Mandated Doctors Without Proven Value Are Unsustainable
As @Bob_Wachter's book & @LisaRosenbaum17's @NEJM columns illustrate, so many compelling reasons for (human) physicians; but to persist due to legislative mandate rather than demonstrated, felt, experienced value=suboptimal, sad, unstable-&likely short-lived. @zakkohane @emollick
Espresso Prices Have Skyrocketed, Data Shows
If you think your espresso is getting ridiculously expensive... here's some data to back you up: https://t.co/GbFrhwLLFI
Spotify CEO Shares Broad Insights on AI, Entrepreneurship, Free Speech
One of the best ep of @HarryStebbings @twentyminutevc (& it's a high bar) feat @Spotify CEO @tobi who offered such great perspective on a remarkably wide range of topics, from AI to entrepreneurship to free speech; remarkably resonant. https://t.co/ZPCgIMd1G8 @zakkohane...
Deep Learning Unlocks Untapped Prevent
Latest @EricTopol https://t.co/cPXyNN0DOe (v.i.) highlights DL-enabled oppys to gather additional health insights from imaging medical establishment isn't taking advantage of. Thru dif lens, describes meaningful preventive hlth oppy for entreps. @DanielSodickson @NathanPriceSci https://t.co/UC5Sgn6WR4
AI's Measured Impact on Biopharma R&D Remains Limited
My 2c on this highly relevant @Loftus @WSJ on ai in biopharma R&D, an article that offers generally measured assessment of ai impact so far, and will not come as surprise to regular @timmermanreport readers…-> https://t.co/KPigSAw5RC
Equipment, Training, and Mindset Drive Faster Marathons
Real ? for @stevemagness @BStulberg @DKThomp: when you look at the constantly improving rates of marathon completion, for example, and obv thinking of the sub-2hr times just achieved, how much do you attribute to: - Better equipment - Better training -...
Harvard Med Mission Revision Deemed
Pleased to have the opportunity to share my perspective w @thecrimson on the revised @harvardmed mission statement, an update I thought was eminently reasonable. https://t.co/AQFC5AZd6p My full quote below; sentences 2 & 3 used in story. @zakkohane https://t.co/m8TQTzMqYZ
Guide Echoes Core Principles of Personal Agency
Just really love this, from @hjluks - in his guide to help people get going (https://t.co/yxAEqtfvwB). This absolutely resonates w so much of what @BStulberg emphasizes in his writing, and what i've emphasized in my discussions about agency at https://t.co/ei8N0w3ou4....
Spam Texts Masquerading as Friends Signal Platform's
Latest sign of the end of x: overwhelming number of spam private text messages supposedly from people I know, but in fact, pure spam/phishing
United's Spotty Wi‑Fi Gets Starlink Upgrade Hope
Apparently @united upgrading WiFi to @Starlink @elonmusk - can’t happen soon enough bc service is spotty to the point of embarrassment; no idea how so many Bay Area tech folks (big users of united) put up with it.
Military Ends Mandatory Flu Shots, Reversing Centuries‑Old Policy
1/2 The military moving backwards on vaccines (recent announcement making flu vax no longer mandatory) reverses a long history that goes back to Washington and smallpox, and has continued to the (almost) present day - see below from @EvidenceOpen ...
Our Bodies Accumulate DNA Replication Errors over a Lifetime
Your DNA replicates a lot between the time you're a fertilized egg and the 30T or so (human) cells in your adult body; fidelity is high but not perfect. In today's @WSJ I review a new book taking a deep...
Comprehensive New Book Explores Somatic Mutation
Just out - my latest @WSJBooks review - a new book offering comprehensive consideration of somatic mutation -> https://t.co/ptkWfPKemN @zakkohane
New Book Traces DeepMind’s Rise in AI History
This is a fantastically interesting ep of Ground Truth as @EricTopol interviews @scmallaby about Mallaby's new book The Infinity Machine - intellectual history of AI focused on @demishassabis & @GoogleDeepMind. https://t.co/uudKbqUKF6 cc @zakkohane @CadeMetz
Primary Care's Heart: Connection, Stories, and Human Agency
Lovely final ep of @LisaRosenbaum17's perceptive @NEJM NOS pcast series on primary care: https://t.co/vYhK3QN5ce Ep has it all for me: agency, SDT, call of stories, limitations of metrics, value of connection & longitudinal relationships; cx of medicine; warmth; love. @zakkohane
Early GLP‑1 Rodent Studies Showed Weight Loss Before Diabetes Focus
I don't think this is correct from @nytimes op-ed on GLP-1s - wt loss known from early rodent studies involving injection into CSF as I recall. DM2 more tractable as initial pharma indication, esp at that time - many still...
Podcasts Lose Appeal as Ads Overwhelm Content
Starting to find podcasts way less enjoyable than I used to now that they are increasingly stuffed full of ads - at times feels like more ads than content.
Busy Biotech Day Highlights Promising Advances and Insightful Commentary
As usual, excellent summary by @ldtimmerman @timmermanreport of busy and promising biotech news day - as always delivered w insight and heart (especially thoughtful comments re: revmed drug in context of poignant recent @BenSasse interview)
Denial Delays Fuel Physician Burnout and Payor Tension
Having seen so many MD requests for either prescriptions or procedures reflexively denied initially, and requiring considerable additional effort from MDs office to get coverage, it's easy to appreciate both MD burnout and hostility towards payors.
Alpha‑gal Allergy: Tick Bites Turn Meat Into Danger
Fascinating episode of the always fun @TheSporkful pcast, usually focused on an interesting aspect of food, today - it's medical epi, a really engaging, scary, interesting story about alpha gal https://t.co/zZFGjJ1gdl featuring red meat & Lone Star ticks. @ValStoneMD @mvhospital_
Aging Unavoidable, But Your Agency Shapes Its Impact
Essential 🧵 from @hjluks - aging may not be optional but the way you approach & respond to it is-profound opportunities as he describes to significantly mitigate many of the effects. Central here is **agency**-recognizing all you can do, &...
WHOOP AI Coach Shares Worthy Amb
Encouraged to see this perspective (articulated as an ambition-and I’d argue a very worthy one) from @WHOOP’s AI coach in response to question… @EmilyBreslow @willahmed https://t.co/YTdRL7pIgh
Prioritize Any Exercise Over Ideal Balance
Love this from Eric Verdin @BuckInstitute highlighting evidence base for health value of exercise. Would strongly emphasize value of some exercise vs obsessing w "ideal balance" (cc @BStulberg , @ZekeEmanuel) Also remember sleep, nutrition; also connection/purpose, agency https://t.co/N6QYgecYjR
DC Residents Skeptical of AI, Prioritize Patient Safety
Was speaking yesterday abt AI w talented & engaged residents+fellows who are training in DC-wow-at least in this group, not a lot of love for AI... Far more concerned abt harm-to pts, to practice, to envt-striking. Role of age, politics,...
Beware the Obsession with Optimization in Health Tech
So many (including me) have been critical of relentless, and generally misguided, focus on optimization it’s easy too forget how dominant this mindset is. This LI post from @WHOOP is good example (emphasis added). @BStulberg @ZekeEmanuel @EricTopol @zakkohane https://t.co/HvgpVi9Tow
Lifestyle Beats Medicine; AI Guides Health Behaviors
Hear me now, believe me later: the unreasonable effectiveness of lifestyle in sustaining health (latest @timmermanreport) -> https://t.co/0cibAwyaZi I also describe role for AI here (beyond silly image creation) - providing considered behavior guidance->agency engine. @zakkohane https://t.co/42mZLMj2DD
AI Should Empower Personal Agency, Not Just Track Data
Fitness platforms track everything & hope, w AI, to use these (often ?able) data to enhance performance. But this isn't the same as building deeper capability. The real oppy: AI that gets to know you well enough to become an engine...
Lifestyle Choices Prove Surprisingly Powerful
Just out: new @timmermanreport column: The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Lifestyle. https://t.co/0cibAwyaZi @zakkohane @shottan @BStulberg @hjluks
Flourishing Health: A Capacious View From Keynote
Great summary by Personify Health of my recent keynote talk offering capacious view of flourishing health at Thrive Summit (nb actually lecturer not prof @HarvardDBMI) https://t.co/jihbkhInXH @BStulberg @angeladuckw @shottan @EmilyBreslow @fittinsider https://t.co/WLiU9pBeCT
New HHS Hire Sparks Insightful Healthcare Policy Discussion
What a refreshingly...normal ...convo abt healthcare policy in general, & implications of new HHS hire, @1klomp, in particular, on lasted ep of the always excellent @tradeoffspod hosted by @dmgorenstein, & feat @ddiamond, reporter who (obv) Knows His Shit. https://t.co/EbUtUJMOoK
Science‑Driven Prevention Beats Treatment, Validates Lifestyle Interventions
Moving upstream in health-from treatment to prevention-& following the science & the data, leads to a portfolio of lifestyle interventions, surprising some who equate lifestyle w woo. (via @EvidenceOpen). cc @zakkohane @PeterAttiaMD @willahmed @EmilyBreslow @shottan @hjluks https://t.co/LQNC3tNQdU
Power Dynamics Expose Uncomfortable, Universally Validated Human Truths
@JeffreyPfeffer Yet another eg of an aspect of human behavior you've been highlighting for years. Your social science research on power reveals uncomfortable truths that most don't like to discuss - yet are constantly validated all the same...
Balanced Sleep Science Meets Psychology in Future of Everything
At a time when health gurus feel obliged to offer impossibly precise advice, this ep of @Rbaltman's "Future of Everything," featuring Jamie Zeitzer, focuses on sleep & offers (like the podcast more generally) just the right blend of science and...
US Health Care Costs Begin to Flatten, Tech Helps
Will generate discussion: new @BrookingsInst report from David Cutler & @LevKlarnet (h/t @peter_orszag) suggesting early evidence that we're starting to bend US HC $ curve https://t.co/KUH3muQRFz @ScottGottliebMD @amitabhchandra2 One potential factor: tech... @DanielSodickson https://t.co/Ux1PT7QsgU
Power's Pull: Why Leaving the Spotlight Tempts Us
The challenge of remaining away from the spotlight - and the corrresponding temptation to reenter the arena - is discussed with characteristic insight and candor by @JeffreyPfeffer in at least one of his books about power - all are essential...
Eli Lake Unpacks a Riveting The FP Story
Icing on cake: @EliLake discusses this fascinating @TheFP story with author @FPJaySolomon on special ep of the always excellent @BreakingHistPod https://t.co/GKGr1a3juI
Companies Blame AI for Layoffs Despite Limited Capability
Interesting and apt @wsj highlighting “AI washing” - attributing corporate layoffs to AI vs usual reasons. In most cases fear of AI >> capabilities of AI (at least right now) to actually do most jobs. @zakkohane https://t.co/6Ur4GCG7RX @JamesBessen https://t.co/7vXBnQOUt9
Exercise Delivers Broad, Profound Health Benefits, Study Shows
Conclusion from the outstanding, just-published (https://t.co/7jt7us8EmG) @Cell_Metabolism article about the many health benefits of exercise (h/t @DanielJDrucker)... @zakkohane @bobkocher @willahmed @Schwarzenegger @onepeloton https://t.co/KJW9cwLe7y
Lifestyle Interventions Are Unreasonably Effective, Says Thrive Summit
In my recent Thrive Summit talk, I described the "unreasonable effectiveness of lifestyle interventions" (w suitable nod to Eugene Wigner). @zakkohane @hjluks
New Book,
So much sense in @BStulberg's new bk, his pcast (https://t.co/ey4VY9wMjp), and his blog (https://t.co/sI0tw6G2Py); the latest entry, w @stevemagness, lines up remarkably well with key message I tried to impart this week in my keynote at @PersonifyHealth Thrive Summit, vide...
Grateful for Insightful, Sanity-Providing Commentary Crew Thursday Show
Always appreciate the insight, perspective and much-needed sanity from the crew @Commentary - @jpodhoretz @AbeGreenwald @SethAMandel @elianayjohnson Christine Rosen (& occasionally @EliLake). Thurs show particularly good -> https://t.co/Q7TfaWmS0N. Keep on keeping on!
Success = Persistence, Failure = Obstinacy—Pursue Conviction
I suspect the only truly honest answer is: retrospectively. With the catch that you need to pursue whatever you're doing with conviction. Like Folkman explained, "If your idea succeeds, everybody says you’re persistent. If it doesn’t, you’re obstinate."...
Top Nonfiction Picks: Magic of Code and A Giant Leap
Good non-fiction choices include: Magic of Code (essays) - @arbesman A Giant Leap - @Bob_Wachter
AI Is Reshaping How We Write Code
Outstanding and astute @nytimes mag article on transformation of coding by AI -> https://t.co/RYgmHb9hIM cc @zakkohane
Institutional AI Masks Bias Behind Seeming Objectivity
Dilemma=what @zakkohane explicitly highlights https://t.co/NdSHzoeKAU -institutional AI's will provide seemingly objective guidance in a fashion directly shaped by often tacit institutional values. Recs may seem to carry force of omniscient intel but is informed by instit bias.
Individual AI Fuels Chaos; Organizational AI Drives Productivity
V intrstng/disturbing post contrasting individual AI (described as ~enhancing chaos & bringing heat >>>> light) vs organizational AI (force for productivity & good, in this scheme). Couldn't stop thinking abt @zakkohane on AI & values when I saw this fig....