Review of Waking Up #129: AN INSIDER'S VIEW OF MEDICINE

Program Notes: "In this episode of the Waking Up podcast, Sam Harris speaks with Dr. Nina Shapiro about the practice of medicine. They discuss the unique resiliency of children, the importance of second opinions, bad doctors, how medical training has changed in recent years, medical uncertainty, risk perception, vaccine safety, and other topics."

I don't actually find the first 2/3 of this podcast very informative. I'd pretty much sum it up by saying: you're not doing yourself any favors by trying to tell the hospital staff how to do their job or who to assign to your case.

The last third or so, where Dr. Shapiro addresses some myths and misconceptions, was a bit more interesting, and it would probably be a really good idea to buy her book, "Hype," where she tells the reader things like, gluten is a protein, not a carb, and not helpful to avoid, or the whole concept of "de-toxing" is nonsense, or anti-oxidants do not actually prevent most cancers, etc. 

(Regardless of her opinions about GMOs, I'd probably be inclined to cling to my unscientific prejudice against them, but that's more because I don't believe there's any unbiased scientists actually working on the question, than because I think science isn't capable of addressing the question.)