On Friday I had Dr. Jeremy Heffner and E.M. Burlingame on the podcast for another great conversation. It was the perfect follow up to our first conversation, and we got into the broken medical and insurance world, the different medications like birth control and SSRIs that have had a dramatic impact on men and women over the last several decades, and other philosophical questions that the West will have to face in coming years. You can find Jeremy on Twitter, and his book on his website, Proof Of The Impossible, and on Linkedin. You can find E.M.’s Substack below, but he’s also worth a follow on Twitter.
Podcast Summary
How healthcare has evolved from a patient care delivery system to a business model, where the insurance companies and the providers (often private equity owned) fight over the money.
Why nobody knows the actual price of procedures or medications.
Why Jeremy thinks that it’s not fixable without taking it down to the studs, and why the ethical and moral codes would be the foundation if he was starting from scratch.
How the layers of bureaucracy have led to a massive increase in administrative staff that has made things impossible.
Why we shouldn’t send everyone to college, and how there is a better way for society to allocate talent.
The problem with worshipping at the altar of GDP instead of focusing on human flourishing.
How birth control and SSRIs have altered the brain chemistry and hormone profiles of men and women.
How women have a different hierarchy than men, and how they are able to maintain networks of relationships.
The problem with egalitarianism and the blank slate.
The side effects of doing away with nobility and aristocracy.
Why things move in cycles and why we won’t know how this cycle turns out for at least another decade.
Book Recommendations: The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial Of Human Nature by Steven Pinker & The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams.
