Join us for an in depth discussion between Jesse Lawler of Smart Drugs Smarts and our very own Daniel Schmachtenberger about how we can elevate our human behavior through personalized medicine, and why there is a need for it in the first place.
We can probably agree that the majority of the big problems — climate change, obesity, etc. — in the world are being caused by human activity. But what makes us act badly and often against our own best interest?
Our own biology can act against us; when our neurotransmitters and hormones aren’t regulated properly, we act out. On the flip side, when our neural networks are functioning at peak capacity, we can solve incredibly complex problems.
If we’re are the cause of most of our problems, then the solutions have to come from us too. That’s why Daniel Schmachtenberger, founder of the Neurohacker Collective, is working to find the answers to the question: How do we elevate human behavior?
Tweet ThisOUR COMPLEX BIOLOGY
When you think about how modern health is organized, broken into multiple specialties like neurology or gastroenterology, it doesn’t really make sense. The gut-brain connection is very real, and medical reductionism can ignore these cross-system effects.
Take anxiety, for example. Although single-molecule interventions like GABA can modulate the symptoms of anxiety, they don’t actually deal with the underlying cause. Any actual cure will have to understand the cause.
But there are physical and psychological causes of anxiety. You might be suffering from anxiety due to a genetic predisposition, a traumatic brain injury, or PTSD. When you start digging, there are hundreds, possibly thousands, of contributing factors, both physical and psychological.
PERSONALIZED MEDICINE
Schmachtenberger predicts a steep rise in personalized medicine to get to the root causes of various diseases and disorders. This means the anxiety-sufferer with a traumatic brain injury will receive different treatment than the genetically-predisposed.
To crunch all the possible contributing factors and potential treatments, we’re going to need a very powerful AI to synthesize all possible causes and treatments with efficacy.
According to Schmachtenberger, the diagnostics required for truly personalized medicine are going to get a whole lot better in the coming years. That means that metabolomics are going to become both accurate and inexpensive. We’ll be able to easily run whole genome sequencing on ourselves. And even diagnose ourselves at home, through a single drop of blood or a laser beam blood analysis.
ROADBLOCKS TO THE FUTURE
The main obstacle currently is with the research. The economics of scientific research are such that it only makes sense to invest the money on substances you can patent. That means that a holistic approach to health including diet, exercise, and plant-based medicine is out.
So the Intellectual Property structure and incentive system don’t lend themselves to pursuing personalized medicine. Neither does the clinical trial system, where the effect of a single substance is measured. When you realize how complex our biology is, it doesn’t make sense that there would be a single molecule solution to a problem.
Let’s not rag on modern medicine too much though. While it’s failed us at finding solutions for chronic health problems, it remains a tremendous asset for acute health problems like infections or strokes.
Ultimately, Schmachtenberger would like to see four revolutions leading to: new science, a new understanding of IP, new regulations, and new economics.
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