I agree, but the real issue is the poor knowledge of probability and risk in the population as a whole. Just because you and I (or some other group of doctors and statisticians) could sit down with data on disease incidence and test reliability to calculate an optimal screening programme and a patient pathway for a particular disease, doesn’t mean that it will actually happen that way.
The delivery of healthcare is also determined by the attitudes of the population it serves. If the attitude of patients is “you don’t know what you’re talking about and I want it my way, down with medical paternalism” and complaints in that vein are listened to and acted upon, then they will indeed get what they want, even if it’s the wrong thing.
Over investigation and treatment leads to a massive burden of iatrogenic morbidity and mortality, not to mention burgeoning healthcare expenditure. But it’s what happens when you combine societal expectations that doctors will collaborate with patients in their care regardless of whether the patient really understands what is happening to them or not; handsomely remunerates practitioners who generate billable procedures; and punishes those practitioners who generate complaints, regardless of the rights or wrongs of the complaint.
I’ve turned down patients for anaesthesia and surgery who are looking down the barrel of a 50% chance of survival and only a 10-20% chance of a good outcome with no adverse outcomes; who even then would have to recuperate for as long as their actuarially predicted remaining life span to gain the supposed benefits of surgery. And I’m the bad guy, because “I’ll be fine, it’s never been a problem before.”
It’s satire that highlights real facts obscured by a dangerously racist corporate brand.
It’s also an overdue response to an actual racist slur against an assimilated Jewish person by a candidate for office who promises to use state power abusively against racial minorities.
Not as hard as memorizing calculus functions but …
You are aware the name was changed sometime during the 17th century? You, also, seem to be unnecessarily creating a narrative. The facts are ugly enough, that was my original point.
I know the odds and play the lottery anyways when I feel like blowing ten bucks out of my hand and into the fire. Because if I don’t get a ticket, I know I will NEVER win. With a ticket, I might win. Slim to none odds but so what. If I were destitute I wouldn’t play at all. And I understand the lottery as tax on the poor arguments and agree. I just see it like Vegas, sorta fun to dream but whatever life goes on, not going to sacrifice anything of consequence for it.
I never had a calculus class in high school. The only calculus I ever had was “Business Calculus” in college, which is “here’s how to use a graphing calculator.”
Calculus is extremely useful in STEM. I work for an engineering company, where I have to implement stuff that is in Scary Calculus Notation; I worked previously in the computer game industry, where I occasionally had to implement stuff that was in Scary Calculus Notation; one of my hobbies is electronic music and if you want to do any DSP development at all, it helps to understand Scary Calculus Notation. I really wish I understood calculus.
What I have never needed – nor anyone else who is not an actual academic mathematicians – is the ability to do geometric proofs. Which got drilled into our heads repeatedly as early as 7th grade.
I had two different math teachers tell me “you will never use matrix math in your daily life but you have to learn it anyway, so I have to teach it.” And of course it’s all over the place in 3D graphics as well as engineering, so I’m glad.
