Popper in da House

The first (pilot) episode of House MD ends with a clever hint. Dr. House, exhausted at the end of yet another shift at the hospital and, as always, off his face on drugs, takes a break to watch his favourite hospital drama on a portable TV receiver. An actor's squeaky voice can be heard from the miniature television: "We are doctors. When we make mistakes people die!"

Just before the closing titles appear we catch one last glimpse of Dr. House, chuckling, an amused smirk across his face. He knows that exactly the opposite is true. It is when doctors don't make mistakes that their patients die.

I somehow waited 20 years to start watching House MD. And not for lack of strong recommendations from people whose opinion I trust. I'm just not that much into hospital dramas, and the persistent claim that "it's not really a hospital drama, it's something else altogether" wasn't enough to convince me to give it a try.

But House MD really isn't a hospital drama. It's a show about epistemology, and a compendium of lessons on what problem-solving looks and feels like. Not pretty. Not at all.

So far the story hasn't made a single reference to Karl Popper. And why would it? Dr House is not one for lectures and philosophising. In the time it would take to discuss his philosophical convictions he can have more fun popping another pill, zoning out in front of the TV, deeply insulting several of his colleagues, and of course, saving another patient's life. Usually after almost killing them in seven different ways.

Solving problems is a lonely and painful pursuit. If House wasn't addicted to it (even more than he's addicted to his "pain management" pills) he might have given up long ago. And to make it worse, he is surrounded by IDIOTS! Reasonable, timid people, who crave the comforts of certainty.

But certainty is an illusion. When House invites his team of misfits to get together and come up with a "differential diagnosis" of a new patient, he's asking them to make wild guesses. To be creative and conjure up new theories out of thin air. And only then work together to explain them, and to prescribe the experiments that will disconfirm these theories (yes, often while almost killing the patient).

Everyone hates Dr. House. Not just because he's an arrogant arsehole with a complete lack of interpersonal skill and finesse. But because even though he clearly has no idea what he's talking about, he nevertheless clings to his unfounded opinions with zealous conviction. If only he wasn't such an excellent doctor.

At the end of one of the later episodes, a patient is being rolled out of the hospital as he's being discharged, accompanied by his mother. As they get to the elevator they encounter Dr. House and the mother greets him. The patient, having never before seen Dr. House (who is not in the habit of actually interfacing with his patients - he is interested in their medical conditions, not their personality) asks "who is this man?" The mother responds, "this is the jerk who saved your life".