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Robert A. Burton [13]Robert Alan Burton [1]
  1.  18
    On being certain: believing you are right even when you're not.Robert Alan Burton - 2008 - New York: St. Martin's Press.
    You recognize when you know something for certain, right? You "know" the sky is blue, or that the traffic light had turned green, or where you were on the morning of September 11, 2001--you know these things, well, because you just do. In On Being Certain , neurologist Robert Burton challenges the notions of how we think about what we know. He shows that the feeling of certainty we have when we "know" something comes from sources beyond our control and (...)
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  2.  4
    Written in Stone.Robert A. Burton - forthcoming - Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics:1-1.
    While the Big Bang was cooling and the laws of physics were congealing, authorities remained undecided whether God would provide comfort against the expanding darkness. To answer the question, one planet was seeded with humans equipped with conviction receptors tweaked either to an absolute faith in or complete denial of God. If, after a suitable period of mingling between the two groups, believers prevailed over doubters, God would be established in the firmament. If not, God would be scrapped.
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  3.  21
    Lost in Translation.Robert A. Burton - 2024 - Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics 33 (1):135-136.
    “Scleroderma,” the rheumatologist said after examining my stiff swollen arms and legs. “Unfortunately, given your biomarkers, it’s likely to get worse before it gets better, but you never know.” She gave a quick rundown of what I might expect—rapidly progressive skin and joint tightening, GI symptoms, high likelihood of multi-organ involvement…. “Let’s hope for the best.” She paused, then asked if I had any questions.
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  4.  15
    Death and Disbelief.Robert A. Burton - 2020 - Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics 29 (3):403-403.
    A middle-aged woman had a massive stroke and would be dead within hours. The husband was in the ER waiting room. I took him aside and explained the grim prognosis. He paused, his expression blank, his lips searching for something to say. Finally, he blurted out, “I think I’ll go home and take a shower.”.
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  5.  7
    Double Talk.Robert A. Burton - 2022 - Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics 31 (4):570-571.
    Symptoms of ConsciousnessIn this series of short essays, stories, poems, and personal observations, Robert A. Burton, neurologist and writer, uses both fiction and nonfiction to explore many paradoxes and contradictions inherent in scientific inquiry. A novelist as well as author of On Being Certain and A Skeptic’s Guide to the Mind, Burton brings story to science and science to story.
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  6.  2
    Ghost in the Machine.Robert A. Burton - forthcoming - Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics:1-1.
    Delisted in the building directory, my name stripped from my cramped quarters just off the corpus callosum, I am impossible to find. In petitioning for official reinstatement, I have agreed to the humiliating lab investigations required for documentation. I have waved, howled, screamed, pleaded, and moaned into the latest scanners, and generally made a fool of myself. But researchers, after extensive soul-searching, and being unable to capture me as pixels and waveforms, have moved on to greener pastures. So be it. (...)
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  7.  16
    Gratitude.Robert A. Burton - 2022 - Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics 31 (4):572-572.
    While window-shopping for his wife’s birthday, a businessman was struck by a speeding taxi that jumped the curb at 55th and Madison. In the few minutes it took the ambulance to reach the University emergency room, he had lapsed into a coma. Brain imaging revealed a large blood clot compressing the brain. The only hope for his survival was immediate drainage of the clot.
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  8.  1
    Miracle.Robert A. Burton - forthcoming - Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics:1-1.
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  9.  11
    Nina.Robert A. Burton - 2021 - Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics 30 (4):710-711.
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  10.  12
    Plague Journal.Robert A. Burton - 2021 - Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics 30 (1):188-189.
    Given a strong family history of early heart attacks, the future has always been an iffy proposition. Miraculously, I have bypassed the early off-ramps and find myself approaching 80, stents in place, considering the very real but previously unimaginable possibility of still more. But what kind of more? With dopamine on the wane and no longer supercharged by the push and shove of unbridled ambition and pride, bigger and grander are out of the question. Tired clichés poke through the widening (...)
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  11.  9
    Truth Be Damned.Robert A. Burton - 2021 - Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics 30 (4):713-715.
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  12.  10
    The Spark.Robert A. Burton - 2021 - Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics 30 (4):712-712.
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  13.  16
    Where Science Meets Story: Notes from an Extended Field Trip.Robert A. Burton - 2020 - Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics 29 (4):651-655.
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  14.  25
    When Will the News be Bad Enough?Robert A. Burton - 2021 - Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics 30 (1):190-191.
    The cardiac rehab nurse calls out each of our group’s blood pressures and pulse rates. It is my first posthospitalization class and I am relieved to be in the middle of the pack. Although fully aware that numbers are not fate, I cannot help wondering if the worst performers will fully satisfy the dark needs of heart disease statistics. I presume that others are making similar calculations, yet wince at the ugly direction of my mind. Maybe it is not necessary (...)
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