[TT 038] digital healthcare, storytelling frameworks, biz satire, psychometrics, human bird's nest
Hi again Thrivers,
Yesterday was a lovely rainy full moon, and my 10th consecutive full moon. The inspiration and catalyst for this tradition is on his 92nd consecutive full moon, so I can only follow in his footsteps, though much like this newsletter there is something palpably powerful in having a sustained tradition. I can appreciate why religions hand down rituals for thousands of years for social cohesion and group identity.
In the classroom, the most notable and inspiring guest speaker of the week was Dr. Devi Shetty (referenced below). He left a lasting impression on me with his balance of care, ambition, precision, and impact. No wonder Mother Teresa chose him as her personal physician ...
Without much ado, on to this week's Thriving Thursday.
On the future of technology in healthcare
This quarter I've been learning a lot about the growing role of healthcare devices and technology.
Dr. Devi Shetty is a stunning cardiac surgeon in India (> 16,000 surgeries!), entrepreneur (built a healthcare city in India), a distinguished humanitarian, and a very inspirational speaker. Using technology and best practices, he got the price of a heart surgery down to $800 with better outcomes than typical US surgeries (that are $80,000+). In his guest lecture, he said that in 5 years doctors will be required to get a second opinion from software. Whether it’s 5 or 15, I see his point and it’ll happen in my lifetime for sure.
To that end, Stanford is holding a conference on AI in Healthcare. I registered to attend the sessions related to mental health.
In a different direction, Andy Coravos runs a company that does decentralized clinical trials with wearables and other healthcare devices. She turned our class on to the Digital Medicine Society which has a detailed list of resources for anyone interested in digital health.
All the experts we speak to say physical and mental healthcare will change radically in the next 10 years. And we're just barely starting to see the changes now.
On frameworks for storytelling
This article highlights 8 different structures for storytelling that will keep an audience engaged. As a nice bonus, it also includes video examples to see the principles in action.
The 8 different story frameworks are
- Monomyth (hero's journey)
- The mountain
- Nested loop
- Sparklines
- In Medias Res
- Converging ideas
- False start
- Petal structure
Do you have a default way that you tend to tell your stories?
On poking fun at business types
Deep in heart of startup and business culture, I have to recognize the absurdity of this bubble.
One great satire of the ridiculousity is the show Silicon Valley. A more recent one, focused more on corporate sales, is Corporate Bro.
These shows are self satirical, so not sure how well they translate to other audiences, but I have to say the language and ethos are uncomfortably close. In a perfectly hilarious way (disclaimer: maybe in an inside joke kind of way).
On revealed personalities through our digital trail
Stanford professor Michal Kosinski is at the forefront of some creepy cool technology - social media psychometrics.
Using social media engagements, like Facebook Likes, Kosinski's team could predict sexual orientation, ethnicity, religious and political views, personality traits, intelligence, happiness, use of addictive substances, parental separation, age, and gender with startling accuracy.
If this reminds you of the scandal with Cambridge Analytica, Kosinski wrote one of the first articles publicizing the scandal and has published research on the privacy feeds.
So far this technology has been used for shifting voting behavior and, of course, for buying more consumer goods. I'm not currently aware of anyone using this for supporting mental health and behavioral fitness.
On bird watching in a human-sized birds nest
New York artist Charlie Baker builds gorgeous sculptures out of driftwood, including this EPIC tree house dinner space. I want one for my future home!
Charlie's portfolio and instagram are pure joy to scroll through.
---
And with that, a warm adieu. Until next week,
~Henry