Hello hello,
I’m probably exaggerating, but it feels like we are in the midst of a monumental technological shift as a society. I feel manic about the possibilities that are at our fingertips. And in the same minute, I tell myself to stop being so dramatic. Every generation has probably felt the exact same way. Invention of the wheel – game changing. Invention of electricity – whoa. Industrial revolution – there won’t be any jobs for humans anymore! The internet – impossible! It’s sort of fun to think about what other generations were grappling with, and how they imagined the end of our society as they knew it. I’m equal parts convinced now is a true revolution for our species, and it’s no different than any other generation. Sort of like how every generation thinks the music of their youth was the best there every was?
Which leads me to some curious behavior I’ve observed in my oldest son (he’s 8). A while ago, I caught him using the voice-activated feature on the TV remote to answer his math problems! He would speak his math problem into the TV remote, and the TV was giving him the correct answers which he promptly wrote on his worksheet (e.g. “what is 458 – 328?”). I wasn’t even mad – I was proud of his resourcefulness! Who knew smart TVs even had that capability? [Side bar: A few weeks later, I was reviewing his homework, and I noticed he was writing down the titles of my books on his reading log… I casually asked him, “Hey buddy, what did you learn when you read Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors, and The Drug Company That Addicted America?” The kid didn’t skip a beat – he rattled off some vague language about how he enjoyed the book. I didn’t have the energy to make him change it. Never heard from the teacher so we’re chalking it up to a win!] If we’re being honest with ourselves, our kids will have jobs that we can’t even conceive of right now. They are already learning an innate way of interacting with technology that is going to be a hard-earned skill in the rest of us. My poor colleagues are receiving the brunt of my mania on this topic as I want my company to be prepared to adapt to the generative AI tools that are evolving weekly. I feel like the town crier, but I can’t stop.
I was recently at an industry conference where our regulators discussed the challenges with attempting to regulate these technological advances as they apply to healthcare. The regulators (ahem FDA) also outlined their strategic plan to prioritize health equity. Tangibly, this looks like FDA requiring diversity plans for clinical trials to ensure that clinical populations reflect the general population (remember when Ambien was approved and most of the clinical data was obtained from men so the dosing for women caused ALL kinds of problems? …) and prioritizing medical products that address underrepresented populations. I am ON FIRE for this combination – using technology in the form of predicative products that serve under-represented populations. How do we use technology to detect Type 2 diabetes WAY before it needs formal medical intervention? How about cardiac disease? There’s an amazing South Korean company using non-invasive retina scans to detect kidney and cardiac function (https://mediwhale.com/). This is the future, and it’s so exciting. It feels like there’s a viable path toward narrowing the health inequity that exists in this country today.
Now, we (I) just need to harness this energy/passion into something real.
Talk soon,
Jessica
PS Highly recommend Peter Attia’s new book Outlive. Great look at the science and art of longevity which ties into the predicative nature that our medical system has to adopt for us all to avoid disease as long as possible!