JONATHAN COHN MAY 24, 2011
-
Read Later
READ LATERAvailable only to subscribers. SUBSCRIBE TODAY
-
Listen
ARTICLE AUDIO
- Font Size
Expect light blogging over the next few days. I've got more than the usual reporting to do. In the meantime, you might enjoy this brief lecture from Beth Linker, a professor of history and the sociology of science at the University of Pennsylvania.
Linker's theme is "American exceptionalism," but not the kind people usually invoke. She is referring to our health care system, which is exceptional for its history of treating health care as a luxury rather than a right.
Linker's talk is part of Penn's "60 second lecture series" and it is as quick as the name suggests. I'm trying not to think too hard about the fact that it takes me between 40 minutes and an hour to make the same essential point when I give speeches.
2 comments
Me, I'm a data person myself. I like stats and examples.
- Nusholtz
May 24, 2011 at 5:11pm
Are we reaching the point (naturally, too late for me) when people will live forever? If so, who will pay for it? After we read every issue of New Republic dating back to the time of Plato, and every issue of the Onion dating back time of Aristophanes, how will we keep ourselves from being bored? Will the right to commit suicide have to be added to the Constitution of the United States as an Amendment? Well, that will give the Tea Party something to keep them occupied.
- skahn
May 25, 2011 at 5:54pm