When physician Walter Freeman died in 1972, he still believed that lobotomies were the best treatment for mental illness. A pioneer in the method, he was a deeply confident and charismatic man who eagerly spread the technique in America, long after the rise of alternative treatments that were less destructive. Listen as journalist Megan McArdle and EconTalk’s […] The post Megan McArdle on the Oedipus Trap appeared first on Econlib.

Tolkien read it as a tale about mortality. The poet David Whyte said it was a metaphor for the psychological demons deep in our minds. And that, insists the cartoonist and writer Zach Weinersmith, is precisely Beowulf’s appeal: Its richness opens the door to endless interpretation. Listen as the author of Bea Wolf, a graphic […] The post Zach Weinersmith on Beowulf and Bea Wolf appeared first on Econlib.

Since at least Adam Smith, the common wisdom has been that the transition from hunter-gathering to farming allowed the creation of the State. Farming, so went the theory, led to agricultural surplus, and that surplus is the prerequisite for taxation and a State. But economist Omer Moav of Reichman University argues that it wasn’t farming […] The post Omer Moav on the Emergence of the State appeared first on Econlib.

Do psychologists know anything? Psychologist Paul Bloom says yes–but not the things that you might think. Bloom discusses his book Psych with EconTalk’s Russ Roberts and what the field of psychology can teach us about human intelligence, consciousness, and unhelpful instincts. They also discuss just how far psychology is from a true understanding of the human […] The post Paul Bloom on Psych, Psychology, and the Human Mind appeared first on Econlib.

When psychiatrist Marco Ramos of Yale University prescribes antidepressants to patients in distress and they ask him how they work, Ramos admits: We don’t really know. And too often, they don’t work at all. Despite decades of brain research and billions of dollars spent, psychiatry has made little progress in understanding mental illness. Listen as […] The post Marco Ramos on Misunderstanding Mental Illness appeared first on Econlib.

[ANNUAL LISTENER SURVEY: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/EconTalk2022Fav. Vote for your 2022 favorites!] Psychologist Adam Mastroianni says peer review has failed. Papers with major errors make it through the process. The ones without errors often fail to replicate. One approach to improve the process is better incentives. But Mastroianni argues that peer review isn’t fixable. It’s a failed experiment. Listen […] The post Adam Mastroianni on Peer Review and the Academic Kitchen appeared first on Econlib.

[ANNUAL LISTENER SURVEY: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/EconTalk2022Fav. Vote for your 2022 favorites!] According to neuroscientist and philosopher Sam Harris, rationality is the key to safeguarding everything we cherish, and its only true enemy is dogmatic inflexibility. Harris speaks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the views that have made Harris famous, teasing out the often mind-blowing subtleties of his […] The post Sam Harris on Meditation, Mindfulness, and Morality appeared first on Econlib.

[ANNUAL LISTENER SURVEY: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/EconTalk2022Fav. Vote for your 2022 favorites!] Oncologist and epidemiologist Vinay Prasad argues that too many very expensive drugs get approved by the FDA that have very limited impact on the lives of patients. Prasad explains the incentives that distort the current system. The general problem, he explains to EconTalk host Russ Roberts, […] The post Vinay Prasad on Pharmaceuticals, the FDA, and the Death of Duty appeared first on Econlib.

[ANNUAL LISTENER SURVEY: Delayed till later this week. Watch here for the url as soon as it’s available!] Dwayne Betts was a 16-year-old in solitary confinement when a fellow inmate slid a book of poetry under his cell door. What happened next is an astounding story of transformation: from desperation to the discovery of beauty, even […] The post Dwayne Betts on Beauty, Prison, and Redaction appeared first on Econlib.

Should the British Museum return the Elgin Marbles, taken from the Parthenon in Athens about 200 years ago? What should be the purpose of museums, education or social justice? Listen as Tiffany Jenkins, author of Keeping Their Marbles, discusses these questions and more with EconTalk host Russ Roberts. The post Tiffany Jenkins on Plunder, Museums, and Marbles appeared first on Econlib.