How AI misrepresents culture through a facial expression. — Imagine a time traveler journeyed to various times and places throughout human history and showed soldiers and warriors of the periods what a “selfie” is. This is the premise for a series of AI-generated images posted on r/midjourney. Below are a few examples of the images this prompt produced:

Are you experiencing Kafkaesque? You might have post-viral illness. — As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect. So, famously, begins Metamorphosis, by Franz Kafka. This experience of waking up inexplicably trapped in a body that has suddenly become foreign, incomprehensible, and reviled is no doubt familiar to…

We’ll make a lot more progress against chronic illness in this century once we decide we actually want to understand what we’re dealing with. — Good news! COVID is over and you can breathe easy without a mask or any mitigation measures because everything is back to normal now and unless you’re an important person at the World Economic Forum you don’t need to think or talk about SARS COV-2 ever again!

If you’re lucky, there’s nothing to worry about. — Previously, I posed the question, what will be the maximum upper limit of SARS CoV-2 infection? By next year we’ll have reached the point where people have started having 5 or more reinfections. What happens at 15? Or 25? What is the reinfection event horizon? Biochemist Carl Jakobs graciously responded…

How many COVID infections will you have in your lifetime? There’s probably a limit. — It is now no longer in question that our collective disinterest in doing the most bare minimum to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus pandemic is perpetuating mass disablement. On May 24, 2022, the CDC, of all places, announced that more than 1 in 5 COVID cases results in Long…

From Long COVID to Parkinson’s Disease what doctors aren’t telling you about viruses can ruin your life. — If you knew anything about chronic fatigue syndrome or myalgic encephalomyelitis or, most tellingly, post-viral syndrome when COVID-19 arrived, then you too knew “Long COVID” was coming. Most people have no idea what these terms mean, even though at this point they really should be common knowledge.

By pathologizing normal human reactions and psychologizing true biophysical dysfunction the mental health establishment is giving cover to colossal injustice and dehumanization. — As Krishnamurti famously said, it is no measure of health to be well-adjusted to a profoundly sick society. But profoundly sicker these days tho, amirite? Sure, there’s the half a billion documented COVID cases that have resulted in an estimated 18 million global dead. Those who survive acute infection, within…

In April 2020 my father died of COVID. In February 2022 my uncle died of COVID. In between nearly 1 million Americans died of COVID. More than in any war in American history. Leaving behind an estimated 9 million family members mourning their loved ones. …

For over a decade of my life I, like countless others, suffered from debilitating chronic back pain. It took over my life. I couldn’t sit through a day of work without being in excruciating pain. I weighed every movie, every concert, every night out with friends against the inevitable pain…