SECOND OPINION WITH DR DEW Episode 000: Trailer - What is Second Opinion? Published: 2025-05-15 Runtime: 8:45 --- [00:00] Hey. I'm DeWayne Lehman—most people call me Dr Dew. That's D-E-W, like the moisture on grass in the morning, not "do" like the thing you accomplish. It's a nickname that stuck because I have a doctorate, but I'm not a physician. I'm a DBA—Doctor of Business Administration. So if you came here looking for medical advice, wrong channel. [00:28] This is Second Opinion. The name comes from something we do in medicine: when a diagnosis matters, you get a second opinion. Not because the first doctor is incompetent, but because important decisions deserve independent verification. [00:45] That's what I'm trying to do here, but for the claims you encounter in media, business, technology, and public discourse. Not fact-checking in the gotcha sense—more like due diligence. What's actually being claimed? Who benefits if you believe it? What's the evidence? What would falsify it? [01:12] Let me tell you what this isn't. This isn't a show where I tell you what to think. If you're looking for someone to validate your existing beliefs, you'll be disappointed. Sometimes my analysis will align with what you already believe. Sometimes it won't. That's not the point. [01:35] This also isn't outrage content. I'm not here to dunk on people or score points. That stuff gets engagement, but it doesn't help anyone think more clearly. And thinking clearly is the actual goal. [01:52] Here's what I actually do. Every episode follows a method—the same method every time, so you can hold me accountable to it. [02:04] Step one: Claim. What exactly is being asserted? Not what the headline implies, not what the tweet suggests—what's the actual claim when you strip away the rhetoric? [02:18] Step two: Incentives. Who benefits if you believe this claim? Not in a conspiracy theory sense, but in a follow-the-money, follow-the-career-advancement, follow-the-political-utility sense. [02:35] Step three: Evidence. What supports this claim? Is it primary evidence or is it derivative—someone else's summary of someone else's summary? Is the sample size meaningful? Is the methodology sound? [02:52] Step four: Pressure test. What would falsify this claim? If nothing could possibly prove it wrong, it's not a claim—it's a belief. And beliefs are fine, but we should know when we're dealing with them. [03:10] Step five: Translation. After all that, what's the clean version in plain language? Not dumbed down—simplified. There's a difference. [03:25] That's the method. Every episode. You'll know what I'm doing and why I'm doing it. [03:35] Now, about this website. You might notice it looks a little different from most sites. There's no cookie banner. There's no newsletter popup. There's no "sign up to unlock" gate. [03:50] That's not an accident. I built this site to respect your attention and your privacy. No scripts means no tracking. No analytics means I have no idea who you are or how you got here—and I'm fine with that. [04:10] The site is static HTML. It loads fast, it works without JavaScript, and it'll probably still work when half the web is broken because some CDN went down. [04:25] If you want to subscribe, there's an RSS feed. If you don't know what RSS is, it's the way the internet worked before algorithms decided what you should see. You can also email me directly. I'll add you to a list and send you updates when new episodes drop. No automation, no marketing funnel, just a human with a text file. [04:52] So who is this for? [05:00] If you've ever read a headline that made you angry and then wondered "wait, is this actually true?"—this is for you. [05:10] If you've ever been in a meeting where someone cited a statistic that felt wrong but you didn't know how to push back—this is for you. [05:22] If you're tired of having to choose between sources that tell you what you want to hear and sources that tell you what you don't want to hear—this is for you. [05:35] If you want someone to just confirm your existing worldview—this is probably not for you. I'm going to be wrong sometimes, and when I am, I'll update the episode pages to reflect what I learned. That's part of the deal. [05:55] One more thing about the name "Dr Dew." It started as a joke. My last name is Lehman, but when I got my doctorate, my students started calling me Dr Dew because apparently "Dr Lehman" sounded too serious. It stuck. [06:15] I use it here because it signals something: I have credentials, but I'm not hiding behind them. The doctorate means I spent years learning how to research, how to write, how to think through complex problems. It doesn't mean I'm automatically right. The work has to stand on its own. [06:40] So that's the pitch. Second Opinion. A second look beneath the surface. Clarity, not vibes. Sources, not screenshots. Fewer certainties, but better confidence in the certainties you do have. [07:00] If that sounds useful, start with the Method page—it explains the five-step process in more detail. Or jump to Episode 1, where I actually apply this to something real. [07:15] Thanks for listening. I'll see you in the next one. [07:22] [END] --- Transcript by: DeWayne Lehman Reviewed: 2025-05-15