NPArrrgh!

Is anyone else with me that NPR talk shows are a terrible disappointment? If only the rest of radio wasn't so awful, I wouldn't be forced to tune to public radio and listen to host after host ruin interviews with otherwise perfectly interesting guests.

Host: So tell me how you first got interested in philosophy.

Guest: Actually, I've discovered the profound meaning of life and was hoping to reveal it on your show right now. I am so excited to finally get this out...

Host: Aaaaand at 15 past the hour you're listening to my show. Now an NPR news break!

or

Host: We're talking with noted author John Smith. Now John, what was it like spending a weekend in a cabin with Kurt Vonnegut?

Guest: It was very interesting. I have a bunch of funny stories.

Host: (moving on to next question on pre-prepared list) Ok great. So what challenges have you experienced as a minority trying to make it in the world of letters?

It seems to me that the whole point of a non-commercial format is that if people have a good conversation going, they could let it continue. And it also seems to me that the whole point of having your own talk show would be because you have the conversational skills to engage the guest in an interesting discussion, or have the desire to learn new things and actually research your topic beforehand. These NPR hosts fail on all counts.

Science and Drug Policy

There was a study published last month in the lancet that I think is a step in the right direction for policy making. Science is the only tool we know of to gain knowledge about our world shouldn't it be a bigger part of policy making?

This study created a metric for comparing how harmful different drugs are. We should expect that as with all scientific endeavors, it will be disputed, found to be inaccurate and insufficient for many things, but then it will be improved on. This is a first step in the best we can hope to do. Its science and its awesome, and it will improve our lives.

Development of a rational scale to assess the harm of drugs of potential misuse
Nutt D, King LA, Saulsbury W, Blakemore C
The Lancet - Vol. 369, Issue 9566, 24 March 2007, Pages 1047-1053

The most interesting part of this study is alcohol at 5th most harmful, Amphetamine at 8, tobacco at 9, Cannibis at 11, and exstacy at 18. Heroin was the number 1 most harmful.

Metrics

Lets make some comparisons. We can do it rationally. We can understand why and where we differ in opinion. We can separate right from wrong and understand where we are uncertain.