Christina Farr, longtime healthtech journalist and now advisor, investor, and editor-in-chief of Second Opinion Media, sits down with Siddhartha Mukherjee, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of "The Emperor of All Maladies," oncologist, and founder of Manas AI.
In this expansive conversation, they explore the current and future role of AI in medicine. Sid offers a typology for how LLMs are showing up in clinical practice and scientific discovery, while Chrissy pushes on what AI can’t yet replicate: intuition, empathy and institutional memory. They discuss whether AI will replace the “intelligentsia,” what it gets right and wrong about diagnostics and drug discovery, and how clinicians can stay relevant by staying creative. This is a thoughtful, urgent discussion between two people who are both deeply familiar with the systems of medicine.
In this conversation, you’ll learn:
1. A six-part framework for how AI is transforming healthcare and science
2. How ambient scribes, LLMs, and generative chemistry are reshaping workflows
3. The difference between simulated empathy and real human care
4. What LLMs still miss: texture, taste, and tacit knowledge
5. How AI might (or might not) generate revolutionary scientific insights
6. Why the future belongs to clinicians who generate new knowledge, not just apply it
Where to find Chrissy:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christinafarr/
X: https://x.com/chrissyfar
Substack: https://secondopinion.media/
Where to find Sid:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/siddhartha-mukherjee-19b6b8126/
The New Yorker: https://www.newyorker.com/contributors/siddhartha-mukherjee
Books: The Emperor of All Maladies, The Gene, The Song of the Cell
Where to find TheGP:
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-general-partnership
- X: https://x.com/thegp
- Substack: https://thegeneralpartnership.substack.com/
Referenced in this episode:
• Manas AI: https://www.manasai.co
• Richard Feynman’s “Cargo Cult Science” lecture: https://calteches.library.caltech.edu/51/2/CargoCult.htm
• Thomas Kuhn’s The Structure of Scientific Revolutions: https://www.amazon.com/Structure-Scientific-Revolutions-50th-Anniversary-ebook/dp/B007USH7J2/
• Karl Popper’s theory of falsifiability: https://www.simplypsychology.org/karl-popper.html
• Stephen Jay Gould’s “The Median Isn’t the Message”: https://journalofethics.ama-assn.org/article/median-isnt-message/2013-01
• David Fajgenbaum’s Chasing My Cure: https://chasingmycure.com/
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Special Summer Offer: Exclusively on Apple Podcasts, try our Dateline Premium subscription completely free for one month! With Dateline Premium, you get every episode ad-free plus exclusive bonus content.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.