TMRW/TDY
The Future’s Playbook
Hey Reader,
Over 20 years ago when I was a pre-med, I heard Jay Leno joke about Prozac during his opening monologue for the Tonight Show. I immediately thought “Oh, now this is an interesting development.”
To this day, it shocks me how a few medications have such penetrated public consciousness that they become fodder for late night comedy shows. Most pharmaceuticals are arcane subjects for lay people that have unique properties and fairly narrow clinical indications.
But a few drugs take off like rockets, become commonplace topics of discussion and re-shape how we see ourselves as humans.
SSRI’s revolutionized our sense of our own feelings and have become central to the thorny discussions of mental health in America. Other drugs of note include:
- Birth Control – when sex and reproduction were de-coupled, a seismic shift occurred in gender relations and family planning
- Opioids– both boon and bane to millions of suffering Americans and hallmark of a corrupt bio-industrial complex
- Adderall – “Are the kids ok?” is a question that cannot be answered without referencing this ADHD “focus” drug in an era of social media and dopamine cravings.
- Vaccines – Once miracles but now contested medications with the rise of the anti-vaxx movement to the White House
Add to this list G1P agents like Semaglutide (Wegovy/Ozempic), Mounjaro and the like. They are the biggest technological breakthrough of any kind in the last 30 years.
Moreso, than even AI. As Scott Galloway puts it: G1P > GPT4.
By now, you must have heard the data of the sustained, impressive and clinically relevant weight loss with these agents (link).
What isn’t being talked about is how socially and economically transformative this class of medications will become. AI, for all its potential and portent, is still not quite ready for primetime. It is incredibly “caloric” with its data, energy and semi-conductor needs.
G1P work now, will only get better, and of course, limit metabolic intake.
What are the macro level implications of the use of these drugs? Here’s a quick run down:
Desire, Drugs and Decisions: The Trans-humanist Ideal
These drugs further support the trans-human notion that technology can direct biology. We are, in effect, directing our own evolution. Our genes, which are largely famine adapted across millions of years, have been co-opted in the modern world of food abundance (especially of highly palatable carb+fat concoctions).
G1Ps also challenge, much like SSRI’s did previously, of what we know about what happens between our ears. The traditional claim against the obese is they lack willpower and make lazy food choices. While this is true for a minority of patients, we now know that the biological drive to food search and eat is itself is profoundly shaped by the neuro-hormonal milieu of our bodies.
The widespread reports of the lack of “food noise” in G1P users, as well as reduction in interest in other vices such as smoking and alcohol and gambling all suggest that we would do well to re-evaluate our relationships to concepts of decision making, drive and reward.
Not just looks: Public Health Game Changers
G1P agents don’t have mere cosmetic benefits. Strong data is emerging showing a reduction in MACE (major adverse cardio-vascular events); Osteoarthritis; Diabetes; Fatty Liver. While obesity has only recently been classified as a a formal disease, it has been soft risk factor for the worsening of almost every major chronic health condition we know about.
If these results pan out, widespread use of these agents will rival vaccines in terms of public health impact. In fact htis will be the next phase of modern health campaigns. What vaccines were to the 20th century challenges of infections, Ozempic will be in the 21st century for so called “lifestyle and chronic diseases.”
In fact, G1P drugs like Ozempic are a firewall against modernity.
In this regard, G1P agents are part of a larger trend of people trying to buck the overabundance that is the hallmark of modern life:
- “dopamine fasts” –> social media addiction
- intermittent fasting –> DoorDash and UberEats
- Cross Fit, Orange Theory —> sedentary 9-5 jobs
- Oura Rings –> late night Netflix binge watching
Whether these techniques are actually effective is debatable, but there is a rising appreciation that convenience can breed complacency. As Angel Investor Naval Ravikant notes “the modern devil is cheap dopamine.” It used to be you travel to cities like Las Vegas or Monte Carlo (if you’re James Bond) to gamble, drink, eat (and more) to your sinful delight and then you returned to your normal life in your hometown. Now the Robinhood, DoorDash, and TikTok brings all that to you; you can’t escape it. It’s everywhere.
G1Ps are not a miracle cure for addiction, but they are an important new tool against salt/sugar/sex/pleasure seeking behavior. It is for this reason that junk food makers and grocery chains are seeing a year over year decline in food sales.
But Speaking of Looks…
Dating, Beauty, Fashion and ideas of “Cool” and “Hot” have always been centerpiece to our collective self-image. We are already seeing immediate changes in this area because of Ozempic. More full figured “Beyonce” type physiques are less less popular as a more thin, conventional model of physical beauty has returned.
There’s not a woman in this country who is not forced to think about her weight and looks on a daily basis. G1P agents now enter this complex, fraught discussion of beauty, eating and physique. There are already immediate changes see in consumer behaviors regarding apparel choices, plastic surgeries, hair care and more.
With the gender apocalypse upon us and serious problems with dating, mating and fertility plaguing most industrialized nations, it will be very telling to see how these medications enter into this foray.
A smartphone and media rich world, raised on Instagram filters and TikTok reels, is always going to gravitate to the visual. 10 bucks on a bet that the coming sequel to the Devil Wears Prada at least name checks these medications.
Wellness is the Mercedes
I have written extensively about the multi-trillion dollar global wellness market. It is the new status symbol, central to the modern capital raising pitch (think sauna not boardroom), and
In this sense, G1P agents are both typical and boundary breaking. They are typical in the sense that they continue represent aspirational wellness that is accessible only to the wealthy – a point commented on by a Beverly Hills doctor in a recent op/ed. The reality is that obesity is not treated the same everywhere. Call it the Goop-ifcation of American life.
They are boundary breaking because these are drugs taken for the same purpose – weight loss – by both the ill and healthy alike. Caloric management concerns us all. It is the great equalizer. In this sense, G1P agents are “blended” drugs that are part of the bio-enhancement industry. Other drugs with this unique feature also include botox, testosterone, HGH, EPO, Adderrall, and Modafinil. More muscles, better hair, less fat, glowing skin, the whitest teeth, laser focus and more. Enough is never enough.
We don’t want to just be not sick, but healthy. Not just healthy but well. Not just well but vigorous. Not just athletes but
immortals.
Dominion over nature has bred the thinking that we can have dominion over life itself. That this very raison d’etre of tech biohacker and part time vampire Bryan Johnson. Technologies like G1P agents along with CRISPR and immunotherapy continue to fuel this narrative.
A final word
Of course, the revolution might not happen. These drugs may not pan out in terms of their clinical efficacy or some long term side effect may limit their use. Or insurance companies refuse to pay for them and these drugs remain niche players. Maybe humans, being endlessly inventive in their ability to fight their own interests, actually find a way to eat more despite these drugs – an example of so called risk homeostasis. Being exposed to less risk incentivizes people to take on more risk to compensate. Or perhaps there is a late term rebound effect to these drugs.
But we have a crafted a modern lifestyle that weaponizes our very biology against us, provokes and tempts us with targeted ads on every screen we see, popularizes addictive substances and calls it capitalism. There is nothing truly free about these markets. We have an arms race between us and the engineers of Uber, TikTok, and Crumbl cookies. G1Ps are the first meaningful development to help us fight back.
PS And how will we know that these drugs really work? When we see the rise of “anti-G1Pers.”
Forward,
