 {my current notes on a few things I have been following this month: web3, digital health, and a changed workforce}
New directions for digital healthcare In the past two years we have seen rapid cycles of innovation, deployment and deliveries of health care technologies that would have been difficult imagine even 5 years ago – but is 2022 going to be the big year during which we learn about what actually works in digital health? For example, there has been a rapid expansion of insurance coverage for remote patient monitoring, like the remote collection (use connected sensors) of patient blood pressure, weight, or blood glucose levels measurements in both public and private insurance systems – for example my healthcare provider offered me a full year of access to both apple fitness plus and peloton. This is a really great step forward using digital technology and tools to help improve the life and the experience of those who engage with the health care systems …. But now is perhaps the time to look at all of this data to find out, learn and reflect on how well these tools work and for whom? I think success in health tech will be measured in how the existing health care system improves in quality, patient-centricity, and convenience using these insights and driving the vision of a digital health future. NFTs in the mainstream (finally) driving crypto adoption? It turns out that 2021 saw a huge spike in the creation and sale of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) as People bought and traded NFTs of everything from contemporary art to images of apes and a giant tungsten cube . In many ways, I think there’s nothing new here since NFTs provides just a sort of digital deed to establish the ownership of a certain good. They make it possible to assign and transfer ownership of digital assets like digital art and music, they make clear who the owners are. In addition, NFTs are programmable, which makes it possible to expand their features, as a result, their value over time. As more mainstream brands and artists continue to popularize NFTs in 2022 and with marketplaces like OpenSea and Coinbase NFT coming up in 2022, these products will become significantly more accessible to consumers. Most importantly, NFTs have already proven that they can bootstrap communities of consumers and capture the public’s imagination in a way that cryptocurrency mostly hasn’t. The demand for NFTs is already driving innovation to make crypto wallet technology to more intuitive and better protected for consumers, which makes it more likely that NFTs will finally help take crypto mainstream. A new and changed workforce In 2021, most companies have viewed the evolutions caused by the Pandemic as an anomaly. They were wrong. Covid actually has accelerated many underlying trends that were latent in the labor market before the onset of the pandemic. Companies will now have to account for them in their human resource strategy. I think the disruption is far beyond what most imagine. The workforce cultural makeup post-pandemic and the supply-demand imbalance is becoming a permanent feature on recruiting which is going to make companies have to re-engineer basically everything in recruiting and retention, in particular working much harder in reducing turnover as many people reconsider the role of work in their lives. Most importantly, firms depending on creative and knowledge workers will be better served to consider how they can reshape their job descriptions to retain talent fed up with fulfilling various corporate process “requirements” and “culture compliance” to make themselves attractive to a new and powerful class of gig workers with world-class skills.
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 In my previous note, I have been discussing that we’re in 2022 at an inflection point with the future of work, digital nomadism combined with the rapid maturing of web3-associated technologies, that is most likely already altering the fabric of society. I made the personal choice to sit at the confluence this web3, DeFi and blockchain rapidly evolving technology wave – simply because the developments in web3, including NFTs, decentralized storage, computing power, digital currencies, in other words distributed ledger tech definitely help creators to opt and enjoy the benefits of ownership, empowerment and overall, 360 degrees decentralization – away from Silicon Valley, California and its trappings (at least for me and my fam). I'm super proud to be part of the @usebraintrust movement where we are building a better future of work for everyone! And this $100M of $BTRST is for all of us. Come and build with us! $BTRST #web3 1. (Finally) an unparalleled explosion of AI From generative pre-trained transformer models and digital twins to synthetic data, mini machine learning models run at the edge of specialized AI embedded silicon, in 2022 I sense that AI is finally maturing – we’re finally moving with general deep learning and neural networks to the benefit of no- and low-code platforms with advanced robotic process automation, for example GPT-3 is already used to write code faster, which in turn makes jobs less monotonous and more focused on the fun part which is creation. 2. Decentralized finance is here to disrupt a lot more industries! Thanks to the current popular focus on NFTs, DeFi is already creating a lot more opportunities for people to take their financial lives back into their own hands: because non-fungible tokens make it possible to prove ownership of a digital asset, regardless of what that asset is, and once we can prove ownership, that asset become tradable and exchangeable to drive economic growth. This characteristic in itself, amongst others specific to NFTs, are redefining our economic system in 2022:
NFTs have the potential to redefine the existing financial infrastructure by displacing the existing incumbents. For example, today banks make a lot of profit by selling, reselling and insuring real estate mortgages linked to land properties. Now imagine that you can replace any real-world asset (real estate, car, art, etc.) with any digital asset linked to an NFT and replace the bank with smart contracts: this is decentralized finance (simplified). In addition to this, NFTs bring completely new ways of earning an income: once you have earned, minted, or bought an NFT, you can rent it out, borrow against it, license it, sell it, package it, insure it …. In other words, make money with it. So, it’s fair game to play to earn (no pun), read to earn, think to earn, stream to earn, in fact, whatever-you-come-up-with to earn. As a result, DAOs will enable any community to come together - empowering content creators, crypto owners and innovators to make money without the involvement of traditional financial institutions. 3. Enter the metaverse and the future of (mostly remote) work Let’s say that 2025 is the new 1995 and that the metaverse is going to have the same impact on society that the first and second internets have had for the past two decades. As the required tech to move from a centralized to decentralized web is getting closer to be fully ready (I’ve already talked about the software, now the hardware like AR and VR headsets is making leaps forward, see what Sony announced at CES 2022 for PS5 or the MR headsets from Apple). This is going to completely change the way with socialize, live and work. As an example, as people have reflected during the pandemic on their lives, valuing more family time and having seen the benefits of remote work, reduced commute time and the ability to focus more on projects they’re passionate about, are no longer geographically bound to work where they live. This is good, as now more than ever, the world is your oyster. And the same applies to those startups and companies fully embracing remote work. They, too, are able to fish in a much bigger talent pool. And as remote working technologies are becoming more advanced and intuitive, because of the metaverse, where collaboration across the digital highway can become the norm. Let me know what you think!
My name's phil mora and I write about the things I love fitness, hacking work, tech and anything holistic. Head of Product thinker, doer, designer, coder, leader.  Last month I started my next chapter in helping change in ag, and I briefly talked about my thoughts on the future of ag and regenerative agriculture practices. I am adding a few more thoughts in this note, along with a very cool little youtube vid I found when doing some cursory research last weekend. And with more recent mainstream press coverage for sure discovery work is in progress! In this note, I am trying to get my head around understanding a little bit more, at a very high level, the differences and challenges to the conversion. It’s amazing to see that regenerative farmers in the EU, North America, Brazil, Australia, and India (mainly) are working actively to change the way we farm in this decade and as a result increase biodiversity, enrich soils, improve watersheds, and enhancing the health of livestock and wildlife. And by thinking more holistically, they in turn increase the resilience of their farms to weather events and help boost the sustainability of their communities as well. And with government policies and the food industry looking for solutions that will improve and secure food supplies in the post-covid era, orgs in the US, Brazil, India and the EU are planning to have millions of acres converted to regenerative farming methods (for example, Patagonia, Danone, General Mills and Mc Cain) and invested multi-million-dollar budgets. Recap: 5 principles of regenerative agriculture: Regenerative Ag has five main principles,
These are put into practice under a general, guiding principle of integrating all the farm’s operations as far as possible. In today’s conventional farming approach, crops and livestock production are typically kept separate. Regenerative agriculture combines them in circular ecosystems; essentially, the animals feed the plants, and the plants feed the animals. The regulated grazing of sheep or cows, for example, encourages plant growth, and distributes natural nutrients back over the land in the form of dung. Poultry also fertilizes land, as well as eating unwelcome bugs and weeds. The focus of regenerative farming is most commonly to be the quality and performance of the soil, and regenerative farmers use growing practices that improve the health of their land (by the way there is now evidence that this approach can enrich soil and improve watersheds, which reduces topsoil runoff) , with the more common regenerative farming methods including:
For the last century industrial farming has prioritized increasing production. Regenerative Agriculture addresses cost and regards profit for farmers as more important than production: if we can produce the same output with half the input, the farmer makes more money. Some see this as farming the way it used to be, before the shit to heavy mechanization and intense chemical us in the 1950s and 60s, which encouraged monocultures and ever-larger farms The advantages of regenerative farming in infiltration and biodiversity Improving the soil not only increases fertility in a sustainable way, but also tends to improve water infiltration. Better infiltration means less runoff, and also less erosion and pollution from soil being carried away in the runoff water. In some areas, water springs that dried up several years ago have begun to flow again due to new regenerative farming approaches. In conclusion, the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted supply chains and demand, and increased the amount of food waste in farms and fields while threatening food security for many. As agriculture gradually regains its footing, participants and stakeholders are casting an eye ahead, to safeguarding food supplies against the potentially greater and more disruptive effects and once again, innovation and advanced technologies are making a powerful contribution to secure and sustainable food production. And as a new agricultural ecosystem rapidly emerges, I am convinced that regenerative ag is very well positioned to replace 20th century conventional farming. Let me know what you think here.
My name's phil mora and I blog about the things I love fitness, hacking work, tech and anything holistic. New Chapter! Head of Product at Vayda Vayda is advancing regenerative outcomes in agriculture. By combining regenerative principles and a high-tech approach, we are focused on facilitating the reversal of climate change, while rebuilding natural ecosystems and feeding people with healthier food. thinker, doer, designer, coder, leader  What is regenerative agriculture? As climate change becomes a more mainstream issue, consumers, farmers, brands and retailers are beginning to take a closer look at how to review land and animal management practices: if current topsoil degradation rates continue unchecked, all topsoil could be depleted in 60 years. And since it takes 1,000 years to generate one inch (3 centimeters) of topsoil naturally, now is a good time to take action. Sustaining topsoil isn’t enough. We need also to adopt practices that can regenerate soils with improving soil health as the central foundation. While the term “regenerative agriculture” can have many meanings, in general it describes farming and grazing practices such as restoring degraded soil, improving biodiversity, and increasing carbon capture with the intention of creating long-term environmental benefits, positively impacting climate change while drastically improving farm profitability. Balancing profitability and sustainability: regenerative agricultural practices can protect the environment, improve soil fertility, and optimize long-term profitably to create greater food security. Increasingly, precision farmers use geo-enabled smart devices and cloud computing to understand how no-till, cover crops, rotational grazing, and other sustainable practices contribute to better soil health, biodiversity, and CO2 sequestration. Regenerative Agriculture Practices Regenerative agriculture practices improve the overall health of soil and the environment. One of the key principles of regenerative agriculture is to keep the soil covered at all times. This is achieved through cover crops, which protect the soil from wind and water erosion, lower the temperature of the soil, and feed the microorganisms within it. A “no till” guideline helps to protect the soil’s natural microbiome, so by limiting the disturbance of the soil, it maintains its structure and prevents erosion. Lastly, regenerative agriculture promotes crop diversity. Biological ecosystems are maintained and strengthened by cultivating a diverse number of crops, which work to enrich and restore the health of the soil as well as create a habitat for beneficial insects. In summary: financial impact of employing regenerative agriculture practices comes not only from the improvement and productivity of the soil profile but also from the effects and implications of the regenerative agricultural practices. Four basic principles govern regenerative agriculture:
With the successful implementation of each practice, soil microbial, fungi, and bacterial populations strengthen the symbiotic relationship with one another, nutrients and minerals, water, and, most importantly, the roots of a developing crop. These relationships form the nexus of soil health, untapped yield potential, nutrient cycling, porosity, water infiltration, and organic matter development. Improved soil health reduces the need for excessive fertilizer, herbicide, and pesticide inputs by creating an optimal environment of nutrient cycling and plant vigor; this allows plants to compete better and face growing-season challenges. By progressing through these practices, allowing each principle to build on the next, a sustainable production model is created. How Consumers Can Help The easiest way consumers can contribute is to align themselves with brands that utilize products grown via regenerative agriculture. By way of vegetable and grains, consumers can do research to see if the farms where these products were grown utilized regenerative agriculture concepts like cover crops, crop rotation, and no-till. By way of meat, dairy, and eggs, consumers can look into if the farmers utilized practices like holistic management and rotational grazing And now, the proof is in the pudding – here’s a great TedX talk from Gabe Brown, a regenerative farmer in North Dakota and a pioneer of soil health. Let me know what you think here. My name's phil mora and I blog about the things I love fitness, hacking work, tech and anything holistic. New Chapter! Head of Product at Vayda Vayda is advancing regenerative outcomes in agriculture. By combining regenerative principles and a high-tech approach, we are focused on facilitating the reversal of climate change, while rebuilding natural ecosystems and feeding people with healthier food. thinker, doer, designer, coder, leader |
head of product in colorado. travel 🚀 work 🌵 food 🍔 rocky mountains, tech and dogs 🐾
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