The Long Game 73: Hacking Darwin, Dream Teams, Inspiration4, Good Predictions
The Long Game 73: Hacking Darwin, Dream Teams, Inspiration4, Good Predictions💉 Theranos, Learning a New Language, Callin, Walking Away, Munger, 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: Some cool updates about Vital are coming soon. Stay tuned! 📣 We are hiring at Vital, help us build the “Strava for Health.” We are currently looking for:
We are offering $1,000 in Bitcoin if you refer to us a candidate we end up hiring. In this episode, we explore:
Let’s dive in! 🥑 Health🧬 Hacking DarwinI already talked about preconception screening and embryo selection in the newsletter, but this topic fascinates me, so I read Hacking Darwin by Jamie Metzl this week. It’s an excellent book that I highly recommend. The scale of the disruptions coming in genetic engineering is astounding and deserves to be discussed in society. Whether we like it or not, genetic engineering is coming. Here are some notes I took on the book:
Finally, while reading the book, I remembered that what we call “human beings” was composed of multiples species in the past that ended up with Homo Sapiens prevailing. Genetic engineering technology could also lead to different species of humans in the distant future 🤯 🌱 Wellness✋ I Just Walked Away From My New Venture Fund. Here’s Why.This is an essential article by Steve Schlafman on making important life decisions.
It’s very easy to get caught up in the dreams of others and live life on auto-pilot.
Finally, Steve reflects on taking on too much. This is something most of us tend to do. Accepting too many commitments will almost undoubtedly lead to being everywhere and nowhere at the same time. Achieving great things requires an insane focus. 🧠 Better Thinking🛣 The Munger Operating SystemI found a lot of essential wisdom from Charlie Munger in this article. This especially resonated with me: To get what you want, deserve what you want. Trust, success, and admiration are earned.
⚡️ Startup Stuff🚂 The Core Dream TeamThis video of Steve Jobs fascinating. He explains why, as a founder, you should obsess over who will constitute your founding team of 10 people. The best talent wants to work with the best talent. “When you get a core group of ten great people, it becomes self-policing as to who they let into that group.
So I consider the most important job of someone like myself is recruiting.”
I wanted to start reading more biographies and thought it would be great to start with Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson. I’ll share more about the book in the coming weeks. Strongly recommend that at a certain point, you put down most business books, and start reading biographies & autobiographies.
Business builders, athletes, artists, a few politicians, and those who rise to the highest level of their craft.
You'll learn so much. 📚 What I Read2️⃣0️⃣5️⃣0️⃣ On Making Good Predictions for 2050I’m not sure I totally agree with this (the rate of change in the past doesn’t ensure it will stay the same, especially at the dawn of the exponential age), but it’s still an interesting piece:
🍄 How Should We Do Drugs Now?Michael Pollan on how society should rethink its relationships with some compounds called “drugs” today.
👨👩👧👦 Delay and GrandparenthoodA thought-provoking piece about delaying the age of parenthood and its influence on the age of becoming a grandparent.
🎙 Podcast Episodes of the WeekThis week in podcasts:
🍭 Brain Food💉 The False Narrative Around TheranosAs the Theranos trial currently unfolds, this piece by Elad Gil is a good reminder that the Theranos fiasco isn’t an example of what is happening in other Silicon Valley startups.
Where the analogy breaks down between Theranos and the "average" tech company:
🎥 What I’m Watching👩🚀 Countdown: Inspiration4 Mission to SpaceIt seems like Netflix finally listened to our need for more optimistic shows about science and technology! This is a great series on the Inspiration4 Mission. The first episode is about Shift4 Payments CEO and mission lead Jared Isaacman, quite an incredible person. (Use a VPN in Canada to watch it!) Hey @netflix, what about creating "White Mirror" to show all the good ways we could use technology to improve society.
These dystopian shows are really depressing. Yet, it's through good science fiction that we spark the imagination of citizens to build the future. 🗺 Polyglot Speaks 20 Languages. Here’s How He Did ItI’ve been interested in language learning lately because I’m learning Serbian. This is a good video on the best technique to learn a new language. 🔧 The Tool of the Week📻 Callin — Social PodcastingAs you might know by now, we did a slight pivot at Vital to be a verticalized social app and make health optimization social. I strongly believe verticalized social apps will be huge, and I’m always eager to try new apps taking this approach. Callin is a social podcasting app built by David Sacks. I think they took a better strategy than Clubhouse, and I recommend it. 🪐 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? |
Older messages
The Long Game 72: Air Quality, the Cream of Life, Science Fictions, Getting Luck on Your Side
Monday, September 27, 2021
🎰 The Bet, India's Plan to Counter China, MET Gala, Saudi Arabia's Oil Problem, App Fuel, and Much More!
The Long Game 71: The Price of One More Healthy Year, Measuring Life, Early Setbacks, UX Research
Monday, September 20, 2021
💊 Getting Crypto-Pilled, Web3, Japan Tech, Social Habits, India's Private Town, and Much More!
The Long Game 70: Free Time & Happiness, Health Optimization, Dopamine, Optionality
Monday, September 13, 2021
📈 Inevitable Trends that Will Shape the Future, Eating disorders, Zen, Supplement Reviews, China, Anxiety and Much More!
The Long Game 69: Altos Labs, Chemical Hunger, Obsessive Walking & Great Thinking, Próspera
Monday, September 6, 2021
📱 Social 3.0, Web3 Resources, Chinese Debt Crisis, Epistemic Wellbeing, the Metaverse, and Much More!
The Long Game 68: Zone 2 Training, the Efficiency Trap, Mimetic Desire, Optimism, Tote Bags
Monday, August 30, 2021
🥛 Whole Milk, Maybe, the Streetlight Effect, How Afghanistan Became a Failed State, Anti-Doping, and Much More!
You Might Also Like
1 Day Social Media Book Blitz Plans $19 • 16 tweets / day + ...
Thursday, April 25, 2024
Get your book on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest & Tumblr! Please enable images to see this content ContentMo 1-Day Social Media Plan Your eBook, paperback, hardcover, or audiobook can be any sale
Free Kindle Book by Jim Melvin • Award-winning Fantasy • Do You Believe in Monsters? (Dark Circles Trilogy Book 2)
Wednesday, April 24, 2024
Dark Circles is the winner of seven prestigious international awards. Welcome to ContentMo's
The Hidden Reference to the Beatles in Old Macs
Wednesday, April 24, 2024
Sosumi!
Learn to Code, in 1 Hour, For Free
Wednesday, April 24, 2024
Learn to code In 1 hour For free (this email keeps getting better, right?) Take this 1 hour course and see what it's like to code in sheets. coupon code: D79DA29F5CFF3755560F code expires in 3
🤝 What do biz buyers like to ask biz owners?
Tuesday, April 23, 2024
Plus: 6 NEW things we're hearing on Main Street, how to retain employees, and more... Hey Biz-Buyers, This is where we share some of the best insights, tips, and stories from Main Street and our
Best CMS for SEO: 10 Platforms Compared
Tuesday, April 23, 2024
Discover the top 10 CMS of 2024 reviewed and tested for flawless SEO experience Hi Reader, Want to run your site on a CMS like WordPress or Shopify? I've got some hints to help you make a choice.
Celebrate World Book Day 🎉 Free • KU • Paperback Book Deals • Fiction & Non-fiction
Tuesday, April 23, 2024
Today is World Book Day, traditionally a great time to find new books. Fiction and Non-fiction
The Invisible Wall Around Most of Manhattan
Tuesday, April 23, 2024
It's an "eruv"
🧙♂️ New mic I travel with
Tuesday, April 23, 2024
gunna take over the world now
Death of Followers Leads to Good Business
Tuesday, April 23, 2024
Who cares about followers? Entrepreneurs don't need to.