Imagine Human

What if you could live forever? Would you? How are our digital selves connected to and representative of our physical selves? Are you really who you portray yourself to be on social media?

We begin to unpack these questions in this episode of Imagine Human about Transhumanism, a movement advancing humanity through integration with technology. We are joined by guest, Seth Villegas, a PhD student in Theology, Ethics, and Philosophy at Boston University.

In this episode, we take a look at a new startup, Levels and its mission to maintain what it coins "metabolic fitness" and how the company plans to help us monitor and regulate this based on our lifestyle. Our guest, Josh Clemente is Founder and President of Levels. He'll share his journey on his path toward starting Levels from his quest to understand his own personal burnout when building Life support systems at SpaceX. Finally, we discuss interesting insights you might find around tracking your metabolic health and the potential biomarkers we might be able to track in the very near future.

The recent 2020 election resulted in record voter turnouts—the highest since 1900. In this episode, we take a look at one organization, Vote Forward, that has played a role in increasing voter engagement through handwritten letters. Our guest, Mel Chuang, shares her journey from Stanford to technology startups and eventually the nonprofit political space where she works at Vote Forward as the Director of Digital Growth.

The aging population is outpacing growth in younger generations. How will we support our elders mentally and physically? In this episode, we begin to answer these questions with Madeline Dangerfield-Cha, CEO and co-founder of Mon Ami, a digital platform connecting young volunteer companions with elderly individuals.

Without a doubt, COVID-19 has profoundly impacted our world and in many cases changed the way we live. One prominent area of impact is on the US healthcare system, which has, at times, been overstretched in cities across the country. As we begin to live our daily lives in new ways (such as through “contactless” interactions), there is a growing need for technologies in healthcare that can detect, predict, and prevent illnesses at home and out of the hospital.

In this episode, we are joined by inventor and serial entrepreneur, Dan Burnett. Dan will share his journey as an entrepreneur focusing on technologies that improve outcomes, reduce costs of care, and expand access to care. Dan will also take us on a tour of what some of the Theranova portfolio companies are working on to tackle this COVID crisis and how they are using actionable data streams to detect, predict and prevent illness.

Have you looked at the ingredients in your skincare products recently? Have you ever considered that what you put on every day, from sunscreen to shampoo, might be toxic and harmful?

Our skin is our largest organ, yet most of us take for granted what we put on it. Unknown to many, the skin is permeable, capable of transmitting chemicals from drinking water, cosmetics, perfumes and everyday cleansing products.

Except for a subset of highly poisonous compounds (e.g. mercury) and color additives, the FDA does not actively regulate cosmetic ingredients. Therefore, it is up to the consumer to make intelligent decisions about which products to use. In this episode, we talk with Kimberley Ho, the CEO of Evereden, about creating the safest standard in skincare, driven by cutting-edge dermatology and a family-first approach. You'll learn about the standards different countries use to regulate ingredients and why 'natural' does not always mean safe.

What can we learn from COVID-19 that will better prepare us for the future? Undoubtedly, COVID-19 has changed our lives and our world. In this episode of Imagine Human, we talk with Alanna Shaikh, a global health consultant responsible for designing resilient and pandemic-proof healthcare systems. Through our discussion, she points to various human and government factors that contributed to this pandemic, ranging from broken healthcare systems lacking resources and funding to climate change. In the end, she encourages us to do our part through social distancing and eventually through voting and grassroots action.

If you or a loved one has been affected negatively by COVID-19, please visit our this episode's blog post at www.imaginehuman.com for aggregated links to various resources. Finally, if you enjoyed this episode, please comment, share with your friends, and subscribe at https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/imagine-human/id1266445721

What if technology had our best interests in mind? What if the largest technology companies in the world were measured by how much they benefited our well-being rather than how effectively they could exploit user behavior to earn attention and dollars?

We live in a technological world driven by a deluge of media content and the platforms delivering that media to achieve certain business goals. Paralleling this rise in technology and media is a rise in depression, especially among millennials. While it is inconclusive whether or not specific forms of media such as social media cause increase rates of depression, the power of technology in its many forms to influence our mind and behavior is evident. It has permeated our politics, the fabric of our relationships, and our everyday decision-making. In fact, many of the platforms you use every day were designed to be addictive by people just like you. 

In this episode, we are joined by two guests, Stephen Cognetta and Anne Wu. Stephen and Anne are the founders of Hack Mental Health, a non-profit focused around the belief that technology can help revolutionize mental healthcare. Last April, HackMentalHealth hosted its second annual 24-hour mental health hackathon in San Francisco. This hackathon paired mental healthcare professionals such as therapists, psychologists, and psychiatrists with tech-savvy programmers and engineers. In 24 hours, these interdisciplinary teams went on to develop software prototypes addressing many problems in cognitive health including trauma recovery, dementia, and compulsive behaviors. Stephen and Anne share their philosophy behind Hack Mental Health as well as some of the challenges that still remain including data privacy concerns, social media's impact on our psychology, and the persistent stigma of mental health.

If you are interested in getting involved with Hack Mental Health's 2020 conference from March 21st to 22nd, please check out www.Hackmentalhealth.care to join their mailing list and register for the event.

Pandia Health is a Stanford-backed startup focused on improving women's health through products and services. Their first offering is a monthly birth control subscription with a doctor's prescription and delivery direct to your door available via a mobile app. Sophia believes this topic involves more than just women's reproductive equality, but also women's health and resulting ability to perform to their highest potential. She describes the health implications of periods on women including higher risk for certain forms of cancer. She also discusses the immense social impact monthly periods have on women's ability to succeed academically and in the workplace compared to their male peers, indicating that giving women the choice to control this factor of their health is tantamount to raising half the sky.

What would you do if you could live forever? Or even another 10, 20, 30 years? Those questions may be worth pondering if we consider aging as a disease that can be cured by medical science. Welcome again to Imagine Human, where we share inspiring visions for the future of humanity. In this episode, we talk with Dr. Aubrey De Grey, the founder of SENS Research Organization, a nonprofit dedicated to curing aging. Dr. De Grey discusses how he and his team have identified seven mechanisms of accumulated damage within the body that they believe are at the root of most chronic diseases, and ultimately, aging. He shares the logic behind this approach, the opposition he overcame from the wider academic community, and the progress of the organization's research thus far.