δυνατὰ δὲ οἱ προύχοντες πράσσουσι καὶ οἱ ἀσθενεῖς ξυγχωροῦσιν When the Peloponnesian War broke out in Greece 2,500 years ago between Athens and Sparta, the Athenians told the islanders living on Melos 'you are either with us or against us'. Athens had created democracy, had all the famous philosophers, dramatists, politicians and control of the propaganda (Greek history was … [Read more...] about You Say Retractable, We Say Intractable
Politics of Care
Grasping the Gene Genie
This image and one below is taken from the Sequencing.com website. Will Powers got his PFS patients to get Whole Genome Sequencing done through sequencing.com. He read the resulting information using gene.iobio. The 'system' - 'powers-that-be' is/are unhappy with developments like this for several reasons. One concern is that our genetic data may reveal risks of future … [Read more...] about Grasping the Gene Genie
The Prozac Liberation Front
Chatting, recently, to two different friends of his separately, mentioning the possible role of SSRIs or other meds in the Tumbler Ridge shooting, a colleague (C1 - the first of 3 colleagues in this post) got blown away by both of them. Conspiracy theories, they told him. Misinformation - you're being ridiculous. One of them - a decent scientist - sent him a ChatGPT read … [Read more...] about The Prozac Liberation Front
Can We Avoid Being Eaten
Carney at Davos Like or loathe his politics, unless I am missing something, Mark Carney, Canada’s Prime Minister and Liberal party leader, seems a decent man. As the Canadian standing up to Donald Trump, whether you are pro- or anti-Trump, you are likely interested to see how this contact sport plays out. (Even Curling is close to being a contact sport these days). On … [Read more...] about Can We Avoid Being Eaten
Health a Privilege of Wealth
This post was written 5 years ago. It is a sequel to a lecture posted last week on RxISK with its comments - Are Healthcare and Science Compatible? The comments brought out how we now have a system that gaslights both patients and doctors leading to tensions on all sides as this post illustrates. It also links to RxISK's - Guilty Until Proven Innocent - Prime Facie - this … [Read more...] about Health a Privilege of Wealth
I Come to Praise SSRIs not to Bury Them
This talk was given in Maastricht at the invitation of David Linden, Scientific Director of the Mental Health and Neuroscience Research Institute on November 27 and again to a group of Primary Care Doctors in Sweden at the invitation of André Marx on Nov 28. There were some great questions afterwards. This post gives the text of the talk along with the slides and links to … [Read more...] about I Come to Praise SSRIs not to Bury Them
Artificial Intelligence Triggers a Tsunami
This post follows on from Miracles of Artificial Intelligence and Artificial I. The trigger was an intervention by Chris Dubey, who earlier this year wrote an article on ECT (electroconvulsive therapy - Shock Treatment) for the International Journal of Risk and Safety in Medicine, which was sent to me for review. Most people, whether familiar or not with ECT, would figure … [Read more...] about Artificial Intelligence Triggers a Tsunami
Artificially Intelligent or Artificial I ?
The image here is the front of the Great Seal of the United States - but it has been doctored. The word Unum is replaced by Mediocris which is not Latin for Mediocrity although it might as well be - it's Latin for Average. Earlier posts have dealt with Artificial Intelligence (AI) issues - The Miracle of Artificial Intelligence - and although it may not look like it is … [Read more...] about Artificially Intelligent or Artificial I ?
Health, Care and Science in Real Life
This post was delivered as a Medicine in Crisis lecture at a Pills and Skills for Depression meeting that David Antonuccio organized in Reno Nevada on October 4. Kim Witczak who features throughout the post was a panellist at the meeting. There was an audience of over 200 primarily University of Nevada students - so the talk is not like a tight academic article, it is … [Read more...] about Health, Care and Science in Real Life
Request for American Psychiatric Association Assistance
Dear Dr Wills You wrote to Dr. Makary on July 25th following a July 21st FDA Panel on Antidepressants and Pregnancy. I was a panel member and hope you won’t object to me taking advantage of your closing invitation to Dr. Makary to avail of APA assistance. The panelists expressed very different views, so it is unclear whether anything I said concerned you. I hope not, as … [Read more...] about Request for American Psychiatric Association Assistance