Astral Codex Ten Podcast

WebMD, And The Tragedy Of Legible Expertise


Listen Later

I started a small database of psychiatry information. It's going well. I'm grateful for all your emails suggesting changes and corrections. Sort of.

Here are some of the kinds of emails I get:

"You said this drug is occasionally mildly addictive but the risk/benefit calculation is worth it for most people. But my cousin's friend took it and became really addicted and it ruined his life. Maybe you should warn readers about it more emphatically." The particular example I'm thinking of is something exotic, but alcohol or Adderall could equally well be in this category. Still, I get nervous whenever I get emails like this. What if I do ruin somebody's life? Maybe I should just change the wording to "this drug has some benefits but is often addictive, be careful with it"?

"You listed three major side effects of this drug, but I got a side effect that isn't on your list. Maybe you should add it in." All drugs have an infinite number of possible side effects. One in a zillion people who use Naproxen ("Aleve") becomes red-green colorblind. Capecitabine ("Xeloda") can sometimes make you lose your fingerprints, which sucks if your computer has biometric security. If listed all side effects of anything, we would be here all day. Still, I get nervous when I get emails like this.

...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

Astral Codex Ten PodcastBy Jeremiah

  • 4.8
  • 4.8
  • 4.8
  • 4.8
  • 4.8

4.8

129 ratings


More shows like Astral Codex Ten Podcast

View all
Freakonomics Radio by Freakonomics Radio + Stitcher

Freakonomics Radio

32,245 Listeners

The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast by Mark Linsenmayer, Wes Alwan, Seth Paskin, Dylan Casey

The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast

2,113 Listeners

Very Bad Wizards by Tamler Sommers & David Pizarro

Very Bad Wizards

2,676 Listeners

Making Sense with Sam Harris by Sam Harris

Making Sense with Sam Harris

26,401 Listeners

EconTalk by Russ Roberts

EconTalk

4,280 Listeners

Conversations with Tyler by Mercatus Center at George Mason University

Conversations with Tyler

2,458 Listeners

The Glenn Show by Glenn Loury

The Glenn Show

2,277 Listeners

The Good Fight by Yascha Mounk

The Good Fight

907 Listeners

ChinaTalk by Jordan Schneider

ChinaTalk

291 Listeners

Sean Carroll's Mindscape: Science, Society, Philosophy, Culture, Arts, and Ideas by Sean Carroll

Sean Carroll's Mindscape: Science, Society, Philosophy, Culture, Arts, and Ideas

4,162 Listeners

Your Undivided Attention by The Center for Humane Technology, Tristan Harris, Daniel Barcay and Aza Raskin

Your Undivided Attention

1,622 Listeners

Last Week in AI by Skynet Today

Last Week in AI

310 Listeners

Blocked and Reported by Katie Herzog and Jesse Singal

Blocked and Reported

3,834 Listeners

Dwarkesh Podcast by Dwarkesh Patel

Dwarkesh Podcast

566 Listeners

The AI Daily Brief: Artificial Intelligence News and Analysis by Nathaniel Whittemore

The AI Daily Brief: Artificial Intelligence News and Analysis

671 Listeners