you can also very easily write a computer program to solve a maze, but most of us would be reluctant to attribute "thinking" or "intelligence" to the program, or the computer running it (except in a very casual sense of the word - like, the computer's taking a while to do something, we might say "it's thinking", but it's not really thinking).

in the case of computers, we're applying our own psychological concepts to phenomena where they're only appropriate at an extrinsic, 3rd-person point of view - from the outside, what the machine is doing looks like what the intelligent organism does - while what's actually happening in the system is absolutely unlike the psychological phenomena on which those concepts are based.

by a classic analogy: just as a computer simulating a hurricane isn't windy or wet, a computer simulating a mind isn't thoughtful or intelligent.

i think the same applies to plants, slime molds, etc - they aren't simulating, that implies some kind of intention, but what they're doing only appears like intelligence because it happens to resemble the behaviors that we associate with actual thought.

Don't those usually refer to single entity traversing maze? Not something that can just grow in all directions

> where we have been through like 6 major variants, with a few dozen minor variants, inside 2 years time.

That's the point? It's a relative comparison between the flu virus and the COVID virus, not a claim that COVID doesn't mutate. We would be in deep trouble if COVID had the same potential to mutate that the flu virus does. We're lucky that the flu virus doesn't have the same level of immune evasion/suppression that a lot of coronaviruses have.

OK, prior caveat: This will be a long post and will not directly cite publications for every claim

So first off, I'll say that my advice on the topic is informed by (but not infringing on any intellectual property) my time working as a 911 dispatcher using data-informed protocols for prehospital treatment by laypeople (created by a Salt Lake City-based organization that is generally recognized as the standard for these protocols, and which sells them to most public-safety emergency answering centers.) [Bohm and Kurland, 2018] While this raises doubts about its accuracy, it establishes its uniquity] I understand that instructions for tourniquet use by non-healthcare personnel is changing as newer data shows that, as you said, improperly applied tourniquets are not as harmful as once believed and that laypeople can apply tourniquets effectively and quickly with proper instruction. [Scott, et. al. 2020] I believe that the previously mentioned company may have altered their product to reflect this, but I've been out of that gig for a few years now.

That said, the reason why (at the time) laypeople were generally not advised to apply tourniquets in the absence of unambiguously lethal, uncontrollable hemorrhage was not that a poorly applied tourniquet could worsen the outcome for a person with an otherwise lethal hemorrhage. Instead, it was to discourage the use of tourniquets when not necessary, as it was believed that a layperson may not be able to make this distinction and thus use them excessively. The vast majority of prehospital appendicular bleeds probably do not require tourniquet use (anecdotal, but it was probably close to 1 in 100 during my time answering phones). This is probably due to the low threshold some people have for requesting emergency medical transport. For a layperson who may have trouble telling the difference, attempting to control bleeding by direct pressure first is often a good idea in the absence of unquestionably uncontrollable, arterial (or massive venous/tissue capillary bed) hemorrhage.

TLDR: Until recently, tourniquet use by untrained laypeople was generally discouraged, but things have changed within the past few years.

Hey, uh... What do you think maze solving algorithms do?

Yep been there. Took a massive rock climbing fall the day before, then had beets with diner. Went pee the next morning and was very concerned I had a kidney bleed. Luckily I remembered about the beets before I finished dressing and scheduling a Dr. Apt.

Isn't most of the delays in it regulatory stuff?

There were people DIYing COVID-19 vaccines as early as July 2020

There are two separate superpowers. The ability to smell asparagus pee, and the ability to produce asparagus smelling pee. You can have both, one, or neither power.

It's not an optimized search algorithm. It's literally "spread yourself in all directions, once food signal from one of your sides gets sufficiently strong, shift your body in this direction". It's bruteforce. And no one will put arbitrary line that close to complete unintelligence

There are examples within our own bodies linked to, but distinct from the nervous system.

https://journals.lww.com/co-ortho/Abstract/2001/10000/Mechanical_forces_and_signaling_in_connective.5.aspx

A jellyfish reactionary sting and a plant seeking sunlight are also a type of problem solving. Continuing to live always involves some type of problem solving. Reproduction solves the problem of continuing to exist in some form even after death. Evolution is problem solving. Is a "living planet" intelligent, or even alive at all? When a magma chamber is infiltrated by ground water and explodes into a volcano, is that pressure relief problem solving or just the net result of physics? Is intelligent thought also the net result of physics?

Given humans are intelligent, what is the smallest portion of a human that is still considered intelligent in its own right? Can it be neurons alone? If not, then you have an example of non-neuron biological "intelligence" in whatever else, besides neurons, is required.

Are we still intelligent while we are sleeping?

Prediction, without memory, can occur if the intelligence is built into the machine. https://www.youtube.com/@Wintergatan

A jellyfish probably isn't aware that its involuntary reaction predicts its survival.

Who or what built the intelligence into the jellyfish machine?

Where is there evidence of intelligence? In the blueprint.

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You actually missed the real criticism, in that it's more or less a optimized maze search shortest path algorithm, which can be selected for chemically.

But uh, that's all biology is, including neurons. So the line still exists. The question isn't "Is finding the maze high intelligence?" It's "Where do you put the arbitrary line?".

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> The flu vaccine only protects against specific strains of the flu virus that are expected to be around in the upcoming flu season.

Directly, though you do get some level of partial immunity to other similar strains of flu. Whether there's enough overlap with the H5N1 for any partial recognition, I don't know. I'm sure not enough to be significant.

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You lost me at the "unlike Covid" where we have been through like 6 major variants, with a few dozen minor variants, inside 2 years time.

Usually, a flu vaccine isn't one strain. The vaccine is a combination of several strains that researchers believe will be predominate that year. But, even subvariants of strains don't require absolutely new development of vaccine. It depends on the anti-gen of the strain. Amd this mostly deals with flu A. Flu B is a bit different. Vaccines will have B and a few strains of A in a yearly shot.

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There will be solid data somewhere, and generally an expiry date on the label. The manufacturer would have done or sponsored shelf life stability tests.

Part of what made covid a problem was it being novel. H5N1 means a lot of awful things for us, potentially. But it is not novel. We know this enemy.

No. The flu vaccine begins production a year before flu season. What is used that year is based on prediction a year out of what next seasons flu will be. Ask your friendly finance guy how accurate prediction models are as you throw a dart into the future. Historically the prediction has a poor record with actual experience.

The treatment should match the risk. If you are older or at increased risk for other reasons, well maybe doesn't hurt offers some chance at benefit. You do you.