#139 Limits to Medicine - Ivan Illich w/ Lucas Smith

#139 Limits to Medicine - Ivan Illich w/ Lucas Smith

From Book Club From Hell by Levi MK and Jack BC

March 22, 2026 · 1h 58m · Episode 171

About this episode

The episode discusses Ivan Illich's critique of industrialized medicine and its societal implications with guest Lucas Smith.

Limits to Medicine (1975) describes how and why industrialised medicine contributes to an 'iatrogenic society', in which all political grievances are converted into demands for more industrial commodities. Helping me out with this easy and straightforward topic is Lucas Smith, ruling theocrat of Bonfire Books, an excellent small publisher who will be releasing my next novel, Audience Capture , in October of this year. Apologies if the audio in a few sections is a bit scratchy, we had recording issues and I've tried my best to surgically (in a holistic, Illichian sense, one preserving an art of suffering) reconstruct our conversation. Furthermore, I realise that I have done two episodes on similar topics recently. I apologise profusely for this, and can guarantee that upcoming episodes will have absolutely nothing to do with medicine or Ivan Illich. Spare Us Yet: https://www.amazon.com/dp/195131994x Bonfire Books website: bonfirebooks.org Bonfire Books on X: @BooksBonfire Bonfire Books on Substack: https://substack.com/@bonfirebooks VERY IMPORTANT INFORMATION Contact: jack.bcfh@gmail.com Jack has an upcoming novel called 'Audience Capture', out October 2016 through Bonfire Books…

People in this episode

Hosts: Jack BC, Levi MK

Guest: Lucas Smith

Topics covered

  • industrialized medicine
  • iatrogenic society
  • political grievances
  • healthcare critique
  • Ivan Illich

Keywords

  • medicine
  • healthcare
  • Ivan Illich
  • iatrogenic
  • politics
  • Bonfire Books
  • Audience Capture

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Bonfire Books

Books & works: Limits to Medicine, Audience Capture

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