Hosted by @analog_kyle , produced by @rayanhindi , and directed by Lancelot Bernheim , State Change Season 1 has taken us on an extraordinary journey into the outer edges of human possibility.
From cryopreservation to rewriting our genes, from space exploration to AI doppelgängers, from mapping the mind to putting democracy under stress — this season explored what happens when science fiction starts becoming reality.
Thank you to all our guests for making this first season possible.
@emilkendziorra@CathyTie@santisiri@b_belvisi@arthaud_@alexisthual@tomorrowbio@InterstellarLA
And to all our teams in Paris, New York and Buenos Aires
Stay tuned for season 2
#singularity #futuretech #humanity #ai #science
“The downside of celebrity investors? You’re the first person to ask me that.”
@max_enhanced on media attention, politics, and why @enhanced_games believes human performance transcends ideology.
Full episode on State Change.
Your heart wasn’t built to quit at 84. @enhanced_games CEO @max_enhanced on why aging is a problem we haven’t solved yet — not a destiny we’re stuck with.
There's been a lot of chatter about the @enhanced_games following the event last weekend. I had the opportunity to sit down with @max_enhanced himself just prior to the games and here are a few takes that may surprise you.
Media Perception vs. Reality
The event was labelled the "steroid olympics" in mainstream media, evoking images of needles in dark alleyways and bad incentives. The reality was much different. It's clear that Max and team care deeply about the athletes, which shows in their medical oversight, personalized protocols and (surprise!) their willingness to pay them. Becoming Enhanced was opt-in and some athletes won despite forgoing the drugs at their disposal (more on this later).
Ethics & Fairness
First, a few choice quotes from anti-doping agencies and the IOC themselves:
"If you want to destroy any concept of fair play and fair competition in sport, this would be a good way to do it."
"a dangerous clown show that puts profit over principle at the expense of kids across the world thinking they need to dope to chase their dreams."
"a Roman circus… sacrificing the lives of people purely for entertainment."
On fair play. The playing field was level, it's simply a different field. The most revealing stat, in fact, was that 40% of Olympians admit to doping, they just don't get caught. Worse, they using masking agents to cover the drugs to avoid punitive testing applied prior to the games. Enhanced applies both a uniform ethical standard and incentive structure to optimize for athlete performance, health and compensation.
On Winners & Losers
Post-game commentary was focused on the fact that not enough world records were broken or non-Enhanced athletes won the day e.g. what does this experiment prove? Sure, this is true. But the commentariat is missing the forest through the trees.
I think the biggest win was in the "personal best" category. The fact you can take someone out of retirement and have them beat their 20-year old self. This is a medical marvel and in some ways more impressive than a world record.
Additionally, it's pretty clear that if you take an average Joe and enhance him, he's not going to beat Usain Bolt. This was a first time event, that attracted some impressive but not necessarily top .01% athletes. That will change over time.
Medical oversight and enhancements will become normalized, or rather, come out of the shadows. We enhance ourselves in nearly every other category (botox, fillers, GLP-1s, adderal etc.). Sport feels like a logical place that's already on the bleeding edge of science and human health.
The Games are just a Front End
The Enhanced Games was an introduction to the world. But the company is building a much larger strategy. Telemedicine + Biopharma. Discover new enhancements, get FDA approval, work with top-tier human athletes to fine tune protocols, deliver to masses.
As @C_Angermayer said, the TAM of vanity is nearly 100%. Hate it or love it, human enhancement is here to stay.