ChatGPT Goes to the Doctor

 Artificial intelligence is often discussed in terms of its potential to revolutionize medicine. But its most immediate benefit may be something far more ordinary: helping patients prepare for their annual physical examinations.

I recently experienced this firsthand while preparing for my annual wellness visit with my physician at Virginia Hospital Center. Rather than arriving with a handful of questions and relying on my memory, I enlisted ChatGPT as a research assistant, medical-records analyst, and remarkably patient conversational partner.

The results exceeded my expectations.

With my authorization, ChatGPT accessed my medical records through its Health connection. It reviewed years of clinical information, including laboratory results, cardiovascular history, medications, physician notes, and weight measurements. It identified trends that would have been difficult for me to recognize from individual reports.

One particularly useful product was a comprehensive graph combining more than four years of weight measurements with my history of weight-loss medications. The graph helped illustrate how my weight had changed during different periods of treatment, providing a much clearer picture than either my recollections or a collection of isolated medical records.

I brought the graph to my appointment. My physician used it during our discussion, and it has now become part of my official medical record. What began as an AI-assisted exercise at my computer became a practical tool in a real medical consultation.

Our preparation went well beyond charting weight. ChatGPT helped me understand a sleep study documenting moderate obstructive sleep apnea, examine the implications of rising blood sugar, and formulate questions about transitioning from oral Wegovy to injectable Zepbound. It also researched the complicated world of prescription insurance, including my federal employee health benefits, SilverScript Medicare Part D coverage, the Medicare GLP-1 Bridge program, and the LillyDirect pharmacy option.

The objective was not simply to obtain a prescription, but to understand the medical justification, the insurance requirements, and the alternatives if coverage were denied.

My physician ultimately prescribed Zepbound, and we are pursuing two possible insurance pathways. The appointment was productive, focused, and informed by research completed before I walked into his office.

Perhaps the most surprising aspect of the experience was ChatGPT's conversational style. It was friendly, encouraging, and willing to explore questions in considerable depth. I could challenge its conclusions, ask for clarification, revisit earlier findings, and continue the discussion without feeling rushed. It was rather like having an extraordinarily well-informed research assistant available around the clock.

Of course, ChatGPT is not a physician. It can make mistakes, and its findings require verification. Medical decisions belong to qualified professionals, and insurance approval remains the responsibility of the appropriate administrators. In my case, however, AI did not replace the physician-patient relationship. It strengthened it.

At a time when healthcare is increasingly complex, patients are expected to understand more about their conditions, medications, test results, and insurance coverage than ever before. Most of us could use some help.

My experience suggests that one of AI's most valuable contributions to healthcare may be empowering ordinary patients to become better-informed participants in their own care.

And that is a revolution worth welcoming.

How the latest Odyssey turns the Homeric epic woke

    The history of adapting Homer’s Odyssey has always been a mirror for the era producing it. Where Mario Camerini’s 1954 Ulysses captured the post-war existentialism of human agency and the triumph of the mortal will over divine temptation, the 2026 cinematic adaptation undergoes a radical, clinical shift. By reframing Odysseus’s ten-year journey home entirely through the lens of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, severe moral injury, and emotional numbing, the latest film replaces a cosmic epic of fate and identity with a contemporary therapeutic case study. In doing so, the film introduces structural themes and psychological frameworks that are completely alien to the worldview envisioned by Homer, ultimately reducing an epic of heroic endurance into a despondent critique of the warrior archetype.

    At the heart of the 2026 film’s divergence is the total internalization of Homeric conflict. In the original epic poem, Odysseus’s trials are external, physical, and cosmic. The monsters he encounters—the Cyclops, Scylla, Charybdis—are genuine, objective terrors of an untamed world, and the gods are literal, active agents dictating human destiny. When Odysseus blinds Polyphemus, it is an act of survival and tactical cunning (metis) that triggers a literal curse from Poseidon. The 2026 adaptation, however, strips away this mythological grandeur, recontextualizing these encounters as psychological allegories for trauma triggers and substance abuse. By turning the Lotus-Eaters into a metaphor for veteran addiction and the Cyclops into a manifestations of repressed wartime guilt, the film imposes a modern clinical vocabulary onto an Archaic text. Homer’s Odysseus does not suffer from a fractured psyche; he suffers from a hostile universe. To reduce the vast, dangerous Mediterranean to the claustrophobic confines of a traumatized mind is to fundamentally misunderstand the Greek concept of the cosmos, where order and chaos exist outside the self, not merely within it.

    Furthermore, the contemporary focus on "moral injury"—the psychological distress caused by violating one's deeply held moral beliefs during war—stands in direct opposition to the heroic ethic, or kleos, that defines Homeric society. The 2026 film depicts a protagonist paralyzed by shame over the atrocities committed during the sack of Troy, presenting a desaturated, robotic survivor who questions his own worthiness to return home. This is a severe anachronism. In the world of the Iliad and the Odyssey, the destruction of Troy was not a source of moral shame, but the pinnacle of heroic achievement. The subjection of an enemy city, the claiming of spoils, and the exercise of lethal force were the primary avenues through which a Bronze Age warrior achieved immortal glory. Homer’s Odysseus desires home (nostos) because it is his rightful place of authority, his oikos, where his identity as king, husband, and father is validated. He does not seek a therapeutic space to heal; he seeks to reclaim his stolen status. By imposing modern anti-war sensibilities and therapeutic vulnerability onto Odysseus, the 2026 film robs the character of his essential drive, transforming an indomitable survivor into a passive victim of his own memories.

    This therapeutic distortion culminates in the complete re-engineering of the film’s resolution. In Homer’s text, the homecoming is defined by a violent, righteous re-assertion of order. The slaughter of the suitors is a necessary purification of the household, a restoration of cosmic and social justice explicitly sanctioned by Athena. It is a moment of supreme triumph where the hero definitively proves who he is. In stark contrast, the latest film concludes with a somber, stoic acceptance of powerlessness in an indifferent world. The triumph is replaced by a quiet, agonizing domestic truce, treating the return not as a victory, but as an ongoing rehabilitation.

    Ultimately, while the 2026 adaptation attempts to make The Odyssey accessible to a modern audience by employing the familiar tropes of contemporary trauma narratives, it does so at the expense of the poem's foundational spirit. Homer's masterpiece is an exploration of human limitation in the face of divine will, the absolute necessity of wit and endurance, and the enduring power of the human home. By superimposing anachronistic psychological concepts onto the Bronze Age, the latest film does not elevate the myth; it tames it, trading an expansive cosmic epic for a narrow, contemporary critique of masculinity and warfare.

COVID Testing - Aloha

 

Just back from a two week trip to Hawaii and feel compelled to recount the challenges of traveling in Hawaii with what may be the most onerous restrictions anywhere in the USA.  In general, Hawaii has lagged the rest of the country when it comes to reopening and when we arrived they were still requiring masks and social distancing inside and outside.  So, if you wanted to relax poolside in a lounge chair you were supposed to wear a mask.  Thankfully, as a practical matter, the hotel staff did not seem interested in enforcing the mandate, if only because the hordes of tourists chose to ignore the mask mandate when outdoors.  A shortage of service staff, social distancing and indoor dining restrictions made for long lines for most anything, food, drinks, sundries etc.  This put a strain on the staff that had returned to work, and we found the famed Aloha spirit rarely exhibited.  Hawaii requires all mainland visitors to register online with a government site, that tracks health status and health records, including COVID testing.  As a rule, Hawaii requires a negative COVID test within 72 hours of arrival or they supposedly impose a ten-day quarantine.  Hawaii does not accept rapid COVID testing and requires lab-based testing from its “Trusted Providers” who advertise that their results will be available in 48-72 hours after the nasal swab, which makes for a problematic timeline, not sure if your result will arrive before you do in Hawaii.  Our flight departed on Wednesday, so after a little research we headed on Sunday morning to a Dulles Airport test facility.  After suffering an unusually painful nasal jab, the clinic could not guarantee that our results would arrive in time given the fact that the test facility used UPS which does not operate on Sundays.  Having paid for the test out of pocket this was not good news. The results did arrive on time, and when we embarked our flight from Chicago to Honolulu, we were able to wait in a special line for Hawaii travelers so a gate attendant could check our “Hawaii Safe Travels” app and confirm a negative COVID test and receive a wrist band that indicated as much. We then waited to board. Upon arrival in Honolulu even with the wrist band we were ushered around the airport to stand in line with the rest of the debarked passengers so that a Hawaii health official could verify that we had the required test and were COVID negative. After a long, tiring and all-night flight the line did not move fast enough for anybody. 

        Having arrived on Oahu we now needed to determine how to get a COVID test before going to Maui. The concierge at the Hilton was helpful, and we were tested in a temporary clinic on the ground floor of a nearby Waikiki hotel.  Again, we waited nervously for the results to show up before the flight to Maui.  However, this time the results were available in less than 48 hours so we could upload them to the Hawaii Safe Travels website.  One recurring problem with the web site was that although it acknowledged the test results, there was an indication that the results were not acceptable.  This was in fact not the case, and in the end the necessary QR code was sent via email for us to show the local health authorities at the airport.  The line at the Maui airport included passengers from more than our flight, so it took over an hour to clear the health check. We were only in Maui for four nights, so we had to act quickly to comply with the requirement for a COVID test within 72 hours of our trip to the Big Island.  This was indeed problematic, because the lab work is not done on Maui, but must be sent back to Honolulu for analysis, thus creating a delay in the process.  We were perplexed when one of us got our results and the other did not. After spending most of the morning on the phone with the test facility and the lab, it turns out that the nurse had transposed a first and last name despite reading the information directly from a driver’s license. As a contingency for the test not being completed in time to fly to the Big Island, we made reservations on Hawaiian Air for the next day and extended our stay by one night at the Hyatt Regency which due to the high demand was now charging pre-pandemic room rates.  The challenges with first and last name were resolved, and we were able to leave as planned.  We did not have to pay for an extra night at the Hyatt, but according to a Hawaiian Air ground person, the airline does not refund cancellations despite purchasing insurance from the airline for that reason.  

        Arriving on the Big Island we were once again ushered into a long line so that we could show the QR code on our iPhone to a health official.  This line moved quicker than the one on Maui due to more health officials assigned to check the arriving passengers.  Unfortunately, there was a long line at the Hertz rental facility. On Maui the Hertz Gold protocols permitted us to walk to an aisle and select a car of our choice, but on the Big Island renters must wait in line before the agent confirms your reservation and orders a car to be brought from the parking area to the front of the Hertz building. Although the shortage of rental vehicles had received a lot of attention in the media, this did not seem to be the reason for the delay at the Hertz counter because the parking lot was full of vehicles.  Arriving at the Hilton Waikoloa, we once again had to line up to show the latest QR code on our phones. This time we were rewarded with a white wrist band that permitted us to roam the hotel, and let the staff know at a glance that we had been tested COVID free.

        Bottom line is that the costs for testing added up to almost $1,000 and we do have a $250 credit with Hawaiian Air that we can use in the next year – if we return. Hawaii will relax some of its COVID restrictions on June 15. 

 

 

Early Racial Tolerance

     Alexandria residents benefit from being surrounded by history, like the life and times of its most famous resident, George Washington.  When in 1775 George Washington was appointed by the Continental Congress to take command of the fledgling military forces, a young lady in Providence felt compelled to compose a patriotic poem and send it to him at his headquarters in Cambridge across the Charles River from Boston which at that time was occupied by the British. The 43 line poem, “His Excellency George Washington” was well received by George Washington not only because of its glowing tribute and encouragement, but because the poem acknowledged the imminent struggle for freedom and independence.
Celestial choir! enthron’d in realms of light,
Columbia’s scenes of glorious toils I write.
While freedom’s cause her anxious breast alarms,
She flashes dreadful in refulgent arms.
The poem went on to sagaciously and sanguinely predict victory over the British:
Anon Britannia droops the pensive head,
While round increase the rising hills of dead.
Ah! cruel blindness to Columbia’s state!
Lament thy thirst of boundless power too late.    
     Shortly after receiving the poem George Washington wrote the young lady expressing his appreciation and extending an invitation to meet with her which he did in March of 1776.  What makes all this more remarkable was that the shining light was Phillis Wheatley an African slave who had been purchased by the Wheatley family of Boston. She had come from West Africa (probably Senegal) when she was just eight years old. The Wheatley’s encouraged their own daughter to tutor the slave girl in Greek, Latin and other subjects to the point that Phillis Wheatley was regarded as a prodigy. When she was only twelve years old she started to write poetry and in 1773 she published a book of poetry which made her a world celebrity. That year Phillis Wheatley made a literary tour to England and upon her return to Boston her master opted to manumit her.  She drew the favorable attention of America's founding fathers, including George Washington, who told her that "the style and manner [of your poetry] exhibit a striking proof of your great poetical talents."  She is recognized as the first African-American woman to publish a book and she is a cornerstone in African American literary heritage. Among other honors, the Phillis Wheatley YWCA in Washington, D.C. is named for her.
     The meeting between George Washington and Phillis Wheatley has been regarded as an early instance of racial tolerance and may have contributed to George Washington’s evolving attitude towards slavery. In 1776 he reversed an earlier decision and permitted the enlistment of black soldiers with eventually about 9000 slaves joining the patriots. George Washington in his last will and testament famously freed the slaves he owned making provisions for their education and training. Indeed Phillis Wheatley’s influence on George Washington may have been more momentous than she could have ever suspicioned.

Reflections on Gun Control

Gun control is yet another of this country’s divisive topics and therefore another opportunity where the facts become an irritation.  Just like war, most people do not support anything that could kill or cause injury to them or their family, but the inconvenient truth is that no matter how many laws are in place with the intention of reducing gun violence, criminals by definition will disregard these laws. Indeed, some of the cities with the harshest gun laws also have the highest rates of gun violence.  According to the Center for Disease Control about 5.2 out of every 100,000 Americans are homicide victims, not especially high by global standards, but there is no highly industrialized country with a homicide rate comparable to Black Americans whose rate of 19.4 per 100,000 persons, is about 12 times higher than the average rate in other developed countries. The NAACP reported that the leading cause of death among African-American teens ages 15 to 19 was gun related homicide accounting for 45 percent of all child and teen gun deaths while only 15 percent of the total teen population. The typical murder is committed with a handgun where both the perpetrator and the victim are young Black men.  Blacks are six times as likely as whites to be the victim of homicide and are seven times as likely to commit a homicide. Somehow these black lives don’t matter. Why? Black on black crime as a construct is viewed by many as racist because of the injustice of treating blacks as criminally suspect due to the actions of a small minority, but if this country wants to seriously address gun violence it needs acknowledge the causes of black on black crime and do something about it. For starters, seventy percent of black children are born out of wedlock, and roughly 60 percent live in homes without fathers.  This sad reality should motivate state and federal governments as well as local communities- especially churches and other religious organizations- to encourage blacks to get and stay married and implement processes and procedures that restore families. Children from households where a mother and father are present are less likely to engage in violent behavior, including gangs. The overwhelming majority of gun homicides in Chicago are gang related. A number of social pathologies have been attributed to those who come from fatherless homes, including juvenile delinquency, youths in prison, youth drug use, high school dropouts, behavioral issues, and trouble dealing with authority.  Thought leaders and Black community organizers need to shift their current focus on police departments to establishing alternatives that diminish the attractiveness of gangs, like job training programs that include a stipend. In an environment where the avowed policy of the Justice Department is to reduce the number of young Blacks incarcerated, an exception should be made for gun violence where law breaking should result in stiffer sentences.

Clinton Emails

With regard to emails on her server that were are the highest level of classification, in a recent NPR interview, Hillary Clinton stated: “Well, first, let me say that this is the continuation of an interagency dispute that has been going on now for some months. As the State Department has confirmed, I never sent or received any material marked classified, and that hasn’t changed in all of these months.” Like many Clinton statements, parsing is required. Clinton’s attitude is the result of a long standing systemic distrust between DOS and DOD characterized not by cooperation, but by competition due to a number of factors not to mention that the DOS budget is a fraction of the DOD budget. If you are at DOS you consider yourself the incarnation of "soft power" while on the other hand, DOD is clearly the instrument of war. These cultural differences are made dramatically manifest due to this latest Clinton scandal where DOD security classifications were viewed by DOS as being intrinsically DOD/Intel, and revocable by DOS. By the way, this interagency dysfunction brings the unfortunate Benghazi incident into a clearer perspective. 

Could critics of personality tests have their own agenda?

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) test is based on the theories of Carl Jung, in which the test-taker reveals himself to fit four dichotomies: introverted or extroverted, intuitive or sensing, judging or perceiving, and thinking or feeling and classifies respondents by the initials of the predominate dichotomies. Notwithstanding vocal critics, MBTI is the most widely used and trusted personality assessment tool which reinforces its validity, albeit non-scientifically. The reality is that MBTI is a user friendly tool providing insight into the human complexity by classifying respondents into easily digestible categories. Arguably, some of the recent criticism comes from zealots of political correctness and anti-profiling who regard any categorization of the human personality as an example of prejudice.

Don't drink the water in Naples

Living in Italy made for awareness about the callous and reckless dumping of toxic waste in the Naples environs, but it is only from time to time does this crisis come to the attention of a wider population. Last Sunday's WaPo did report that the Italian government confirmed higher-than-normal incidents of death and cancer among residents in and around Naples, thanks to decades of toxic waste dumping by a particularly treacherous element of the Mafia, the local Camorra.  The rates of babies in the provinces of Naples and Caserta hospitalized in the first year of life for tumors, especially brain tumors, was determined to be excessive.  The government blamed the excessive health issues to contaminants found at illegal hazardous waste dump sites which include high levels of lead, arsenic and assorted industrial solvents. In general, these dumps are the result of the Camorra's disposing of toxic waste from Italy's industrialized North for a fraction of the cost of legal disposal. In Italy where wire tapping is commonplace, a local mob boss was overheard when asked what he suggested doing about the toxic aquifers, "Drink bottled water!"

American Unexceptionalism

In an earlier post, I wrote about how it has become a norm to confuse fact with opinion which is an obvious and unfortunate testament to the country's disintegrating morals. Another contributory factor to this confusion is a pervasive anti-intellectualism which has resulted in the younger generation being less informed, despite a wealth of knowledge at their fingertips. After all, it makes it easier to confuse facts and opinions, if you don't really know what are the facts. The younger generation sees the internet not as a learning tool, but as a social networking tool with a focus on themselves and their friends. Mark Bauerlein, in his book, The Dumbest Generation, revealed how a whole generation of self-absorbed youth has become less informed and less literate than preceding generations. Coupling ignorance with a doddering moral compass does not make for a shining city on the hill. 

Are Baltimore rioters the beginnings of ISIS in America?

Counter terrorism officials observing the recent rioting in Baltimore should be concerned that those responsible for the mayhem could be co-opted by ISIS and unleash home grown violence reminiscent of the race riots in the late 1960’s or worse.  The parallels between the ISIS zealots and the Baltimore rioters are noteworthy. These rioters are fundamentally rootless and are untethered from society having little or no ties to family, culture or faith.  In a classic case of trying to extend one’s own values to another segment of society, media pundits incessantly admonished the mothers and fathers. The media is right, of course, that IF the rioters did come from a strong family environment, they would be less likely to be thugs. On the other hand, the more likely scenario is that they come from single parent homes, a mother struggling to support her family, family members involved with drugs and criminal activities/incarcerated – or all of the above. The erosion of the family in the Black community has been well documented, and the Baltimore riots are yet again a consequence.  Institutions and other organizations that should be trying to fill this void have not.  What sort of school is teaching these kids that it is OK after classes to go on a rampage at the local mall? The only difference between these thugs and the ISIS fighters is that ISIS is better armed and organized.  The situation would seem to be a huge opportunity for the radical Nation of Islam.

Philosophical differences between ISIS and the Nation of Islam are almost indistinguishable. Ironically Mayor Stephen Rawlings-Blake during a press conference stood alongside the leader of the local chapter of the Nation of Islam and thanked them for helping her deal with the riots. Last November  in a speech about the Michael Brown case, the leader of the Nation of Islam, Louis Farrakhan, told the crowd: “We’ll tear this ******* country up! We going to die anyway, let’s die for something.” This sounds a lot like the tweet urging the Baltimore high school students to go on a “purge”. The fact that the Nation of Islam has long standing ties to Lybia increases the likelihood of ISIS co-opting and channeling the anger and violence of untethered black males in our major cities. 

Remembering Lunghua

With fewer and fewer of the Greatest Generation, WWII commemorations and remembrances have become more and more meaningful.  Amidst this historical retrospective there are some aspects of the war that have been largely ignored, namely the Japanese internment of over 13,500 civilian men, women, and children in China. Case in point, Shanghai which was a bustling commercial metropolis with a large international population had no less than 12 internment camps.  Residents of the International Settlement, predominantly British, were colonial officials who enjoyed a privileged life of afternoon teas waited on by a bevy of servants, and exclusive activities like cricket and polo. This blissful existence effectively ended on 8 December 1941, when the Imperial Japanese Army entered and occupied the British settlement.  

European Shanghai residents were cut off, isolated, and faced an uncertain future.  They were forced to wear armbands to differentiate them, were evicted from their homes, and subject to mistreatment. The Japanese sent more than 1800 European citizens to be interned at the Lunghua Civilian Assembly Center, a work camp on the outskirts of Shanghai. Conditions were severe with food and clothing in short supply. Lunghua was made famous by JG Ballard’s fictionalized version of his experiences, Empire of the Sun, followed by the Steven Spielberg film of the same name. Despite poor treatment and persistent lack of food the internees met these challenges and more. They organized themselves, ran the kitchen, dispensary and educated their children. In the face of adversity, they were a shining example of human resilience. One day in August 1945 the internment camp awoke to find that the ever present guards had abandoned their posts to never return. Today the main building of the camp has reverted to being a schoolhouse, its original function before the war.  My mother, her sister and parents were interned at Lunghua. As a measure of closure and in response to an intractable lack of contrition by the Japanese, the British compensated surviving internees and their widows with an ex gratia payment of ₤10,000. As Prime Minister Tony Blair speaking to survivors said at the time: “It is very hard for someone of my generation to understand what suffering people went through. You saw the very worst of human nature and yet I think you showed the very best of human nature.”

Nature-Nurture Redux

In 1690 John Locke proposed that humans start with a tabula rasa and acquire most all of their behavioral traits from environmental experiences, thus denying the influence of heredity.  

This nature-nurture controversy is again in the news with a recent study that shows poor children have smaller brains than affluent children.  Neuroscientists studied the region of the brain that handles language, memory, spatial skills and reasoning and discovered that the brains of children in families that earned less than $25,000 a year were smaller than those whose families earned $150,000 or more. The children with smaller brains scored lower on a battery of cognitive tests.  The purpose of the research was to better understand the academic achievement gap between poor and more affluent children. While the new research does not explain the reason for brain differences, the researchers have postulated two theories: (a) brain size may related to poor nutrition and lower-quality health care, or (b) poor families tend to live more chaotic lives, and that stress could inhibit healthy brain development. There is now a study to investigate whether giving low-income mothers a small or large monthly sum of cash impacts the cognitive development of their children in the first three years of life. On the other hand, James Thompson, a psychologist at University College London believes that there is a genetic component that should not be overlooked.  His point is that basically less ability people marry other people with less ability and have children which on average have less ability.  To be sure all children are capable of learning regardless of their backgrounds or economic situation.  Steven Pinker famously emphasized in his best-seller that the behaviorist’s position is rooted in the ideology espoused by John Locke that humans are conditioned by culture because social influences can be used to educe desirable traits or repress undesirable traits. The pile of evidence to the contrary including this recent brain size study are an inconvenient truth. 

Join the Navy and become a nuclear detterant

Speaking this year at the Navy League’s Sea Air Space conference Frank Kendall, undersecretary for acquisition, technology and logistics, said that to replace the country’s aging nuclear-missile submarines, ICBMs, and long-range strategic bombers has become unaffordable without radical policy changes or budget increases.  Given that the latter is unrealistic in the current fiscal environment, there is an undeniable imperative to revisit the triad, a relic of the Cold War and the threat of mutual assured destruction. Today’s threats, while perhaps even greater and more diverse clearly do not warrant maintaining a triad. Maintaining our overwhelming force if anything signals that US has been intransigent in not shifting from a Cold War mindset to a strategy that recognizes today’s threats more appropriately.

Numerous studies have concluded that the U.S. strategic triad could be restructured without sacrificing international security. The Global Zero study which was spearheaded by the former vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs Marine General James “Hoss” Cartwright, advocates doing away with the nation’s first-strike capability by cutting the strategic nuclear arsenal to no more than 900 warheads, as well as eliminating U.S. land-based nuclear missiles which could save $100 billion over a decade.  Nuclear-missile submarines alone carry enough nuclear warheads to reach the level determined by the Obama administration for effective deterrence (around 1100 warheads).  Because of their survivability, firepower, and accuracy they are the one component of the nuclear triad that should be maximized. Bombers and missiles are more easily intercepted. Because of its dispersion, mobility, and concealment, an SLBM force is effectively invulnerable while at sea. The solution for maintaining the country’s nuclear deterrence is to discontinue the land based component of the triad, reduce proposed bomber budgets, and put the savings into the SLBM leg. 

Internet in your car?

Recently Chevrolet began touting the ability to seamlessly connect their vehicles to the internet using the built-in OnStar 4G LTE Wi-Fi hotspot.  That’s right, in the face of one the biggest threats to car safety, namely texting while driving, GM has decided that it would be a good idea to make it easier. The dangers of cell phone use while driving are incredible. At any given time throughout the day, approximately 660,000 drivers are attempting to use their phones while behind the wheel of an automobile. In 2011 at least 23% of all auto collisions involved cell phones.  Worse, more than 7 in 10 young adults feel confident that they can safely text while driving. It is no wonder that 11 teens die every day as a result of texting while driving.  Instead of encouraging bad behavior, GM and the rest of the auto industry should be exploring technologies that inhibit cellular use in a car.  One example is the use of location-based technology that detects texting while driving utilizing the GPS and Network Location services of Android mobile phones to estimate the speed that the cell phone is travelling at the time text messages are sent. There is no available a technology based solution for iPhones, due to Apple’s long standing policy of denying access to low level device interfaces.  As a result an iPhone app cannot block or auto respond to a text message while a person is driving.

 A relative simplistic solution is to jam the cellphones in the vehicle by transmitting a signal on the same frequency and at a high enough power that the two signals collide and cancel each other out.  Although, this technology is available, Federal law prohibits the operation of jamming devices in the United States. The FCC considers radio frequency transmitters that intentionally block, jam or interfere with authorized communications such as cellphone calls, GPS systems, Wi-Fi networks and first-responder communications illegal. Not only should the FCC revisit this prohibition in the case of auto vehicles, the Federal government should take the initiative in making cars safer by requiring that this jamming technology be installed in all vehicles, similar to what was done for seatbelts. It should come as no surprise that GM has made yet another bad decision with respect to vehicle safety in light of the $35-million fine levied by the the NHTSA against them, recalls and a plethora of safety issues. By all accounts, GM is trying to change their culture to meet quality and safety issues head on. The decision to put Wi-Fi in their vehicles is a clear indication that GM may not have yet turned the corner. 

When leading from behind is a good thing

Fiscal pressures mandate a defense strategy that accounts for the requisite resources to execute it. Accordingly, it is a propitious time to revisit our NATO commitments. Recently, European President Jean-Claude Juncker called for the formation of a 'European Army' in response to the amplified Russian threat to member states.  Others have called for a consolidated EU Air Force because of the evident benefits of pooling large investments in procurement, operation, and sustainment. Operation Atalanta comprised of EU naval forces which deter acts of piracy and armed robbery off the Somali coast has been an undeniable success, but making this European naval force even more remarkable is the juxtaposition with NATO maritime forces

conducting related Operation Ocean Shield counter-piracy operations. Furthermore, both NATO and EU maritime forces operate with Combined Task Force 151 which is the US led multinational counter piracy naval task force. Participating countries are compelled to calibrate their level of commitment to these maritime forces notwithstanding national tasking. It is worth noting that nontraditional partners like Kuwait, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and even China have joined the counter piracy operations.  Cynics might argue that the rush to join in counter piracy is because piracy is an easy target with an adversary that poses no realistic threat to coalition forces.  By any measure, a sophisticated multi-million dollar ship chasing an outboard powered skiff does not make a lot of sense. The point is that the EU maritime forces are extremely capable and are effectively interchangeable with their counterpart maritime forces.  From the standpoint of command and control, NATO and EU maritime forces enjoy a close relationship to the point where their respective operations centers are collocated.  It would seem to be a no brainer to advance this proof of concept to the next level, and have the EU maritime forces supplant NATO’s.   There are at least three unquestionable benefits: (1) unity of effort, (2) fiscal efficiencies and (3) consistency with US strategy. 

(1) Because the same forces and capabilities form the basis of both EU and NATO defense efforts ("separable, but not separate”), current doctrine  espouses no duplication of what was done effectively under NATO, no decoupling from the US and NATO, and no discrimination against non-EU members such as Turkey. While for the most part, this approach has been successful, there is no doubt that there is duplication of effort (e.g. counter piracy) resulting in separate chains of command that may or may not be aligned.  Consolidating these operations would be of obvious benefit to the unity of effort.  

(2) The drumbeat to rebalance our contribution to NATO was initially sounded by Secretary Gates who famously warned that the alliance risked “a collective military irrelevance” if it continued to rely on the generosity of the US taxpayer which according to NATO’s 2013 annual report was about  73 percent of the alliance’s defense expenditures. Worse is while the US contribution has been increasing our European partners are shrinking their investment.  Secretary Hegel has warned that if the Europeans do not invest in their security, the US will rebalance to partners that share the burden more equitably.  Shifting the cost of mutual security from NATO to the EU, would make the EU responsible for enforcing compliance with contribution guidelines (at least 2% of GDP). The raison d'être for EU defense forces is independence from US control. Now is an opportune occasion for the EU to pick up the slack. Obviously, this transition will need to be a phased approach, maybe taking as long as ten years.  

(3)  US naval strategy has for some time been shifting to an emphasis on promoting and supporting global maritime partnerships. Recently the commander of US naval forces in the Pacific signaled a willingness to support a combined ASEAN maritime patrol in the South China Sea should ASEAN members take the lead. With the stark recognition that the US cannot do it alone, the US must increase its reliance on maritime partnerships. Consistent with these realities, our strategy should include charting a course for consolidating EU and NATO efforts. 

When did lying become acceptable?

In a recent New York Times opinion piece Justin McBrayer laments how this country has lost its moral compass. He and his philosophy professor colleagues have observed that the overwhelming majority of college freshmen in their classrooms view moral claims as mere opinions that are not true.  He makes the point that this troubling phenomenon is rooted in the Common Core standards that  require that students be able to “distinguish among fact, opinion, and reasoned judgment in a text.”  For example, using these evolving standards “all men are created equal” and “drug dealers belong in prison” are considered to be opinions, because these assertions cannot be tested or proven, and are supposedly subjective determinations. The implications are not just academic, because if there are no moral truths how does society prosecute criminal transgressions, or if all humans are not created equal, then why vote for any political system that doesn't benefit you over others? The corollary of turning opinion into fact is equally pernicious. Over the last twenty years this country has tolerated what are simply bold faced lies made to support an agenda or position. "I did not have sex...”, Mitt Romney was a murderer, Ferguson suspect had his hands up, Benghazi was about a video, emails lost at the IRS, and the list goes on. News stories used to be spun depending on the desired impact, these days stories are simply invented. The result is that younger generations are rightfully suspicious of any information that may be politicized.

Thousand Ship Navy Redux

As a guiding principle the Cooperative Strategy for the 21st Century Revision revisits the concept of a “global network of navies”.  In 2006 Admiral Mullen was a tireless proponent of the Thousand Ship Navy operating concept comprised of an “international fleet of like-minded nations”, foreign navies, commercial shipping companies, and merchant vessels. This concept was controversial with US policymakers because cynics saw a concept that outsourced maritime security due to an inadequate acquisition program, a shrinking shipbuilding capability, and a lack of political will for a strong Navy.  Allies were also critical because they regarded the concept a ploy by the US to gain control over their indigenous maritime assets and could possibly result in being orthogonal to a country’s national interest. Making the concept even more problematic was the long standing distrust between some US partners, particularly in Asia. The concept was not entirely thrown over the transom, as the notion of global maritime partnerships has gained traction due to the nexus of technologies like AIS and a general willingness among nations to share maritime information.  Successful examples usually include counter-piracy off Somalia, the Italian led Virtual Regional Maritime Traffic Center and the maritime center in Singapore established to ensure maritime security in the straits of Malacca.  The Thousand Ship Navy initiative is indeed a cautionary tale. The lesson learned is to build upon existing successes and move forward a strategy to further increase maritime security partnerships fleshed out in a study completed several years ago by The Naval Studies Board.

More about Google for the Brain

It has been almost four years since contemplating (see Google for the Brain) a neural prosthetic that would permit you to see Google results on your retina. So, it was with no surprise to learn that DARPA had recently announced the cortical modem concept. They envision a heads-up display or augmented reality projection appearing in your natural vision with no helmet or smart glasses produced from a device about the size of two coins and cost about $10. The full story can be found at http://www.cnet.com/news/scientists-propose-cortical-modem-implant-to-give-you-terminator-vision/

Leges sine moribus vanae

Prof. Simon Kuznets

“Education is the Most Powerful Weapon Which You Can Use to Change the World.” – Nelson Mandela

Whilst watching an interesting TED presentation, the speaker referenced the influential economist Simon Kuznets (who at one time during his long and distinguished career was a Penn faculty member.)  His research focused on using statistics to analyze empirical data which is foundational to econometrics, a branch of the dismal science made infamous at Wharton.

What makes his research particularly relevant to today's economic challenges is that his general theories of economic growth explained the phenomenon of income inequality.  Kuznets discovered the Inverted U-shaped relation between income inequality and economic growth. In poor countries, economic growth due to a shift from an agricultural to an industrial economy increases the income disparity between rich and poor.  In the long run, mass education decreases income inequality by providing greater opportunities and fostering more political empowerment.

While most nations in Africa (notwithstanding their endemic corruption) offer strikingly obvious examples of income inequality due to the tectonic shift from agriculture to industrial economies. Less clearly identifiable is the impact that innovation has had on increasing income inequality in more developed economies.  Simply put companies like Microsoft, Apple, Intel and Hewlett Packard have transformed the US economy and turned the page on a new chapter of economic growth which is largely the result of a well-developed educational delivery system and an environment that generally facilitates entrepreneurship. Consequently, astute observers have concluded that the conversation about income inequality should be more appropriately focused on educational inequality which is attributed to disparities that often fall along racial lines. For example, family background has been identified as the most influential factor in student achievement. Unfortunately, 15% of white children are raised in single-parent homes, as compared to 54% of African American children.  On the campaign trail,  Barack Obama talked about how there are more college age blacks in jail (or on probation) than in college. Professor Ivory Toldson at Howard University who has studied the issue concludes that the real problem is that because just getting into any college is considered a success there are not enough black students in competitive universities while over represented in community colleges. Of course, this is just another systemic example of where as a country we are settling for mediocrity in the name of democracy. 

 

However, as long as there is income inequality the simplistic and pernicious argument is that inequality is rooted in pervasive discrimination - no matter the wealth of evidence that students who are better prepared and are the product of stable family backgrounds perform better in school, thus assuring more chances of economic and other success in adulthood. Simple solutions like income redistribution do not solve a problem as complex as income inequality, or more correctly educational inequality.

Africa – Crucible for maritime domain awareness: What are the investment priorities?

Maritime domain awareness is critically positioned at the nexus of the technological and cultural implications of networking; the renewed impetus for data sharing across government and non-governmental organizations; and the general goodwill for building maritime partnerships. Notwithstanding the general recognition and support for improved maritime domain awareness there are significant challenges with regard to the development of common information sharing environments for the maritime domain. Both at national level and at the regional level, authorities responsible for defense, border control, customs, marine pollution, fisheries control, maritime safety and security, vessel traffic management, accident and disaster response, search and rescue as well as law enforcement are collecting information for their own purposes.  While the technological means exist to share this information, information sharing standards, agreements, and policies need to be in place in order to overcome the cultural, organizational and legal hurdles before these well recognized silos of information can be used successfully to “connect the dots.” 

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