Yang Ping took a sip of soup and said slowly, "I rember this saying—The essence of dicine is to make the best decision amidst uncertainty. I didn’t understand it back then, but now I deeply feel it. No experint is perfect, the key is how we handle the problems that arise. As long as we maintain reverence and treat them seriously, they’re actually not that big of a deal."
The group chatted while eating.
...
A few young doctors gathered around another rectangular dining table, still discussing the wristband.
"Impossible! Absolutely impossible! I know my body—five kiloters every day, 18% body fat, why does your lousy wristband give a score of 62?"
The speaker, once again, is Wang Cheng, who is indignantly poking at his phone screen.
Opposite him, Zhang Weibo slowly gnawed on a chicken leg: "Brother Wang, calm down, calm down." Zhang Bo swallowed the chicken and wiped his mouth, "Science, you have to trust science. Please believe , I’m not a fool. This isn’t a fool’s tax. The wristband’s algorithm should be trained on massive data sets, capturing minute imbalances you can’t notice. Did you stay up late watching football last night? Didn’t you eat breakfast before running this morning?"
Wang Cheng was stunned, "How do you know?"
"The heart rate variability data told ." Zhang Wei smugly shook his wristband, "Look at , though overweight, I have regular routines, stable emotions, diet... uh, nutritionally balanced. So the system gives a score of 90, fair and reasonable."
"But you ordered two more chicken legs!"
"Chicken legs are quality protein, paired with broccoli, carbs controlled within a reasonable range." Zhang Wei declared righteously, "It’s a calculated nutritional pairing—not like you, running on an empty stomach in the morning, causing cortisol to soar, with your body thinking you’re running for your life, of course, your score drops."
Onlookers joined in the fun: "Zhang Wei, is this wristband reliable? I drank a cup of milk tea yesterday, and it said ’abnormal sugar fluctuation,’ suggested I ditate for ten minutes."
"Did you ditate?"
"...I ditated but fell asleep instead."
Laughter erupted.
Another young doctor quietly said, "This thing is just a few physiological indicators plus a simple model, its scoring should be positively correlated to the amount you recharge..."
"What do you an?" Zhang Wei beca jittery.
"This doctor took out his phone to demonstrate, "Look, I didn’t recharge before, always hovered around 60 points. Then he gritted his teeth and recharged for a month of mbership, followed so suggestions, and within a few days, it rose to 85, there’s no way behavior impacts the body this quickly."
The surrounding laughter grew louder.
Only Zhang Wei’s face turned quite sour; he’s the one with a diamond annual mbership; this ant he wasn’t the victim of a fool’s tax.
...
After lunch, everyone continued working in the afternoon.
After work, Yang Ping was already on the sky bridge when he suddenly rembered a docunt left in the office and decided to retrieve it from the institute.
Passing the laboratory office, Yang Ping saw Zhang Wei staring at the computer screen with furrowed brows, surrounded by dismantling tools and three wristbands of different brands on the table.
"Professor! Why are you back?" Zhang Bo quickly stood up.
"I ca back to get sothing. What about you? Not off work yet? Still analyzing the wristbands?"
Zhang Bo scratched his head awkwardly, "They said I’m a fool suffering a fool’s tax, I refuse to believe that’s true. According to your scientific attitude, I need to rigorously analyze this thing."
He showed Yang Ping the computer screen, revealing complex code and waveform charts.
"This ’Balance Technology’ product, the algorithm is actually straightforward, mainly relying on a few weighted physiological indicators. But interestingly," Zhang Bo brought up another window, "their data collection frequency is exceptionally high, recording heart rate variability, skin conductance response every five minutes. These high-frequency data could enable more precise analysis, yet they only use the most crude statistics."
"Then what?"
"Then I hacked—uh, I an I accessed their server’s anonymous logs via technical ans." Zhang Bo lowered his voice, "Found these high-frequency data were packaged and uploaded to a different address, not their claid ’local encrypted storage.’"
Yang Ping frowned, "Data leak?"
"More like... secondary usage." Zhang Bo displayed analysis results, "I traced the data flow, ultimately pointing to a multinational pharmaceutical company’s R&D center. It seems ’Balance Technology’ sold the wristbands to consurs, simultaneously sold high-frequency physiological data to pharma companies, for drug clinical trial control group monitoring."
Yang Ping shook his head, these bastards.
"Regarding privacy issues, it’s covered in user agreent with vague clauses that nobody reads carefully." Zhang Bo fud, "What’s more infuriating is, they intentionally set up anxiety-inducing chanisms in their health scoring algorithm—if your score is low for consecutive days, expert consultation ads are pushed, a video consultation costs five hundred yuan."
Yang Ping remained silent.
"Professor, should we expose them?" Zhang Bo was eager to proceed, "I have all the evidence collected, I can’t just be a fool in vain, otherwise, I’d be embarrassed in the institute."
Yang Ping considered for a mont: "No rush, make your analysis solid, draft a detailed report. Next month there’s a ’Digital Health Ethics’ seminar, you can propose it as a case study, ensure your argunts are sound."
"Understood!" Zhang Bo’s eyes lit up, "Then can I apply to purchase more professional monitoring equipnt? Like dical-grade ECG patches, continuous glucose monitors..."
"Submit a budget application, I’ll approve."
"Great! The scientific counterattack against pseudoscience begins officially!" Zhang Bo excitedly rubbed his hands, utterly forgetting it’s already after office hours.
Yang Ping took the docunt and prepared to leave, hesitated at the door, and turned back, "Dr. Zhang."
"Hmm?"
"Thank you for your work. Also," Yang Ping paused, "although your wristband shows 90 points, I still suggest losing so weight; scientific wristbands can be misled, but the body won’t."
Zhang Bo froze, then laughed, "Professor, that stings! However... you’re right. Starting tomorrow, I’ll join Wang Cheng for morning runs, I want to run more than him every day."
"No need to be too extre," Yang Ping smiled, "Rember, the core of system regulation is balance, not extres; you could start by ordering one less chicken leg, or running one lap."
"Understood, Professor!" Zhang Wei scratched his head, "Professor, could I ask you for a favor?"
"What is it, tell ?"
Zhang Wei hesitated, "This little wristband research project I’m working on, could you keep it confidential for ?"
"No problem! But why are you worried about publicizing it? It’s a good thing." Yang Ping was curious.
Zhang Wei embarrassingly said, "I’m just afraid they’ll laugh at because of the recharge thing. They’ve been teasing ; I recharged thousands in one go. If they find out this wristband is truly a fool’s tax, they’ll laugh at again."
"Hey, being laughed at is no big deal."
Yang Ping thought to himself, now everyone knows it’s a fool’s tax, it’s an open secret.
"Okay, I can keep this project confidential, but regarding the wristband being a fool’s tax, everyone probably already knows, right?" Yang Ping believed Zhang Wei was overly sensitive.
"But... but... I just can’t quickly admit it’s a fool’s tax. Even though I now know it is, others recharged for a monthly mbership trial, and no one else recharged much, while I spent thousands, they’d think I’m stupid." Zhang Wei seed a bit anxious.
Yang Ping found the guy amusing, "Recharged is recharged, just consider it purchasing research experint materials. They may not have recharged much, but everyone bought the wristband, right? So isn’t everyone actually paying a fool’s tax for research? Why so tense? You’re just wealthier and more generous."
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