Dr. Peter Attia

So I'm sure we will get to how you and I met 25 years ago, exactly 25 years ago, and how you played an unbelievable role in bringing me back from arguably the brink of what could have been the end of my life, truthfully. But I want to start with some broader topics around pain. So There's nobody listening to us right now who doesn't know what pain is.

So I'm sure we will get to how you and I met 25 years ago, exactly 25 years ago, and how you played an unbelievable role in bringing me back from arguably the brink of what could have been the end of my life, truthfully. But I want to start with some broader topics around pain. So There's nobody listening to us right now who doesn't know what pain is.

There's nobody listening to us right now who hasn't experienced pain. Yet, if you ask for a definition of pain, I think you'd get a lot of using the word to describe the thing, which isn't truly a definition. So if you were trying to explain to a Martian from another planet who doesn't experience pain what it is, what would you say?

There's nobody listening to us right now who hasn't experienced pain. Yet, if you ask for a definition of pain, I think you'd get a lot of using the word to describe the thing, which isn't truly a definition. So if you were trying to explain to a Martian from another planet who doesn't experience pain what it is, what would you say?

And Sean, just to interrupt for a second, thinking through the history of medicine a little bit, the latter part of the 19th century brought a couple of other tools to pain. So between local anesthetics, cocaine down to lidocaine, and general anesthetics in the form of ether, which finally allowed surgeons to cut people without having to hold them down while they screamed.

And Sean, just to interrupt for a second, thinking through the history of medicine a little bit, the latter part of the 19th century brought a couple of other tools to pain. So between local anesthetics, cocaine down to lidocaine, and general anesthetics in the form of ether, which finally allowed surgeons to cut people without having to hold them down while they screamed.

It sounds like that didn't shed any new light. That was viewed in the one hand as just a blunting instrument, but it didn't change the model. Didn't change the model.

It sounds like that didn't shed any new light. That was viewed in the one hand as just a blunting instrument, but it didn't change the model. Didn't change the model.

Okay.

Okay.

The A-delta is doing two things, if I'm understanding this correctly. Is it creating the spinal reflex where I hit my thumb with the hammer, the signal goes into the spinal cord out through a motor neuron to pull back without me having to think about it?

The A-delta is doing two things, if I'm understanding this correctly. Is it creating the spinal reflex where I hit my thumb with the hammer, the signal goes into the spinal cord out through a motor neuron to pull back without me having to think about it?

But am I also feeling the pain? Am I perceiving the pain? If you could do a thought experiment where you could eliminate the C-fiber in an individual, would they still feel pain? Yes.

But am I also feeling the pain? Am I perceiving the pain? If you could do a thought experiment where you could eliminate the C-fiber in an individual, would they still feel pain? Yes.

So there's still a central component to what the A fiber is doing.

So there's still a central component to what the A fiber is doing.

Just thinking about this from an evolutionary lens, lots of debate about this in the animal kingdom. Like, does a goldfish feel pain? Do we have a clear sense as to how far from humans and or mammals you go where you still clearly have C-fibers and A-delta fibers?

Just thinking about this from an evolutionary lens, lots of debate about this in the animal kingdom. Like, does a goldfish feel pain? Do we have a clear sense as to how far from humans and or mammals you go where you still clearly have C-fibers and A-delta fibers?

This is where I was actually going to go, if I can just give you that window. Please. What I was really going to ask is a question about consciousness.

This is where I was actually going to go, if I can just give you that window. Please. What I was really going to ask is a question about consciousness.