Megan McArdle on the Oedipus Trap

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4.7 • 4.3K Ratings

🗓️ 20 March 2023

⏱️ 75 minutes

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Summary

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 Russ Roberts discuss what McArdle calls the "Oedipus Trap": mistakes that no one can live with, even if they were innocently made, and how admitting such mistakes to ourselves is nearly impossible.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to Econ Talk, Conversations for the Curious, part of the Library of Economics and Liberty.
0:07.8	I'm your host, Russ Roberts of Shalem College in Jerusalem and Stanford University's Hoover
0:12.7	Institution.
0:13.7	Go to econtalk.org where you can subscribe, comment on this episode and find links down
0:18.6	the information related to today's conversation.
0:21.4	You'll also find our archives, but every episode we've done going back to 2006.
0:26.8	Our email address is mail at econtalk.org.
0:30.3	We'd love to hear from you.
0:31.5	Today's February 19, 2023, and my guest is journalist and author, Megan McCartle of
0:43.6	the Washington Post.
0:45.0	This is Megan's seventh parents, honey, con talk.
0:47.8	She was last year in December of 2021 talking about belonging and national identity.
0:54.1	We're going to start our conversation today talking about lobotomies and mental illness,
0:58.2	but the overarching topic is about confronting our errors, professional and personal, the
1:02.9	challenge of confirmation bias.
1:04.9	And what a warm parents with young children that this episode will likely deal with a number
1:09.2	of adult themes, including those related to edifice.
1:12.6	That's a pretty good teaser, I thought.
1:15.0	Megan, welcome back to econtalk.
1:17.0	Thanks for having me, Russ.
1:19.6	We're going to talk to start with about a recent column you wrote in the Washington Post,
1:24.7	which centered on Walter Freeman, a doctor who was until your column obscure to me, and
	...

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