I just read a news article saying that Maori patients without a GP were likely to get worse lung cancer. It also said that GPs could miss early symptoms of lung cancer. Those excellent CoREs you refer to should have worked out that this is GPs fault, and the solution lies with better GP service. The problem is that GPs are above criticism, because I have tried, and I suspect that CoREs researchers are too Woke to challenge their authority. Doctors operate a no-fault system, where they are never wrong, but we dont need a whole new separate healthcare system for Maori.
Hi Mark, thanks so much for reading and for your comment!
You bring up a good point about healthcare disparities, especially for Māori, a topic close to not only my research but to my heart. You're right—access to GPs and early diagnosis can make a huge difference. From what I’ve seen at Te Pūnaha Matatini (TPM), though, it’s less about blaming GPs and more about tackling the systemic issues that lead to unequal outcomes.
The real fix isn’t pointing fingers at GPs, but looking at the bigger picture—changing structures so that healthcare becomes more accessible and equitable for everyone, especially Māori. I disagree that TPM and CoREs are trying to be "woke," they’re just focused on real, evidence-based solutions. And if you’ve followed me, you know I don’t subscribe to left or right ideologies—I'm actually pretty critical of both! Even more so of what I think you mean as the 'woke' left.
Definitely a conversation worth continuing, and I appreciate your perspective! 😊
Could you come up with any systemic issues that might lead to unequal outcomes for Maori ? I thought of 2 things; inability to afford private healthcare surgery, and inability to afford those really expensive Cancer treatments, like National just funded. These 2 issues would contribute to unequal outcomes, but they are poverty problems, not systemic healthcare problems. What do you think ? I have seen plenty of white folks fundraising for medicine on Facebook.
I recently listened to a Maori physician going on about how damp housing is causing Maori children to get rheumatic fever at 10 times the rate of pakeha children, and how it is nothing to do with genetics. I found this hard to believe, cos Europeans have been exposed much longer in history. I just looked it up online and sure enough, the biggest risk factor for rheumatic fever is genes. That Maori doctor wanted to believe that poor housing was the leading cause, but that doesnt make it true. Some Maori genes may be superior to Europeans, but not the genes for rheumatic immunity.
Hi Natalia I think you have got it all wrong, and I have years of experience with bad doctors, and I am still alive. My niece wasnt so lucky, cos her doctor failed to notice that she had stage 4 bowel cancer, and she was dead in 3 months. She said all the right things, and he got it all wrong and missed every clue. People make mistakes, and mostly at the front line, with GPs. My niece was European, so what was the systemic issue that led to her unequal outcome ? It was actually because she was only 39 years old. Who are the people blaming systemic issues, and where do all these systemic issues hide ? I suggest that behind every bad decision is someone with poor judgement, mostly GPs, and I have experienced endless discrimination and gaslighting from GPs because of their ignorance. I was lucky to find an Integrative medical Specialist who didnt think like that. I can blame cheap and nasty GPs for my bad outcomes. Is that what you mean by systemic issues ?
I’m an engineer. I think it is important to try to model things, especially complex systems. It’s difficult to get reasonable good-confidence results from models, but often just getting a better handle on the magnitudes of interactions, the sensitivities, can give much better insights than casual mental models. I think humans who specialise in an area will beat computer models in that area hands down. But failing herds of quality experts, models come a good second.
That said, they are tricky beasts. Most of them are actually rubbish, even at the level of providing insight. I’ve participated in enough over the years to know that making sense of them is about as easy as reading goose entrails, and that is even assuming they capture any real dynamics. I’m thinking of the impact of Jay Forrester’s models at MIT in the ‘70s that underpinned The Limits to Growth. It was impactful, but twaddle. They told us that a finite resource facing exponential demand will have a Malthusian result. Well, yes.
What you might find Natalia is that a model investigating dynamics that intersect aspects of housing and social cohesion will stimulate your thinking in unexpected ways.
I totally agree—models can be tricky beasts, but even the process of building and testing them can open up new ways of thinking. I love how you put it: even if they don’t give us perfect answers, they can help us get a better handle on the magnitude of interactions and the sensitivity of certain factors. I couldn't agree more!
I’m still wrapping my head around how to apply this to housing and social cohesion, but already I’m seeing how complexity science can challenge my assumptions in some surprising ways. And while I might not have a herd of experts at my disposal, I’ll happily take the insights from models where I can!
Thanks for the encouragement—looking forward to seeing where it all leads!
Since this organisation was the original umbrella for the disinformation project it has lost all credibility for its other possible sterling efforts. I read all the "papers" that TDP produced and as a past research scientist was appalled at the spewing of opinion and critical theory dogma masquerading as fact. Sounds like they have well and truly captured you - good luck with that. I will not be renewing my subscription to your substack.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I'm sorry to hear you feel that way about the Disinformation Project and my article. I appreciate your perspective and respect your decision. If you ever want to discuss it further or share more of your insights, I'm all ears. Wishing you all the best!
Thank you, but there's really nothing more to be said. TDP had an agenda and nothing was going to deter them from tailoring their research to fit this. And of course it's now coming home to roost. The disinformation poster girl, Kate Hannah, has been the subject of one defamation case already: "The suit was settled by the Herald implicitly agreeing they couldn’t rely on Kate Hannah’s partisan critique as expert opinion". A second suit against Stuff/Fire and Fury in which Hannah was a main "expert" is pending.
I just read a news article saying that Maori patients without a GP were likely to get worse lung cancer. It also said that GPs could miss early symptoms of lung cancer. Those excellent CoREs you refer to should have worked out that this is GPs fault, and the solution lies with better GP service. The problem is that GPs are above criticism, because I have tried, and I suspect that CoREs researchers are too Woke to challenge their authority. Doctors operate a no-fault system, where they are never wrong, but we dont need a whole new separate healthcare system for Maori.
Hi Mark, thanks so much for reading and for your comment!
You bring up a good point about healthcare disparities, especially for Māori, a topic close to not only my research but to my heart. You're right—access to GPs and early diagnosis can make a huge difference. From what I’ve seen at Te Pūnaha Matatini (TPM), though, it’s less about blaming GPs and more about tackling the systemic issues that lead to unequal outcomes.
The real fix isn’t pointing fingers at GPs, but looking at the bigger picture—changing structures so that healthcare becomes more accessible and equitable for everyone, especially Māori. I disagree that TPM and CoREs are trying to be "woke," they’re just focused on real, evidence-based solutions. And if you’ve followed me, you know I don’t subscribe to left or right ideologies—I'm actually pretty critical of both! Even more so of what I think you mean as the 'woke' left.
Definitely a conversation worth continuing, and I appreciate your perspective! 😊
Could you come up with any systemic issues that might lead to unequal outcomes for Maori ? I thought of 2 things; inability to afford private healthcare surgery, and inability to afford those really expensive Cancer treatments, like National just funded. These 2 issues would contribute to unequal outcomes, but they are poverty problems, not systemic healthcare problems. What do you think ? I have seen plenty of white folks fundraising for medicine on Facebook.
I recently listened to a Maori physician going on about how damp housing is causing Maori children to get rheumatic fever at 10 times the rate of pakeha children, and how it is nothing to do with genetics. I found this hard to believe, cos Europeans have been exposed much longer in history. I just looked it up online and sure enough, the biggest risk factor for rheumatic fever is genes. That Maori doctor wanted to believe that poor housing was the leading cause, but that doesnt make it true. Some Maori genes may be superior to Europeans, but not the genes for rheumatic immunity.
Hi Natalia I think you have got it all wrong, and I have years of experience with bad doctors, and I am still alive. My niece wasnt so lucky, cos her doctor failed to notice that she had stage 4 bowel cancer, and she was dead in 3 months. She said all the right things, and he got it all wrong and missed every clue. People make mistakes, and mostly at the front line, with GPs. My niece was European, so what was the systemic issue that led to her unequal outcome ? It was actually because she was only 39 years old. Who are the people blaming systemic issues, and where do all these systemic issues hide ? I suggest that behind every bad decision is someone with poor judgement, mostly GPs, and I have experienced endless discrimination and gaslighting from GPs because of their ignorance. I was lucky to find an Integrative medical Specialist who didnt think like that. I can blame cheap and nasty GPs for my bad outcomes. Is that what you mean by systemic issues ?
I’m an engineer. I think it is important to try to model things, especially complex systems. It’s difficult to get reasonable good-confidence results from models, but often just getting a better handle on the magnitudes of interactions, the sensitivities, can give much better insights than casual mental models. I think humans who specialise in an area will beat computer models in that area hands down. But failing herds of quality experts, models come a good second.
That said, they are tricky beasts. Most of them are actually rubbish, even at the level of providing insight. I’ve participated in enough over the years to know that making sense of them is about as easy as reading goose entrails, and that is even assuming they capture any real dynamics. I’m thinking of the impact of Jay Forrester’s models at MIT in the ‘70s that underpinned The Limits to Growth. It was impactful, but twaddle. They told us that a finite resource facing exponential demand will have a Malthusian result. Well, yes.
What you might find Natalia is that a model investigating dynamics that intersect aspects of housing and social cohesion will stimulate your thinking in unexpected ways.
Hi John, thanks again for sharing your thoughts!
I totally agree—models can be tricky beasts, but even the process of building and testing them can open up new ways of thinking. I love how you put it: even if they don’t give us perfect answers, they can help us get a better handle on the magnitude of interactions and the sensitivity of certain factors. I couldn't agree more!
I’m still wrapping my head around how to apply this to housing and social cohesion, but already I’m seeing how complexity science can challenge my assumptions in some surprising ways. And while I might not have a herd of experts at my disposal, I’ll happily take the insights from models where I can!
Thanks for the encouragement—looking forward to seeing where it all leads!
Since this organisation was the original umbrella for the disinformation project it has lost all credibility for its other possible sterling efforts. I read all the "papers" that TDP produced and as a past research scientist was appalled at the spewing of opinion and critical theory dogma masquerading as fact. Sounds like they have well and truly captured you - good luck with that. I will not be renewing my subscription to your substack.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I'm sorry to hear you feel that way about the Disinformation Project and my article. I appreciate your perspective and respect your decision. If you ever want to discuss it further or share more of your insights, I'm all ears. Wishing you all the best!
Thank you, but there's really nothing more to be said. TDP had an agenda and nothing was going to deter them from tailoring their research to fit this. And of course it's now coming home to roost. The disinformation poster girl, Kate Hannah, has been the subject of one defamation case already: "The suit was settled by the Herald implicitly agreeing they couldn’t rely on Kate Hannah’s partisan critique as expert opinion". A second suit against Stuff/Fire and Fury in which Hannah was a main "expert" is pending.
Great read and very inspiring- might need to check out the coffee group 😊
Yes, come! They are great and we'd get to hug :)