Flourishing Lives in Every Home

Deliberately promoting justice and human flourishing in our pluralistic world will require a clear understanding of what individual human flourishing entails, and the application of an enriched version of the four principles: Autonomy; Beneficence; Non-Maleficence; and Justice. 

A flourishing human life means having and living a good and worthwhile life.  It includes personal and ethical values.  These, and their components, differ between individuals.  Encouraging flourishing lives requires the tolerance and understanding of another person’s values, multiple interests, roles, and goals.  Respecting a person’s autonomy means that their individual view of a flourishing life is accepted.  People have different living arrangements, social practices, beliefs, important personal connections, and challenges being addressed.  Our understanding of beneficence and non-maleficence must account for the individual’s lived perspective, being sure to help and not hinder their journey.  Justice means that all people are treated equally and equitably. 

Artificial intelligence, computers, play an increasingly central role in the collection and sorting of data, and guiding decisions regarding care to be provided.  The computer language of artificial intelligence is math.  It includes no euphemisms.  “Machine learning” is a misleading metaphor.  The computer is really gaining and processing more data, and fine-tuning its programs.  It is impossible to anticipate, digitize, and modify programs to anticipate every potential problem, or account for and prioritize a person’s heritage, relationships, concerns, interests, values and goals, without dialogue.  Here we will examine the exploration and approach necessary to promote justice and flourishing lives.

If There is No Light on Police Violence, Is There Still Black Injustice?

Covid-19 has been the light, police violence is the symptom revealed by the light, black injustice is the illness to be examined and treated, and America is the patient.  Covid-19, police violence, black injustice, and America, are interrelated and cannot be separated.  Why did it take a bright light to reveal the symptoms?  When Covid-19 is behind us and the world and the light go back to normal, will the illness be cured, and the patient well?  Will lives be flourishing in every home? 

The systemic economic and health disparities in our nation are now apparent. Health capabilities are an important part of human functioning and flourishing.  The disparities are due to several factors, including the fact that African Americans and other underprivileged minorities do not have regular exams or treatment, and may have comorbidities common amongst their ethnic group.  Efforts to provide health care to patients are most often based on algorithms that help identify patients with more complex needs, and thereby qualify for more resources.  However, these algorithms are based on usage data of patients, and are not reflective of the larger community. 

Public health ethics promotes the ethical care and outcomes of the greater population.  Our attention and discussions should be focused on the alternative means of modifying the scale or algorithms to account for the needs of the underprivileged, including factors for deprived neighborhoods.  This must be done before the light of the Covid-19 pandemic dims, and the gleaming light of the dollar blinds us again.