James East

James East reviewed a book.

“Much like the 80/20 rule that came from Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto which was created to describe the unequal distribution of wealth in his country, the Social Atom expands this to the social sciences on broader terms. The book is a very quick read from both a Psychology and Social Science...”

“Much like the 80/20 rule that came from Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto which was created to describe the unequal distribution of wealth in his country, the Social Atom expands this to the social sciences on broader terms. The book is a very quick read from both a Psychology and Social Science perspective, but also on the hidden patterns and explanations of why things appear as they do. Each chapter essentially builds on itself to get the reader to the point where the author can then discuss the "critical state" of things. One example is you can randomly place yellow, brown, black, and white objects in an environment with very simple rules and the objects will, over time, tend to join each other of similar color. Now replace the objects with people and you get the same clustering in most every major city which has nothing to do with racism. As most ecologists now know, if you destroy one pest in farming, you may introduce another more menacing pest going forward or the unintended consequences of a good idea. The Social Atom helps the reader understand that small steps/changes can cause a phase change, like ice to water. These phase changes indicate that things are indeed in the critical state and subsequently obey the results of power laws like Vilfredo Pareto's wealth distribution which again is applicable to almost every nation whether democratic or otherwise of a different ideology. The point is that many hidden patterns and systems inherently evolve to the critical state and if you look closely enough they are present everywhere (i.e. Ubiquity), but we just never noticed before. Also see 'Ubiquity: Why Catastrophes Happen'”

James East now owns a book.

James East reviewed a book.

“To abstain from doing harm, or more colloquial as in - `First, do not harm' which is believed to have been written by the famous Greek physician Hippocrates is the basis of `Reckoning With Risk'. When dealing with medical risk, doctors, nurses, counselors all run with the crowd of the illusion of...”

“To abstain from doing harm, or more colloquial as in - `First, do not harm' which is believed to have been written by the famous Greek physician Hippocrates is the basis of `Reckoning With Risk'. When dealing with medical risk, doctors, nurses, counselors all run with the crowd of the illusion of certainty with recommendations of pre-screening tests. For example, though a mammogram is believed to be prudent in women over 40, rarely does the advising medical practitioner take into account the costs of screening. This is not just monetary costs, but costs associated with mental and physical costs due to a potential false positive due to the screening. It is very infrequent that a medical practitioner will advise the patient of the potential of a false positive due to their own incentives for testing, and innumeracy of the practitioner. We all tend to live in a world, or want a world, with a degree of certainty. However, it is surely prudent on the patient's part to truly seek 'informed consent' of the risks prior to proceeding with a particular treatment. Reckoning With Risk goes into detail of how one can inform oneself of the natural frequency of pre-screening tests (vs. relative frequency) and the potential benefits of a screening or taking of a therapeutic drug. Unfortunately, we do not live in a world of certainty, so this book will educate you to live a little better with the uncertainty.”

James East now owns a book.

James East has read a book.