I had lunch with Tobias Maier and his lovely wife. He paid for the pizza. Even with VAT it cost much less than it would in Atlanta in part because you’re expected to throw a 20% tip on everything because they don’t pay the wait staff.
Tobias is tweeting the event for the people behind the Foundation, which is funded by Klaus Tschira, a founder of software giant SAP.
Tobias helped me understand what I’ll call Moore’s Law of DNA.
DNA transcription follows Moore’s Law. It took years to discover the chemical structure of DNA, but the costs of figuring out yours, once thousands of dollars, is now a few hundred, and such tests have become a standard tool in the forensic arsenal.
Through DNA testing we can figure out what you’re likely to die of. There are genetic markers for things like my heart disease, your cancer, and my friend’s diabetes. In theory insurers, and health care professionals, can use these tests to set rates and advise patients.
That’s the dream. But there’s also a reverse corollary to Moore’s Law of Health to contend with.
Let’s call that Moore’s Law of Sloth.
Despite years of safety improvements, everything from seat belts to self-driving cars, traffic deaths in America remain stubbornly high. People take advantage of safety to be stupid. They drive faster, they drive more recklessly. Recently a bunch of pictures have gone viral of Tesla drivers literally sleeping in their cars as they went down freeways, and there are stories of Tesla accidents that are blamed on the autonomous features, but are really just people becoming even more lazy-and-stupid as things get safer.
This applies to everyday life. Americans are fat. We now take statins to avoid the heart attack that should follow, which lets us get fatter-and-fatter. About 40% of our people are clinically obese.
At the same time Germans smoke. While Tobias and I were eating, I watched the people at an adjacent table light up like chimneys, even though they had a small child with them. In America this would be a scandal. In Germany it’s just life. I got into Munich in time to walk around Oktoberfest, but couldn’t enjoy it because the streets were paved with cigarettes. I left an hour later with a contact nicotine high, my heart rate accelerated, but feeling quite calm.
Forget the DNA tests, I suggested. Just stop smoking. I imagined Tobias’ ready reply — forget the DNA tests, just stop eating. But I only imagined that because Tobias is really a good guy
