Over the past years we have all witnessed the kind of damage misinformation can bring to humanity. Labelling information as misinformation until proven to be so contradicts the scientific principle, as we could be obstructing hypotheses and useful views and opinions. Similarly, with progress of science, past presented information has at times proven to be misinformation.
Many ask themselves then:
- Is there an ultimate source of true information we could rely on?
- What tools we have available to detect misinformation and avoid it negatively impacting our decision making?
- Can we predict the likelihood of new information being affirmative in future?
We are accustomed to search outside for the answers, invent tools or fine-tune more AI systems to help the problem, and so a reminder that in terms of immediate accessibility, the answer to all is our biological system. Its own survival depends on the accuracy of its information, while coupled with imagination it becomes an extraordinary tool for detecting misinformation.
We have witnessed how AI systems can be fine-tuned to perform well in almost any task digitally captured. Could we not apply similar principles to fine-tune and confirm the less visible aspects of our being such as bodily signals interpretation, mind-to-body connection, intuition, imagination etc. There have been numerous research articles on the power of imagination including therapeutic benefits by focused application of ones’ imagination. In absence of resources for a clinical trial or precise evaluation metrics these potentials often remain relatively less explored and at times labelled as pseudoscience. The good news is the clinical trials are not a pre-requisite given one has means for a proper evaluation. The variety of evaluation metrics used to fine-tune and conclude on readiness of an AI system, can also be used by individuals to fine-tune, and evaluate their performance of interpreting their personalized body signals. This can be done in a variety of scenarios or experiment settings and the general principle behind the practice of many is:
- Take a few slow deep breaths focusing on the breath only and then imagine the situation where you have decided based on the assumption of the ‘information’ being the truth.
- While imagining that future state, feel for any change in bodily sensations or emotions and record these as indicative features.
- Repeat the process imagining you have decided assuming the ‘information’ is false.
To evaluate your performance as ‘information’ you can choose to be anything you do not currently know but can reveal to be truth or false. During this process the bio signals will be personalized to you who will gradually learn the most reliable predictive features. This is analogous to what AI does while the embodied AI may struggle to ever surpass the complexity of the totality of our own being aspects of which are still to be confirmed. As we fine tune ourselves at an individual level, collectively it can serve as a tool or additional feature for predicting the likelihood of adverse reactions to a new medicine or vaccine. This can become the superior tool to help the governments in those difficult decision-making times with many unknowns. The (AI) technology nor any human experts’ reason lack the guarantee of their system not having been influenced by misinformation or obstruction of true information. Your own personal evaluation and improvement over time will give you the confidence you are making the best decision for yourself (and other indirectly) which is in line with personalized medicine goals.