David Shaywitz

Gorgeous New England autumn

Bottom line from Zak - so resonant:

Such an outstanding discussion (emphasizing agency, no less!!) with Zak Kohane about AI in @harvard.edu Gazette: news.harvard.edu/gazette/stor... @nachristakis.bsky.social @rbaltman.bsky.social @melaniemitchell.bsky.social

American bittern landing in the rain at #YoloBypass #birds #NoAI. Reminder - there is great beauty in this world sometimes right in front of us. Also - no AI was used here ...

Feels like everyone is waiting for AI's "Move 37" moment in their particular domain - including/esp in healthcare & biopharma - basically, coming up w truly unexpected+insightful idea that has demonstrable, palpable impact on outcomes.

Latest AI+R&D read from NVS's Vas Narasimhan: www.linkedin.com/pulse/ai-tra... -depending on POV it's: (a) Mercifully grounded, focused on achievable gains in op efficiency (v McKinsey) (b) Disappointingly short of elevated insight into how AI could improv transl models (@insitro.bsky.social, Xaira)

I feel seen.

Another important concept frequently overlooked - the idea of "fractionated expertise," as I described in a 2020 @thebulwark.com piece in early days of COVID. www.thebulwark.com/p/covid-19-a...

Wow - just rediscovered this NYT "Cases" Denny Ausiello and I wrote in 2000, about the demise of reflective doctoring - unfortunately it has aged very, very well. www.nytimes.com/2000/05/09/h... @adamrodmanmd.bsky.social @lisarosenbaum.bsky.social

@carolynbertozzi.bskyverified.social

When fall comes to New England… 🍁 🍂

It really does feel like vast majority of communication within companies now (esp tech-embracing cos) is mediated via AI. Any report/update/plan/etc you receive -> AI generated and likely will be AI-consumed. People feel amazed, supercharged on one hand, peripheral on the other.

Just so crazy to live in a world where you know that no one reads anything more than 1-2 sentences (IF that-which might well be intercepted by agent), and longer correspondence -- and essentially all documents -- will be fed into an AI for digestion. Massive dislocation.

Another insightful @bobwachter.bsky.social column, asking who is AI actually working for in health? robertwachter.substack.com/p/healthcare... ; speaking of alignment, this question aligns w concerns Zak K. has been foregrounding for awhile, eg in @bostonglobe.com www.bostonglobe.com/2026/01/06/o...

I've never played with AI before, and I know I'll be condemned for doing so, but here's my version of Mount Rushmore: Porter, Gershwin, Rodgers and Kern. Where's Berlin? Let's go visit.

Just to point it out for those following along at home: this is an absolutely monster study - insanely audacious. Not lab rats. Not college undergraduate volunteers in psych study. RCT involves sets of villages!

In aggregate, the introduction of a new information regime acted as a kind of social institution, rewiring individuals’ connections even though the overall degree distribution of village-wide networks remained relatively stable. 11/

New #HNL paper out in @nature.com: Educational Intervention Can Rewire Village Social Networks. 1/

I had no idea that Helen Branswell was ill. I'm deeply saddened to hear of her passing. When I became CDC director, a very astute member of the CDC press office told me that I wasn't ready for a briefing unless I was ready for questions from Helen Branswell.

Very cool to listen to our media-shy CEO discuss our company, Lore, including how we think about enhancing agency of populations, and the business model around it. Accenture podcast -> podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t...

Current Audible listen: Seligman's latest book on agency (now available-at last!). Obviously highly resonant. On deck - @nachristakis.bsky.social's Blueprint... (which he'll be discussing next month @harvard.edu - very disappointed I'll be out of town & missing what promises to be amazing talk).

"Hey, Muse: please prepare a Darwin Award application for the following individuals...."

Really hope that Palantir CTO S Sankar was just being dramatic when he said "So many AI researchers have started smoking as a way of signaling to other researchers how much they believe in AI." I am also optimistic about promise of AI - but I respect complexity of biology. @dereklowe.bsky.social

Importance and difficulty of behavior change a key point @bobwachter.bsky.social emphasized in his excellent recent book (my @wsj.com rev here, gift link): www.wsj.com/arts-culture...

@gilman.bsky.social where am I?

This article seems to have triggered both @erictopol.bsky.social & me, for slightly different reasons: www.wsj.com/health/welln... Eric notes lack of evid for accurate meas; I agree! But I also think issue w wearables isn’t only accuracy but ultimately impact on improving healthier behaviors.

I would have hoped by now this point - the profound contribution of immigrants in our land of immigrants- might have been self-evident-yet appreciate @repauchincloss.bsky.social for highlighting, in context of technology; could have picked any area of intellectual distinction-incl biomedical science

Dahlia “A La Mode” has finally bloomed:

What a weird world we live in - Ukraine hits a data centre deep in Russia - Irish twitter users see racist posts about IPAS centres in Offaly fall off a cliff

Very interesting, via Alex Z Cc @dereklowe.bsky.social @andrewedunn.bsky.social

Thoughtful, sobering assessment of current state of sickle cell understanding and treatment via @adrianwoolfson.bsky.social’s characteristically elegant book review in @science.org lnkd.in/p/gZ6WRvZE

Related - from wsj - why personal AI agents are (mostly) good (until they're not....) -> (gift link) www.wsj.com/tech/ai/ai-a...

Hey @gilman.bsky.social - look what I (and by "I," I mean my ChatGPT agent) made for you: bar-gilman.airybass2.chatgpt.site Good shabbos!

Gorgeous time for early autumn morning jog in Boston suburbs… @hjluks.bsky.social @phylogenomics.bsky.social @carolynbertozzi.bskyverified.social

The share of children who died before they were 5 years old in 1950 and 75 years later. Africa: 33% ↘ 6% Asia: 25% ↘ 2.5% Oceania: 9.3% ↘ 2% Latin America: 21% ↘ 1.5% Northern America: 3.8% ↘ 0.6% Europe: 10.5% ↘ 0.4% Globally: 23% ↘ 3.5%

Another incredibly relatable article from @bethteitell.bsky.social … www.bostonglobe.com/2026/10/05/l...

For those interested in learning more about some of this captivating work and the people behind it…I reviewed Karl Deisseroth’s “Projections” for @wsj.com in 2021. Gift link: www.wsj.com/arts-culture...

@maggieastor.bsky.social cc