The Long Game 64: Longevity Moonshot, Positive People, Awkwardness Principle, Product Thinking
The Long Game 64: Longevity Moonshot, Positive People, Awkwardness Principle, Product Thinking🥶 Cryonics, Thiel Fellowship, Productivity, Plastic, Strava, Cancer Screening, and Much More!Hi there, it’s Mehdi Yacoubi, co-founder at Vital, and this is The Long Game Newsletter. To receive it in your inbox each week, subscribe here: 📣 We are hiring at Vital, help us build the future of health optimization. In this episode, we explore:
Let’s dive in! 🥑 Health🧬♾ The Case for a Longevity MoonshotBonnie Kavoussi wrote a great piece arguing for a longevity moonshot. It’s a perfect summary of the arguments explaining why we need to invest in longevity research.
Bonnie makes it clear why the target should be aging itself, not the diseases of aging:
In the next decade, longevity enthusiasts have a crucial role to play: convince society of the urgency of the question to get meaningful, life-changing results in the next few decades. 🌱 Wellness➕ The Power of Positive PeopleWe all intuitively know how different we feel with positive versus negative people. I loved this article because it argues that positive people in your life are an essential part of living a long healthy life.
There’s nothing fundamentally new here. We talked about the effects of loneliness on health a few weeks ago. It seems that the opposite is also true: being surrounded by great, positive people has beneficial health outcomes:
For more, this research paper makes the point that optimism is associated with exceptional longevity in both men and women: 🧠 Better Thinking👽 The Awkwardness PrincipleIt’s always hard to know if you’re on the right track with your life goals, especially when the goals aren’t easily measurable. This piece gives a great life principle: the Awkwardness Principle.
I think the corollary is also true: if you always feel great, you’re most likely in your comfort zone and not truly improving at the hard things. I find this principle very compelling because it helps understand whether you’re going in the right direction or not. The author goes even further: what feels good could be a warning that it’s not the thing you should be engaging in right now:
⚡️ Startup Stuff🗯 The Power of Product ThinkingAs we are deep in our product thinking at Vital, I liked this article covering elements of it:
Here are some questions that might help you get a product thinking mindset:
Ok, so how do you get good at product thinking? Through observation and inquiry. Spend a lot of time exploring your favorite products, ask yourself why they did things the way they did. The author suggests:
Also in startup world this week: remember to enjoy the journey. Half the gig is mental. 📚 What I Read❓ Where Has All the Productivity Gone?A great answer to Balaji’s tweet: John Cook suggests five possibilities:
💰 On Medici and ThielA great piece exploring the success of the Thiel Fellowship model:
🥶 The Cryonics Industry Would Like to Give You the Past Year, and Many More, BackEach time I read about cryonics, I think of this chart:
🎙 Podcast Episode of the WeekThis week in podcasts:
🍭 Brain Food☠️ The Dangers of PlasticI highly recommend reading the thread below: it explains why plastic use is a catastrophe we need to address urgently. I got interested in the topic after reading Count Down: How Our Modern World Is Threatening Sperm Counts, Altering Male and Female Reproductive Development, and Imperiling the Future of the Human Race by Shanna H. Swan, where she makes a similar point. This is a good follow-up reading: researchers tracked microplastics (tiny pieces of plastic debris less than five millimeters in length) ingested by mice.
🎥 What I’m Watching👨🚀 The Space Economy is About to Get a Lot BiggerIf you want to build something and are still wondering what, my first answer would be: longevity. But I have to admit; my second answer would be Space! So many great things are happening in Space Tech right now. 📦 The Incredible Logistics of Grocery StoresI have always been fascinated by supermarkets. I’m always amazed by the logistics behind them. I usually spend way too much time going grocery shopping, just curious to explore the products and their organization. This was the video I needed: 🔧 The Tool of the Week🏃 StravaAs I fixed my chronic back pain a few months ago, I could start running again after a three-year pause. I already knew Strava but really spent some time on the app in the last six months. It heavily inspired us at Vital to work on ‘social x health’ and build the “Strava for Health.” If you’re on Strava, say hi! For more: the excellent piece on “Strava for X” by Ariel Renous. 🪐 Quote I'm Pondering
If you enjoyed this newsletter, make sure to subscribe if you haven’t 👇 👋 EndNoteThanks for reading! If you like The Long Game, please share it on social media or forward this email to someone who might enjoy it. Podcast reviews are also gratefully received. You can also “like” this newsletter by clicking the heart just below this, which helps me get visibility on Substack. Feel free to email me or find me on Twitter if you have any feedback or questions. Until next week, Mehdi Yacoubi PS: Lots of newsletters get stuck in Gmail’s Promotions tab. If you find it in there, please help train the algorithm by dragging it to Primary. It makes a big difference. If you liked this post from The Long Game by Mehdi Yacoubi, why not share it? |
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The Long Game 63: Fraudulent Health Research, Social Media Use & Wellbeing, Other-Optimizing, Alchemy
Sunday, July 25, 2021
⌛ Timelapse of the Future, Prepping, Buddhism, Blas, Victimhood, Disunited Nations vs. Dawn of Eurasia, and Much More!
The Long Game 62: US Army & Longevity, Good Strategy Bad Strategy, Happiness vs. Comfort
Sunday, July 18, 2021
🏦 Billionaires, Drawing Cities, Going First, Oura Ring, The Myth of Panic, Dark Triad, and Much More!
The Long Game 61: Changing Your Mind, Non-Sleep Deep Rest, No Rules Rules, Alan Watts
Sunday, July 11, 2021
🌌 The Edges of Our Universe, Efficiency vs. Resilience, Rat-Race, Building in Public, Terraforming Venus, and Much More!
📩 Welcome to The Long Game!
Saturday, July 10, 2021
Thank you for signing up for The Long Game by Mehdi Yacoubi
The Long Game 59: The Health Challenges of Spaceflights, Startup Mental Health, Inner Circle
Saturday, July 10, 2021
🛸 Fermi Paradox, UFOs, Comfort, Emojis, Tribe, Belonging, One-Child Policy, Bad Apple, Exploding Topics, and Much More!
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