Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

  1. What does the name of your project mean?
    It is simply a name intended to echo the concept lucid, which means "clear to the understanding." Our goal is to help make concepts such as rights and capitalism clearer to young doctors so that they understand, for instance, what actually constitutes a legitimate right and what kind of economic system actually leads to happiness and prosperity. The more doctors there are who understand these principles, the more difficult it will be for advocates of socialized medicine to maintain contradictions such as "healthcare is a right" or "capitalism is immoral."

  2. Who is eligible to receive a kit?
    The kits that we give away are intended for medical students, pre-med students, and nursing students. If you are studying some other clinical specialty, then we can probably include you too, depending on your circumstances and level of interest. We are also open to awarding kits to individuals who have just recently graduated from medical school or who are in their first few years of postdoctoral research. The goal is to get kits into the hands of people who are starting their careers in healthcare.

  3. What obligations do I incur by requesting a kit?
    Practically none, except that you agree to be featured on the recipients page with a brief profile and picture and you promise to read the materials and consider the ideas seriously. The purpose of the profiles is twofold: 1) to show other medical students who visit our website that they are not alone in questioning the status quo, and 2) to share with our supporters the real-life stories of the students who they help with their donations. In order to help protect the privacy of recipients, we do not show recipients' last names. If you wish for more privacy than that, then we can discuss alternatives. For example, instead of submitting a photo of yourself, you may send a photo of the kit after you receive it, or of a building on your campus. Most recipients do not find anonymity necessary. Also, none of your personal information (e.g., email address, mailing address) will ever be lent or sold to anyone else.

  4. Are the kits only for students who already agree with these ideas?
    Of course not! This is an educational outreach program, so our target audience is people who are new to the ideas of capitalism and individual rights. The only requirement to requesting a kit is that you have a genuine interest in learning more about these topics and that you are open to rational arguments. We do not necessarily expect you to already agree with, or even be familiar with, many of these ideas. As a medical student, you have probably spent most of your academic career studying anatomy, biology, and chemistry. You may have never even had a course in philosophy or economics, so it is expected that will have questions about capitalism and individual rights, especially given the way that these concepts are misrepresented in academia today. If part of the reason you chose to go into a scientific field was because you found subjects like philosophy useless, unchallenging, or completely detached from reality, then there is a good chance that you are exactly the type of person who will find the materials in our self-defense kit to be invigorating and clarifying.

  5. I want a kit but I am not a medical student. Can I still get one?
    We appreciate the positive support that we get from doctors, non-students, and students studying non-medical disciplines. However, in order to stay focused on our mission of educating tomorrow's healthcare leaders, we can only give away kits to the eligible students described above.

  6. Is this outreach program active in any other countries besides the United States?
    Not substantially, but we do happily award kits to medical students regardless of where they live and study. We have sent kits to students as far away as Canada, England, Poland, Brazil, and Pakistan. Freedom and the rights of doctors ought to be protected for everyone, not just for people in the United States.

  7. How can I get involved with your project?
    If you are a student, the best way to get involved in The Lucidicus Project is to talk with your classmates in medical school and encourage them to visit the Lucidicus website and request a kit. This will help you to think through the issues in depth, and both will help spread the message of individual rights in medicine to a wider audience. You can also write guest articles for the Center for Objective Health Policy and help us find new supporters to keep this outreach project going strong.

  8. Whoa, your site has changed! Where did all your articles and writings go?
    In July/August of 2011, The Lucidicus Project became the official outreach program of the Center for Objective Health Policy. The Center is the new focal point for all writing, commentary, and policy analysis, while The Lucidicus Project is the focal point for student outreach.



More Q&A and Interviews

Below are additional sources that contain answers to questions about The Lucidicus Project: