managers, and upper level managers.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here are the facts: so say people of the left and of the right in the U.K and in the U.S.A. in these days of utterly polarised and divisive politics.
" Here are the facts": - 'tis a useless way to change minds and behaviours.
Information and facts have their place, but they are of dubious value with regard to discussing and amending attitudes in the U.K. Brexit debate; and in the American immigration disagreements.
We can choose to lob our right or left factual grenades into the thin air of Facebook ( purposefully designed by Facebook to make each "side" feel good, whether left or right). That's all to easy.
The harder way is by encounter, learning, and careful listening to those who are not a bit like us.
That encounter, learning, and careful listening will never happen in cyber-space, and is doomed to failure on Facebook.
Good try, but ultimate failure by Mark Zuckerberg.
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