Meet inside The Shops at Waterloo Town Square - we will congregate in the seating area with the trees sticking out in the middle of the benches at 7pm for 15 minutes, and then head over to my nearby apartment's amenity room. If you've been around a few times, feel free to meet up at my apartment front door for 7:30 instead. (There is free city parking at Bridgeport and Regina, 22 Bridgeport Rd E.)

Quick Summary

• Same format and location as usual
• KWR member Simon is hosting this event!
• Take some time to engage with the questions below beforehand

Readings

Freddie deBoer's review of Ross Douthat's "The Deep Places"; 2021

Scott's review of "Unlearn Your Pain"; 2016 

Scott's review of "Crazy Like Us"; 2021

Pro gamer describes recovering from debilitating RSI in two weeks; 2018, 10 minute Youtube Video

Questions

• Have you or someone you know had a chronic pain or illness (e.g. long covid, back pain, RSI, chronic fatigue syndrome)? Do you think it was/is psychosomatic?
• How much chronic illness and pain is psychosomatic? What should we do about it as a society? As individuals?
• What do you think of treatments like the ones described in Scott's review of "Unlearn your Pain" where people confront childhood traumas in order to fix their back pain? Is it true that some chronic pain comes from repressed childhood traumas? If it's false but the therapy still works, should we keep doing the therapy anyway?
• It's good to notice when we are confused. This is all extremely weird and confusing. Is there any theory of mind that can convincingly explain all this?
• Do other animals get psychosomatic pain or illness? (Someone google this and report back in the discord or in the meetup!)