AI art and culture

I’m certainly no fan of AI art.i To most concisely capture my opinion on the matter, you can borrow the sentiment I’ve repeatedly seen circulating on social media, attributed to one Joanna Maciejewska: “I want AI to do my laundry and dishes so that I can do art and writing, not for AI to do…
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Fighting back against partisanism

“You say it is the good cause that hallows even war? I say unto you: it is the good war that hallows any cause.” – Friedrich Nietzsche, Thus Spoke Zarathustra1 Three months ago, I introduced the concept of partisanism and discussed some of the problems it causes.2 Two months ago, I described how the partisan…
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Partisan Control of Information: A Look at Pharmacy Practice Research

Canadian Pharmacists Journal (CPJ) is the official publication of the Canadian Pharmacists Association (CPhA).i It’s the only major journal publishing original pharmacy practice research in Canada that I’m aware of, and it’s also a good source of therapeutic information, including clinical practice guidelines (or their summaries) and clinical tools providing practical information that can be…
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Darkness at Noon and Partisan Control of Thought

I was at a particularly receptive point in my life when I first encountered Czeslaw Milosz’s The Captive Mind,1 and I realized it early on in the work when he presented an important concept. When describing his decision to part from the Eastern bloc in the early ’50s,i Milosz explains: My own decision proceeded, not…
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On Partisanism

I’m back, at least temporarily. After I started working my last job, I knew that my essay writing was likely to fall by the wayside, but I never expected it to fall off so quickly as the demands of my work completely overtook my life. I honestly tried to at least finish this series that…
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The inexistent Left

I wanted to continue the discussion I started last month about my growing sense of political alienation.i While I think the behaviour of politicians constitutes an important piece of an explanation for this feeling, it’s only one aspect of something complex and unwieldy, something I need to examine slowly, piece-by-piece, if I hope to gain…
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Politicians and the public

Over time, I’ve been increasingly hit with this creeping notion that my views aren’t represented by the politicians I’ve been tasked at electing. It felt different when I was first old enough to vote and, though my political views have changed substantially and repeatedly in the years since, it’s only been quite recent that I’ve…
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Patient-centred care in Opioid Agonist Therapy

Over the past few years of pharmacy practice, I’ve felt increasingly unheard and unsupported in my attempts at best practice.i This feeling has been pronounced when attempting to advocate for my patients, most strongly when involving my patients on Opioid Agonist Therapy (OAT).ii The problem as I best understood it upon reflection had a lot…
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Reforming prisons

When reading Maclean’s, an article occasionally brings to mind different things I’ve read previously. Sometimes, it will conform with what I’ve encountered in a way that strengthens what I’ve come to understand about a topic. At other times, it will go against this understanding, either making me question this knowledge or sort of distrust aspects…
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Problematic naloxone guidelines

This is going to be my first attempt at writing an essay concerning a largely pharmacy-specific issue. I’m trying hard to write it generally enough to allow more widespread readers to understand what I’m criticizing, but it’s a delicate balance to walk in this regard because I don’t want to make my argument irrelevant or…
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