Tag Archives: Google

Cookie-ing!

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An interesting conversation which I had today with a very dear friend, who claims to be an activist researcher 😉

When it comes to making people aware of the implications of what could be happening with your data, which one shares, knowingly or unknowingly on the Internet,

While browsing through different websites

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While filling up the forms which a website might ask you to fill.

And with the likes of Fb and Google being questioned over the intended or unintended usage of the data that they collect,

Keeping in mind that their revenue model is focused upon using the data, be it personal or impersonal that they collect from their subscriber base,

With GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) becoming the talk of the town and India planning to have its own data regulation regime incorporating the fundamentals of privacy and explicit consent;

Let us look at the life-cycle of search and few implications of the same.

Looking for some info?

First thing one does is to search it on Google, which provides several options in the form of suggestions to explore.

Once one chooses to visit the website of choice, a message displaying the Cookie policy is displayed,

Which, without giving much thought to the implications of acceptance of the same, one tends to agree to,

In lieu of getting access to the most coveted information that one might be looking for, at that point of time.

Though, if you have enough free time to go through the policy, it gives you an option and suggested methodology on how one can choose not to agree to implementing certain irrelevant cookies,

But seldom, do we, consider it important enough to go through and make an informed choice.

The question that arises is, whose responsibility is it to make people aware of the implications?

The likes of the category, who would concur with my friend has a take that the respective companies who own the website, should be held responsible for providing information in the most easy of formats, when it comes to readability and accessibility,

In order to ensure that people make an informed choice.

On the other hand the companies tend to cite the legal angle, where they adhere to the laws, by providing information if one chooses to take pain and go through.

Whatever said and done, though, on the face value, it doesn’t seem to be a matter of life and death,

Yet, the implications of such an act is unclear to most of us, who happen to be reaping perceived benefits from the digital age.

Would be interesting to look at the implications and how this Cookie-ing could play a role in our lives, if at all!

Food for thought for the researchers, who aspire to explore the unknown! 🙂

Source for the Image: https://pixabay.com/images/search/privacy%20policy/

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The Google Doctor!

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Having had the privilege to spend some fantastic time with the stakeholders in the healthcare community, cannot help but sharing a mind blogging and truly insightful discussion I happened to be a part of, which generally remains closed for the outsiders.

For maintaining anonymity and not causing any heads turn, would name the doc as D and myself as Me:

Me: “So doc, hows everything?”

D: “What to tell! Patients these days are reading so much on Google and then they argue about anything and everything that we tell them, thereby wasting our precious time which we can give to other patients, also delaying the diagnosis.”

Me: “But isn’t that great, prospective patients becoming more receptive?”

D: “It’s not so simple, my friend.”

What was to follow was nothing short of a discovery in itself!

D: “It’s not that, we doctors, don’t want to share. Of course, we do and of course we would want everyone to become self-aware when it comes to physiology or anatomy, but somehow if you were in my shoes, you would not beg to differ. 

First of all, for the same symptoms, there could be infinite number of possibilities, and in places like India, especially when everyone is trying to save few bucks, for the want of it, or for the lack of it, you cannot recommend too much of diagnosis, unless the case is critical enough. 

Yes, in few instances, precious time is wasted, but if you were to write a plethora of tests, which, by the way, would lead to accurate diagnosis, you would be labeled an inexperienced doctor or a pricy one, in both cases, your practice would suffer and with the kind of cheap competition that we all have gone into, it would end up in a disaster, leave alone for those who have paid hefty prices to get into a private medical college of sorts and leave alone the quality of education being imparted. 

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Even after you have got the results, as they say, to err is human, and I would be honest in admitting that there are cases where we miss upon on the critical information, might be due to lack of awareness/knowledge or may be we were just too stressed out. 

And on top of that, when there are 100s of patients to be seen in a day with an expectation of getting the best solution/medicine in the lowest possible cost, it becomes an inhumanly affair to handle, after all we are humans and not robots, which reminds me of the fantastic work that you guys are putting in to make our lives easier, wonder why one section of the healthcare community is so averse to adapting new things and technology, knowing very well that it would ultimately benefit the mankind and the entire healthcare community. 

Coming back to the diagnosis, which is the key, when it comes to treatment or recognizing the prognosis of a disease, it still very much remains an art which doctors gain from experience, though with the state-of-the-art research happening, it’s becoming more and more scientific and logical in nature, though I believe there is a long way before we reach a stage where we have a machine, which gives you diagnosis in a fraction of a second. 

Having said that, we doctors, try to be as patient as possible, try to put ourselves in patient’s shoes and try to maintain an EQ (emotional quotient) which I would say is much higher than in other sectors, considering the kind of unnatural demands that the entire community faces on a daily basis, not to mention having to bear the brunt of the patients and their families, when we aren’t able to fulfill the same. 

As a community, it would have been wonderful, if we were more in number, if we had distributed workload, if the doctors were united internally, not playing a part in the rat race or the corrupt practices. 

Having said the above, it still remains a very noble profession, it still gives me immense pride and pleasure along with the un-measurable satisfaction, when I save a life, which I believe no other job can offer. 

One thing I would, in any case, mention, trust an experienced doctor, even though, they might not be the BRAHMA of sorts, yet, they definitely would know much more than a GOOGLE or what any other website can offer, for GOOGLE just bombs you with the plethora of information, what sense you make out of it, still very much remains the prerogative of the doctor or in times to come the likes of machines and bots. 

Source for the Image: http://healthnewsng.com/more-nigerian-doctors-are-applying-for-us-residency-program/

The UBER Life!

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Well, yes, to an extent, referring to the life led by the celebrities and the who’s who of their respective sectors and industries, but really to the world which is getting more and more explored.

The likes of Google and Uber have made sure that we reach the remotest of places, without the feel of getting lost in the wilderness.

No more a discovery of sorts, where there are roads, there are taxis and people treading on the same, where you can read about places on the internet.

The fantasies and the glitters of discovering something is an Uber or a Google away. The small joys of life are becoming much more obvious.

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Accessibility has been redefined. Accessibility and explored nature have led to reduction in insecurity, at the same time, have affected the thrill and the charm which, once upon a time, was somewhat a synonym to exploration.

That reminds of me of companies being formed, whose sole purpose is to make your rendezvous with thrill in a secured manner, which, by the way, was a part and parcel of the very being that we all are.

The more the comforts, the more the monotony that seems to be creeping in all our lives. The pleasures which seemed to be so significant when we were all young, be it going to our grandparents place to going for a vacation, has become more an yearly routine to be a must take, so that we all can post our pics on the God of social media, facebook, to be liked by one and all.

Not getting into the good and the bad analogy, just wonder, with lives getting more busy and we mortals losing the charm of discovery, whether to travel places, would mean more Skype calls, made in a day, in times to come?

Source for Image: https://www.uber.com/en-IN/

Figure out the GOOGLE in you!

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One day, a philosopher was sitting beneath a tree, thinking about the usual, what is life, what is my purpose etc. etc. 

All of a sudden, he felt a cool breeze embracing his hair and face with love and warmth. Don’t know why, that experience made him believe very strongly in, life is about the little experiences that touch our being every moment. 

So many guys have tried, some have taken the path of a sanyasi , few have tread the middle path proposed by Gautam Buddha, few have committed suicide, few have become hippies but no one has been able to figure out the existence of the almighty.

The question is not whether God exists or not, but whether one should actually be wasting his/her time in figuring out the same.

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For what we are, a physical mass which tends to interact with whatever is around us, if it were not because of the experience per say, what is it to live.

In sweet and simple terms, if you are not experiencing, if you are not making yourself open to the little pleasures of life, you are not living. For life was meant to be experienced.

So, instead of trying to find who built Google, why not figure out the Google in you and get on an exploration spree.

Source for the Image: https://www.thinglink.com/scene/744685614862958594

The Healthcare Dream!

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It’s not very often when you get up in the middle of the night to figure out that you have a swollen foot. Somehow, you don’t know what to do, whom to ask? And waking up your family members for no urgent reason as such doesn’t make sense.

But you gotta do something, for the fear of the same getting aggravated. You move out into your living room to deliberate on the possible options. Putting soframycin would make sense as a lay man, but the fear of the same having a disastrous reaction with the seemingly fungal infection going through your foot makes you take a pause.

You go to the likes of Google and try to find a possible solution for the same, only to be confused even more with the plethora of symptoms mentioned and the possible permutations and combinations.

What you end up realizing is that you need a medical practitioner to take care of the symptoms. You wish there was a medical friend, philosopher and guide, a medical resource available at the click of a button, whom you could call and possibly share a pic of your foot to be instructed about the immediate step to be taken and then a follow up the next morning.

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May be, if you were living in the 1990s, you wouldn’t even dare to bring such a thought in your mind and revert to exploring the option of waking up your family doctor, that is if you had one.

But today’s India is very different with the no. of MedTech solutions that tend to be sprouting up every single day of our lives with every new start-up idea taking the shape of a company in every nook and corner of the start-up hubs.

Telemedicine is no more a dream. The three key things related to healthcare sector in particular, be it accessibility, affordability or availability are being addressed for different conditions with customized solutions available for each one of them.

How wonderful it would be, when everything in the entire scheme of things in the healthcare sector, would be automated, ranging from appointment to availability of health records on a platform, from diagnosis being done by computers to medicines provided at door step by the pharmacies registered on the same platform.

Still, some work needs to be done when it comes to integrating the functionalities of every stakeholder and bringing them to a common platform, where a seamless and efficient interaction can take place between the patients and the doctors and pain points for both can be taken care of with the help of associated players (e.g. pharmacies and diagnostic centers).

The day is not far when the healthcare dream will be fulfilled with dedicated start-up individuals taking the onus on their shoulders to make this world a better place to live in. After all, this is what lies at the core of happy living, isn’t it?

Source for Image: http://www.conrisnurses.co.uk/