The Breaking Bad Effect, Obstetric Chainsaws and AI Trip Sitters

About this episode

This episode explores the plausibility of the Breaking Bad effect, the unsettling origins of the chainsaw in childbirth, and the role of AI as a psychedelic trip sitter.

Breaking Bad looks a little more plausible than you would hope, the chainsaw has a deeply unsettling medical origin story, and people are now asking whether AI can guide them through a psychedelic trip. This week, we bounce between crime, childbirth, and chatbot consciousness, which is not a sentence anyone should have to write, but here we are. We start with the so-called Breaking Bad effect, looking at research from Denmark suggesting that a life-changing diagnosis like cancer can increase the likelihood of criminal behaviour. When people feel like time is running out, the usual rules can start to look a lot less solid, which makes Walter White feel slightly less fictional than anyone would like. Then we head into the darkest corner of medical history, where the chainsaw turns out to have been invented for childbirth. Long before it became a tool for cutting timber or starring in horror films, it was used in procedures designed to make difficult deliveries possible. It is grim, fascinating, and a very effective way to make modern medicine look fantastic. Finally, we look at the strange idea of AI as a psychedelic trip sitter. While a chatbot might be able to offer calm prompts…

People in this episode

Host: A Little Bit Of Science

Topics covered

• criminal behavior
• medical history
• childbirth
• AI
• psychedelic experiences

Keywords

• Breaking Bad effect
• criminal behavior
• chainsaw
• childbirth
• AI
• psychedelic trip
• medical history

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: AI

Products: chainsaw

Books & works: Breaking Bad

Places: Denmark

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