David Cutler: evaluation

Transcript context

…What do you think is the health value of Google, either positive or negative? It’s the busiest doctor in our country, right? How do we assess that? Oh, absolutely. Information technology is dramatically changing how people interact with the medical-care system. I haven’t seen a formal study on this, but my sense is that Dr. Google has actually been pretty good for health because now you can find out things about where can I go to get a COVID test, or what about flu shots, and so on. For many people who have difficulty finding a doctor and interacting with the medical system, that is very helpful. I will say, though, for example, if you look at — let’s just take the anti-vax community. You say, “Well, maybe if the anti-vax community spent more time googling the CDC website, they would not be anti-vaxxers.” That actually turns out to be incorrect. The vast bulk of people who are prolific in the anti-vax community know exactly what the CDC says. They just don’t believe it. It’s not that Dr. Google will solve all the problems, but for some people, it can be quite helpful. Does that positive side show up in the numbers anywhere?…

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