Aging, UBI and Personal Energy
your Saturday roundup
Professionally, I focus on creating social benefit startups. In my Saturday morning emails I share what I’m learning and thinking. Topics range from better living and parenting to business and philosophy.
Aging Again. Love getting your responses to the newsletter. I got a lot of thoughtful input on the mention of longer lifespans. To continue the dialogue:
Solving Other Problems. One argument the book Ageless makes is whatever problem you think aging and dying younger solves, would you invent it as the solution? I like to think that we can come up with better solutions to climate change or the distribution of resources or power that don’t involve billions suffering more and dying earlier. For example let’s use solar, nuclear and one day fusion plus direct air capture and better energy storage. If required, we can eat lower on the food chain or scale up cultured meat. We can increase density in cities. Let’s try term limits for more institutions.
Status Quo. We’re stuck in status quo basis thinking that current aging and lifespan patterns are “natural”. We’re forgetting the improvements in public health and sanitation that have increased life spans already.
Positive Parts of Aging. One loyal reader stood up for the positive parts of aging like wisdom, patience, and compassion. Agreed these are virtues! Here I’m talking about the decrease in function from aging more like the Hallmarks of Aging than learning.
Too Patient or Risk Averse? Another reader worried that longer lifespans mean lower risk appetite and lower discount rates: “if you lived forever, you would be immensely risk averse to the point of never flying in an airplane or eating unpasteurized cheese. A finite life is a feature because it forces risk taking as it caps downside. This process would diminish technological advancement, thereby harming humanity.” and “ if you lived forever then your discount rate would be 0. A version of fun is accepting value now versus later, aka high discount rate. Would living no longer mean no more fun?” Fascinating! Is it related to the recent trend of safetyism?
Bidness. For the bullish business case for longevity, read NFX’s blog.
Concrete Actions. If you’re wondering what this all means concretely, here is a policy proposal to create a National Institute of Health regarding aging. Or for an overview of the current tools we have without more research, check out Peter Attia’s Longevity 101.
by ChatGPT
Big UBI Study in the US. A big study came out about universal basic income. “3,000 participants in Illinois and Texas received $1,000 monthly for three years beginning in 2020. The cash transfers represented a 40% boost in recipients' incomes. The cash recipients were within 300% of the federal poverty level, with average incomes of less than $29,000. A control group of 2,000 participants received $50 a month for their contributions.” Skimming the results, the effects seemed moderate to me. For skeptics of UBI, this likely means that UBI doesn’t work. For proponents, this likely means that you should increase the dosage (ie give more money). For example, the big results found in Uganda and Kenya were on the order of 40 to 80 times greater on a per capita GDP PPP basis.
Integrity Inventory and Energy Audit. For more energy or focus, try a mind sweep for open loops or what the Conscious Leadership Group calls an integrity inventory. Catalog the things you want to say, broken agreements to clean up, feelings you have pushed off or things you aren’t taking responsibility for. Then you can address them. For best results combine with an Energy Audit. How can you shift your time to doing things that energize you? For a deeper dive on managing your energy for better performance, read the Power of Full Engagement.
Until next time,
Miles