On the one hand and on the other hand

Ialways liked the scenes in the movie adaptation of the musical “Fiddler on the Roof,” where the main character, Tevye the milkman, would ponder something and then ponder an alternate, saying “on the other hand.” In the movie he evidently was an octopus because he had lots of other hands, but I only have two.

On the one hand, there is something to be said for hearing musical artists just use their natural, unadulterated human voices to sing live in concert without backing tracks or lip syncing. On the other hand, in the 1980s I experienced Ozzy Osbourne and David Lee Roth “singing” live in concert without backing tracks or lip syncing.

On the one hand, believing that a good story is a good story regardless of the genre and because I wrote a column about her recently, I started reading former Fairfielder Rosemary Rogers’ bestselling historical romance novel, “Sweet Savage Love.” On the other hand, it ain’t the kind of book I read in public unless I want to get slapped with yet another Man Card suspension.

On the one hand, I am ecstatic because as of May 17 I have been following Bright Line Eating for four years now and have been maintaining a 140- to 150-pound weight loss.

On the other hand, I am sad that my decision to take control of my health has truly hurt a Vacaville business I will call the Big and Tall and Overpriced Store that can’t seem to take the hint that we are done, so I think I’ll have to send them a “Dear John” letter.

On the one hand, I like diversity and inclusion and celebrate that “Sesame Street” recently added their first Filipino character, TJ. On the other hand, “Peanuts” characters Peppermint Patty and Marcie have been in the closet for over 50 years.

On the one hand, I liked that last point about the Peanuts characters even though I was hesitant to include it because people have written long diatribes about if they are gay or not. On the other hand, uh, they are fictional characters.

On the one hand, having the defending NBA champion Golden State Warriors get unceremoniously bounced from this year’s playoffs at the hands of my 17-time NBA Champion Los Angeles Lakers was deli- cious. On the other hand … there is no other hand. Both of my hands high five each other on this one.

On the one hand, I am aware that mere possessions cannot bring you true happiness or inner fulfillment. On the other hand, Waterfront Comics owner John Harter suggested I get a copy of the graphic novel “The Illustrated Al: The Songs of Weird Al Yankovic” that has his song lyrics with awesome artwork that is reminiscent of old Mad Magazines, and it has taken me pretty darn close.

On the one hand, I am so happy that my wife Beth got her second hip replaced last week at Kaiser Vacaville and will soon be giving Jaime Sommers a run for her money. On the other hand, her doctor rejected my request that he also implant a device that I could make her do my bidding using my remote control and become a true Master of Puppets like the Metallica album.

On the one hand, choosing to become a whole foods-plant strong eater in February 2020 was one of the best decisions I ever made, and I feel better than I ever have in my life. On the other hand, I can still wholeheartedly celebrate the 70th anniversary of Joe’s Buffet and the 60th anniversary

An AI may be your next therapist; will it actually help

In the past few years, 10,000 to 20,000 apps have stampeded into the mental health space, offering to “disrupt” traditional therapy. With the frenzy around AI innovations like ChatGPT, the claim that chatbots can provide mental health care is on the horizon.

The numbers explain why: Pandemic stresses led to millions more Americans seeking treatment. At the same time, there has long been a shortage of mental health professionals in the United States; more than half of all counties lack psychiatrists. Given the Affordable Care Act’s mandate that insurers offer parity between mental and physical health coverage, there is a gaping chasm between demand and supply.

For entrepreneurs, that presents a market bonanza. At the South by Southwest conference in March, where health startups dis-

CORRECTION POLICY played their products, there was a near-religious conviction that AI could rebuild health care, offering apps and machines that could diagnose and treat all kinds of illnesses, replacing doctors and nurses.

Unfortunately, in the mental health space, evidence of effectiveness is lacking. Few of the many apps on the market have independent outcomes research showing they help; most haven’t been scrutinized at all by the FDA. Though marketed to treat conditions such as anxiety, attention-deficit/ hyperactivity disorder, and depression, or to predict suicidal tendencies, many warn users (in small print) that they are “not intended to be medical, behavioral health or other healthcare service” or “not an FDA cleared product.”

There are good reasons to be cautious in the face of this marketing juggernaut.

Decades ago, Joseph Weizenbaum, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology

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and considered one of the fathers of artificial intelligence, predicted AI would never make a good therapist, though it could be made to sound like one.

In fact, his original AI program, created in the 1960s, was a psychotherapist named ELIZA, which used word and pattern recognition combined with natural language programming to sound like a therapist:

Woman: Well, my boyfriend made me come here.ELIZA: Your boyfriend made you come here?Woman: He says I’m depressed much of the time.ELIZA: I am sorry to hear that you are depressed.Woman: It’s true. I am unhappy.ELIZA: Do you think coming here will help you not to be unhappy?

Though hailed as an AI triumph, ELIZA’s “success” terrified Weizenbaum, whom I once interviewed. He said students would interact with the machine as if Eliza were an actual therapist, when what he’d created was “a party trick,” he said.

He foresaw the evolution of far more sophisticated programs like ChatGPT. But “the experiences a computer might gain under such circumstances are not human experiences,” he told me. “The computer will not, for example, experience loneliness in any sense that we understand it.”

The same goes for anxiety or ecstasy, emotions so neurologically complex that scientists have not been able pinpoint their neural origins. Can a chatbot achieve transference, the empathic flow between patient and doctor that is central to many types of therapy?

“The core tenet of medicine is that it’s a relationship between human and human — and AI can’t love,” said Bon Ku, director of the Health Design Lab at Thomas Jefferson University and a pioneer in medical innovation. “I have a human therapist, and that will never be replaced by AI.” of Dave’s Giant Hamburgers this year even though I no longer eat their historic fare.

On the one hand, I have to sometimes stop and remember just how incredible it is to have literally hundreds of movies at my fingertips to watch whenever I want to. On the other hand, after searching for something to watch I more often than not settle on something I have seen so many times I know the dialogue better than the characters in the movie.

On the one hand, as an adult I now know that a lot of the things my mom told me – like if I kept making a certain face it would freeze that way – are just not true. On the other hand, I always keep a pair of clean Emergency Underwear in my car in case I’m in an accident. Fairfield freelance humor columnist and accidental local historian Tony Wade writes two weekly columns: “ The Last Laugh” on Mondays and “Back in the Day” on Fridays. Wade is also the author of The History Press books “Growing Up In Fairfield, California,” “Lost Restaurants of Fairfield, California,” the upcoming book Armijo High School: Fairfield, California” and hosts the Channel 26 government access TV show “Local Legends.”

Ku said he’d like to see AI used instead to reduce practitioners’ tasks like record-keeping and data entry to “free up more time for humans to connect.”

While some mental health apps may ultimately prove worthy, there is evidence that some can do harm. One researcher noted that some users faulted these apps for their “scripted nature and lack of adaptability beyond textbook cases of mild anxiety and depression.”

It may prove tempting for insurers to offer up apps and chatbots to meet the mental health parity requirement. After all, that would be a cheap and simple solution, compared with the difficulty of offering a panel of human therapists, especially since many take no insurance because they consider insurers’ payments too low.

Perhaps seeing the flood of AI hitting the market, the Department of Labor announced last year it was ramping up efforts to ensure better insurer compliance with the mental health parity requirement. The FDA likewise said late last year it “intends to exercise enforcement discretion” over a range of mental health apps, which it will vet as medical devices. So far, not one has been approved. And only a very few have gotten the agency’s breakthrough device designation, which fast-tracks reviews and studies on devices that show potential.

These apps mostly offer what therapists call structured therapy – in which patients have specific problems and the app can respond with a workbook-like approach. For example, Woebot combines exercises for mindfulness and self-care (with answers written by teams of therapists) for postpartum depression. Wysa, another app that has received a breakthrough device designation, delivers cognitive behavioral therapy for anxiety, depression, and chronic pain.

Apple will let you teach your iPhone to speak in your voice

thE Washington Post

Starting later this year, you’ll be able to type out a friendly greeting or your coffee order on an iPhone and hear your own voice – or something like it – speak it aloud.

It won’t require any additional apps or accounts, either; just a free software update from Apple.

To people who have full use of their voice, this tool –a feature the company calls Personal Voice – may not seem like much more than a clever curiosity. But for those who can no longer speak with the clarity or confidence they once did, tools like this could help them interact with the world, and the people in it, a little more easily.

Personal Voice is one of a handful of new assistive features that will arrive on Apple devices like iPhones, iPads and Mac computers “later this year,” the company said. Apple wouldn’t elaborate on exactly when users could expect to try these tools for themselves, but the company often highlights features like these before they appear in new versions of its iOS, iPadOS, and macOS software, which historically launch in the fall.

To help you keep these new accessibility features straight - and to help flag ones you may want to use yourself - here’s our brief guide to the tools coming to an Apple device near you.

Live Speech

How it works: Once enabled, you’ll be able to type out messages and remarks on an iPhone, iPad or Mac computer for the device to read out loud. And if there are certain sentences or phrases you find yourself relying on frequently, you can save these as shortcuts to play aloud with a tap.

Unless you create a Personal Voice model - which we’ll get to in a moment - you’ll hear Siri’s voice reading your words. This tool doesn’t just help when in-person conversations unfold - it also feeds that spoken audio into phone and FaceTime calls.

Personal Voice

How it works: To make those Live Speech messages sound like you, you’ll have to create a Personal Voice model. While we haven’t gotten to try the feature for ourselves, the company claims an iPhone or iPad can create a sound-alike voice after providing 15 minutes of spoken samples – in this case, a set of randomly chosen voice prompts.

Once that’s done, you can expect a bit of a wait –your device will chew on those samples overnight, after which you’ll be able to type out messages and hear them played back in your voice.

There’s just one more thing to keep in mind:

When you build a Personal Voice model, it lives on whatever device you created it on by default. That means you’ll have to go through the training process again on any other device you want to use that model on unless you give explicit permission for it to be shared across devices.