
Slow ideas (2013) - cromano
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2013/07/29/slow-ideas
======
wetha
> Some people criticized anesthesia as a “needless luxury”; clergymen deplored
> its use to reduce pain during childbirth as a frustration of the Almighty’s
> designs.

It’s become fashionable to take potshots at Christianity, justified or
otherwise.

From a post on internationalskeptics.com[1]

> British science historian Colin A. Russell, in "The Conflict of Science and
> Religion" (published in The History of Science and Religion in the Western
> Tradition: An Encyclopedia), refers to "the alleged opposition to James
> Young Simpson (1811-70) for his introduction of chloroform anesthesia in
> midwifery": Quote: Despite repeated claims of clerical harassment, the
> evidence is almost nonexistent. Insofar as there was any conflict, it was
> between the London and Edinburgh medical establishments or between
> obstetricians and surgeons. The origins of that myth may be located in an
> inadequately documented footnote in White[.]”

[1]
[http://www.internationalskeptics.com/forums/showthread.php?t...](http://www.internationalskeptics.com/forums/showthread.php?t=39392)

~~~
rainbowmverse
>> _It’s become fashionable to take potshots at Christianity, justified or
otherwise._

Taking potshots at powerful ideologies, especially those with domineering
factions, has always been in fashion.

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pagutierrezn
Diffusion of Innovations is an established corpus of knowledge. Including, of
course, common causes of variation in speeds of adoption.

[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diffusion_of_innovations](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diffusion_of_innovations)

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dang
Discussed in 2015:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10175493](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10175493).

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tiisetso
Inspired by the recent Freakonomics podcast interview with the author Dr Atul
Gawande? I recommend listening to it as well if you're interested in an
opinion about modern healthcare delivery systems.

[http://freakonomics.com/podcast/atul-
gawande/](http://freakonomics.com/podcast/atul-gawande/)

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igornadj
Great article. Goes into how to effectively influence people to change.

The biggest takeaway for me is that people who are reluctant to change are
going to be more so if they see you as someone trying to find mistakes in what
they do. Instead they should see you as a friend.

Very eye-opening, and refreshing reminder that soft skills matter.

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TeMPOraL
> _Morton would not divulge the composition of the gas, which he called
> Letheon, because he had applied for a patent. But Bigelow reported that he
> smelled ether in it (ether was used as an ingredient in certain medical
> preparations), and that seems to have been enough. The idea spread like a
> contagion, travelling through letters, meetings, and periodicals._

Interesting. I wonder what would have happened if Bigelow didn't say a thing.
The way this is put, it looks like yet another case where disregarding
"intellectual property" is a net positive for the world.

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qwerty456127
I just wonder how many decades are going to pass before one of those new super
batteries, caries vaccines / tooth regeneration techniques or cancer cures
invented every year is going to be made available to the people.

BTW did you know that umifenovir (arbidol) has recently been found[1] to be
~100% effective against flaviviruses (that cause e.g. tick-borne encephalitis,
dengue fever etc.)? But I doubt American doctors are going to start
prescribing it any soon if ever.

[1] [http://www.ceskatelevize.cz/ct24/domaci/2457559-nadejny-
cesk...](http://www.ceskatelevize.cz/ct24/domaci/2457559-nadejny-cesky-objev-
latka-ktera-se-v-rusku-a-cine-pouziva-na-chripku-likviduje-i)

