Innocence Lost: Simulation Scenarios: Prospects and Consequences

Those who believe suitably programmed computers could enjoy conscious experience of the sort we enjoy must accept the possibility that their own experience is being generated as part of a computerized simulation. It would be a mistake to dismiss this is just one more radical sceptical possibility: for as Bostrom has recently noted, if advances in computer technology were to continue at close to present rates, there would be a strong probability that we are each living in a computer simulation. The first part of this paper is devoted to broadening the scope of the argument: even if computers cannot sustain consciousness (as many dualists and materialists believe), there may still be a strong likelihood that we are living simulated lives. The implications of this result are the focus of the second part of the paper. The topics discussed include: the Doomsday argument, scepticism, the different modes of virtual life, transcendental idealism, the Problem of Evil, and simulation ethics

Home haemodialysis for older patients: barriers and enablers

The uptake of home-based treatments among kidney patients remains low, especially so in patients over the age of 65. In this article, Marissa Dainton reviews a number of studies that have been carried out to explain the lack of enthusiasm for this kind of treatment, indicates potential barriers to home-based treatments and establishes ways of addressing these

A review of the evidence for the use of haemodiafiltration

Most patients with end stage renal disease (ESRD) are supported with maintenance haemodialysis (HD) and this has been the case for many years. Recent improvements in water quality have led to the increased use of high-flux HD and more recently of online-haemodiafiltration (HDF). HDF has been promoted by some clinicians and by renal industry as potentially offering improved clinical and quality of life outcomes for patients over conventional HD. However, despite such benefits making theoretical sense very few studies of the use of HDF as compared to HD (especially high-flux HD) have been able to demonstrate any significant benefit for the therapy. This article reviews the most recent research that has compared HDF and HD and has identified that the evidence for the benefit of HDF remains elusive. This article, therefore, concludes that there is currently still not sufficient evidence from the research to support the contention that HDF confers benefits to patients over conventional HD and thereby no compelling evidence to justify its widespread use as a preferred form of treatment

Toward Universality in Similarity Renormalization Group Evolved Few-body Potential Matrix Elements

We first examine how T-matrix equivalence drives the flow of similarity renormalization group (SRG) evolved potential matrix elements to a universal form, with the ultimate goal of gaining insight into universality for three-nucleon forces. In agreement with observations made previously for Lee-Suzuki transformations, regions of universal potential matrix elements are restricted to where half-on-shell T-matrix equivalence holds, but the potentials must also reproduce binding energies. We find universality in local energy regions, reflecting a local decoupling by the SRG. To continue the study in the 3-body sector, we create a simple 1-D spinless boson "theoretical laboratory" for a dramatic improvement in computational efficiency. We introduce a basis-transformation, harmonic oscillator (HO) basis, which is used for current many-body calculations and discuss the imposed truncations. When SRG evolving in a HO-basis, we show that the evolved matrix elements, once transformed back into momentum-representation, differ from those when evolving with momentum representation. This is because the generator in each basis is not exactly the same due to the truncation, which creates evolution artifacts in the 3-body potential matrix elements. In the 2- body sector, this can be avoided by increasing the basis size, but it remains unclear whether this is possible in the 3-body sector, as truncation errors in the 3-body sector are more difficult to avoid, and the computational power required is greatly increased for three-body evolution.Comment: PhD thesis, Ohio State, 201

Attachment, Sex, and Gender Roles in Friendship

Popular culture seems to suggest that men\u27s friendships and women\u27s friendships are very different from each other. The study reported here focused on differentiating between biological sex and socialized gender roles in how friendships are maintained. An attachment theory perspective was used. 155 college students filled out a survey. Results indicated significant sex and gender differences in attachment, with men more likely to be dismissive than women; women more likely to be fearful avoidant than men; feminine people more likely to be secure or preoccupied than dismissive; and masculine people more likely to be secure or dismissive than preoccupied. These results suggest that masculinity is not the same as being male, and femininity is not the same as being female. There were sex differences in friendship maintenance, with women engaging in three out of the four activities more than men. Finally, androgynous people were more likely to engage in friendship maintenance than were either masculine or feminine people

Interracial Marriage

Dainton reported on a study that investigated the extent to which positive and negative maintenance communication predicted marital satisfaction and commitment in a sample of 90 individuals in an interracial marriage. An interdependence theory approach was used. Participants completed an online survey using SurveyMonkey’s audience request. Results of a regression equation indicate that four maintenance activities predicted 52% of the variance in satisfaction, with two being negative predictors (infidelity and avoidance) and two being positive predictors (conflict management and social networks). Three maintenance behaviors predicted commitment, with infidelity and giving advice being negative predictors and the use of social networks being a positive predictor. Finally, consistent with interdependence theory, marital satisfaction fully mediated the relationship between maintenance activity and commitment. The major implication for this study is that interracial couples need to talk more and avoid less than couples in intra-racial relationships