Welcome to The Antidote with Dan Goyal
Thought I should introduce myself
Hi all. Had some housekeeping stuff to share, so I thought I would use the opportunity to introduce myself properly.
Firstly, the housekeeping. There were some issues with merging my newsletter with my profile page. After a work-around with Substack, my profile has now been turned into the newsletter. Long and short, there is now a website for subscribers and a chat feature. I’ve merged the subscriber lists and will soon delete the other webpage. There's nothing for you to do, just thought I should let you know.
So, where did all this begin? The idea for The Antidote was born from the lack of progressive and civilised content out there just now. It seems that there are plenty of influencers spouting the same regressive rhetoric that we find in legacy media. They are well-supported and often have big platforms. I felt we needed more progressive voices to act as a sort of ‘Antidote’ to such divisive and uncivilised content. So, I decided to add my voice.
Why me? I guess, because I care. I care about the future of society. I care about access to decent healthcare and education. I care about how we treat each other and how we value the diversity of humanity. Also, I could no longer ignore the realisation that we are in the midst of a manufactured division. That, the shift to more divisive ideologies has not come from the people. It has emanated from those who wish to take the power that we, human civilisation, create. It is a concerted effort to undermine democracy and delay its inevitable outcome - a more equal and fair society. Like most of us, I feel I need to push back.
I do push back in my day job. I am a medical doctor (internist). I lead a team providing medical care to patients with urgent and emergency medical problems - strokes, heart attacks, sepsis, cancer, falls, etc., - in a State-run hospital. Every day I witness the consequences of greed and the failure to allocate our shared resources fairly, as well as the tremendously humane response to it. I am surrounded, every day, by remarkable humanity. I am reminded every hour of every (working) day of our shared civility. Many can’t see it. Perhaps that is part of what I offer - reminding us to notice human kindness and decency.
But it’s not enough. I also want to share a truth that is mainly found in science. I am a neuroscientist (I hold a PhD in Neurosciences) and I want to share with you the proof of our shared humanity.
It is true that the human brain is the source of human civilisation’s dominance. It is also true that such power came from the human ability to cooperate. As I will show you, humans are hardwired to be civil to each other. Yes, we have laws and rules, religions and cultures, that do provide the boundaries of human civilisation, but the science shows us (as does experience) that our brains have evolved an inherent civility - the actual cognitive function of humanity. Most of us would behave civilly to each other regardless of what boundaries are in place. I want The Antidote to serve as a constant reminder of this.
Otherwise, I am a father, husband, son and brother. I am at the mercy of my kids’ achievements and happiness. I am devoted to my wife. And I am trying to be a good son and brother. Trying. Some of this will come through in the content I produce.
I was born in Chicago but have lived most of my life in Scotland. I am grateful for being able to practice medicine in Scotland. I never have to consider whether my patients can afford the treatment they need. I have worked in a number of countries, in both private and state-run healthcare. It is from this position that my primary motivation for engaging with social media stems. Everyone deserves access to decent healthcare. No one should face medical bankruptcy or homelessness due to an accident or a random mutation leading to cancer. This is the civil response to healthcare needs and one that drives my engagement with global health issues.
As well as healthcare and the neuroscience of civility, the material you will find here will be broad, both in content and form. Ethics, politics, current affairs, the climate crisis, and basically anything that provides an opportunity to explore and reiterate the shared humanity that forms the foundations of human civilisation. I am not great with tech, but will endeavour to use the different formats available on Substack - podcasts, audio and video segments and eventually the chat function.
Thanks for taking the time to subscribe and engage. As you know, I endeavour to keep all content free and publicly available. If you have any problems accessing any of my content then please do get in touch.
Thanks to all those who have chosen to be paid subscribers. It makes a real difference, granting me the time to work on the content for The Antidote, and helps to keep the content free for everyone else. I’m hugely grateful!
Also, a big thanks to those who engage with and share the content here. Any support you can offer is most appreciated.
So, I think that’s about it. I wish you all the peace and prosperity this world has to offer.
Dan
I very much appreciate your valuable insights and analyses. Thank you for taking the time to communicate important topics with others.
You would know far better than I, so please correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems to me that we (human beings) have a tendency to focus and remember the negative more than the positive. I've long believed that as a species we are more good than bad, that we are a social and cooperative animal rather than a competitive one. After all, we have empathy (not that we're unique in that respect, but it doesn't appear to be a common characteristic) and we hate to see suffering and injustice. We care, not just about ourselves and our closest relatives and friends, but for all humans and beyond, for all life. There are millions of small acts of kindness that happen every day, but they largely go unnoticed. This is what I mean about focussing on the negative. Good news isn't considered newsworthy. Unpleasant experiences seem to affect us for longer and have a greater effect on us than pleasant ones. From an evolutionary perspective that makes sense: we wish to avoid the unpleasant experiences in the future, remembering and focussing on them helps us do that. If it is indeed the case that we are biased towards the negative then it's valuable and important to be reminded of our better side, so thank you for doing that. There are many things we have to be proud of: music, science, the arts (sorry, I'm a musician and almost certainly biased in that respect; I think it's one of our greatest achievements as well as profoundly mysterious. Several years ago BBC Radio 4 asked 100 scientists what the most interesting question in science was for an end-of-year poll. One physicist replied with “Why do we like music?” I'd never given it much thought but it's intrigued me ever since).
As for diversity, I remember reading or hearing somewhere that we have one of the narrowest gene pools of any species and that's not good. It's just one reason diversity is important and should be encouraged, why people of mixed race are good for us. Having said that, I also remember reading that there's no genetic basis for race, that it's not possible to tell what race someone is from their DNA. Perhaps you'd be good enough to correct me if either of those facts are inaccurate (i.e. that they aren't facts; I've always had a problem with ‘alternative facts’. A fact is a fact, if there's a valid alternative then it isn't a fact).
Anyway, thank you again for going to the effort to write ‘The Antidote’ and reporting on our positive and worthy qualities.