Kicking the Can Down the Road, Cementing Cans
When citizens want one thing and lobbyists want another, often we end up kicking the can down the road; we should be cementing cans after they’re kicked.
Medicine
Trump’s Narcissism and the Goldwater Rule
Donald Trump’s narcissism is a large concern, but so is the Goldwater Rule, which insists that we should ignore the 300 pound menace in the Oval Office.
Human Genetic Behavior
…And this is why I have foolishly chosen to discuss the taboos of genetic behavior, and ethnic and sexual norms; not to chain people to stereotypes, but to free us all from them. We must recognize our genetic tendencies in order to design around them, and past them; as Bertolt Brecht noted, “When there are obstacles, the shortest distance between two points is a crooked line.”
Advice for New Parents
How an ER doctor became a primary care doctor, and developed a talk for new parents.
Gender Equity & Pointless Ambition
Too often, gender equity pursues a masculine success of domination and pointless ambition, ironically making ‘equal rights’ offensively anti-egalitarian.
Sexual Genetics
Sexual Genetics: differences between boys and girls exist, on average. Insisting that the differences are universal, or that they are nonexistent, are both unjust.
Human Prosperity
Human prosperity has increased dramatically in the past 100 years. But we tend to focus on the glitzy technology, and overlook the big reasons for it.
Outrageous Lebanese Genetics
Lebanese Genetics sounds boring, but the Lebanese may be the most stereotypical ethnic group around, an inheritance from the Phoenicians.
Morality as Survival
We tell ourselves, and others, one reason for why we do things, but our choices often betray other, more convincing reasons. Sometimes the secondary reason helps us see morality as survival. This is a serialization from my book, Happiness: A Physician/Biologist Looks at Life. To see the Table of Contents and the dust jacket blurb, … [Read more…]
Rising Medical Costs
Rising medical costs affect all of us. Health insurance prices are through the roof, drug prices are through the roof, the price of medical services is through the roof. My concern is that we have no easy remedy for any of it.