Recent submissions

Comment · 10 months ago
A responsible journalist can't say directly that Sacks was a confabulist but they can point out facts and allow the reader to infer. That's what the article does. There are many facts in the article that are relevant to the title in this sense (the prime number twins, the journal entries about Hat, etc.).

I also don't agree with your interpretation of what the article is trying to paint Sacks as, though of course you are entitled to it.

I think the the point of the article is to articulate what Sacks himself said:

> "As Sacks aged, he felt as if he were gazing at people from the outside. But he also noticed a new kind of affection for humans—“homo sap.” “They’re quite complex (little) creatures (I say to myself),” he wrote in his journal. “They suffer, authentically, a good deal. Gifted, too. Brave, resourceful, challenging.”"

Comment · 11 months ago
Very helpful, an AI comment analyzing an analysis of AI
Comment · 1 year ago
As somebody still in my early 20s, I am viscerally aware of these advantages provided to me slipping away year by year. I apologize for being vague but I would be interested in hearing advice from those who felt the same what they wish they would have done in their 20s to minimize future regret.
Comment · 1 year ago
Comment · 1 year ago
This was a seminal review in psychiatry that I am fully in agreement with but there are a lot of easy to draw conclusions from this review that are false.

SRRI efficacy for one - The nature of SSRIs is that they are highly effective for some patients and useless/detrimental to others. This does not lend itself well to traditional measures of effect size. For those in the comments pointing out SSRIs low effect size, note that the effect size of morphine for pain is only 0.4 (SSRIs score 0.3). For instance, drugs that significantly improve 60-100% of patients are clinically insignificant under various guidelines. I can expound upon the various methodological reasons this is the case if there is interest.

This is not to say that SSRIs are good. There is no doubt they are overprescribed, have underdiscussed side effects, and are barely understood by their prescribers. I was severely depressed with suicidal ideation since I was 6 years old until I was young adult. I have pored over the psychiatric scientific literature for many years now, and I will say that understanding the sociological reasons for depression was much more effective at helping me than learning about the biological or pharmacological aspects. If you are in a similar position, I cannot recommend enough reading Crazy Like Us: The Globalization of the American Psyche by Ethan Watters as a starting point.

Comment · 1 year ago
> And for those of you wondering, yes, I took the money. Absolutely.
Comment · 1 year ago
Its unconscionable to me that the author would take $10,000 from his own father who is clearly not only mentally vulnerable but not rich as the author states. The father is very much at fault for what happened here, but something is deeply wrong with American society normalizing the annihilation of what should be sacred familial bonds over political matters. As somebody who generally aligns with the left, the last 10 years of overzealous liberal woke-scolding has done nothing but further increase this alienation of others that results in a complete mental split between families.

The son being an NPR correspondent and the mother moving out of their room on the day after Trump's election is highly indicative of this. To the author's credit, he is somewhat aware of this and mentions it in the article.

Comment · 1 year ago
Bypass Paywalls Clean on Gitflic. As always, do your own due diligence before installing.
Comment · 1 year ago
It's just a symbolic order, won't actually lead to anything important being released because the agencies have the authority to reject whatever they want. Many of the files have already been destroyed anyways.

See:

Sec. 3. General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this order shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:

(i) the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or the head thereof; or

(ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.

(b) This order shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations.

Comment · 2 years ago
Comment · 2 years ago
Will a gun protect you when your car accelerates to 150 mph directly into a tree? A couple micrograms of toxin being sprinkled into your coffee? The CIA had a heart attack gun 50 years ago. Not difficult to imagine the capabilities they have today.
Comment · 3 years ago
Yes. The bottom 1%’s clothing will always be more indicative of the average clothes of the time than the top 1%’s.
Comment · 3 years ago
Wage growth has not matched productivity growth for decades.
Comment · 3 years ago
To be fair, his credibility is wholly based on his former professional roles. It would be literally impossible for him to provide direct evidence without getting gagged and sent to prison for a very long time.

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