Four For Friday | September 1, 2023

LF77 | Aging biomarkers, WeWork co-founder's senior center, regulating digital & humans + AI

Welcome to a Looking Forward’s Four For Friday. Four things that have piqued my interest this week. Enjoy!

Biomarkers for aging

The trouble with research to improve aging in humans, is that you have to wait for decades to see if you’re right. While fruit flies yield relatively quick results, it’s hard to generalise. This new reseaerch paper by a glittering cast of longevity boffins calls for collaboration and common standards around biomarkers for aging, which can then be used to more efficiently measure the effectiveness of interventions. They’ve also created a consortium with an upcoming event in December.

WeWork co-founder’s second act

WeWork co-founder (no, the other one) is apparently ‘opening a social club for members over 55 years old’:

His vision is to build a network of gathering places for older people, where they can hang out, host and attend events and access services like telemedicine and tech support.

Seems like one of our much-discussed (albeit a bit of a cliché) concepts of: Soho House for Seniors. Bring it on.

Regulating digital like guns?

Thoughtful essay by the CEO of Omidyar Network suggesting we should reframe how we think about tech companies, from harmless kids in a garage having their fun, to a potentially impactful industry such as pharmaceuticals or weapons. As tech and AI has ever more influence over our daily lives, he suggests examining our mindsets about digital, the business models that power them and the regulatory environment that keeps them in check.

Humans + AI = winning

Research from Stanford suggests that the best behaviour change interventions (focused on weight loss in this case) combine humans with AI, and not just AI solutions on their own. Common sense, but good to remember for product builders.

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That’s all for this week. As always, feedback welcome. Feel free to share insights or links of interest.

- Stephen