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Below, Rebecca Newberger Goldstein shares five key insights from her new book, The Mattering Instinct: How Our Deepest Longing Drives Us and Divides Us. Goldstein is an award-winning philosopher, writer, and public intellectual. She is the author of 10 books of acclaimed fiction and nonfiction and has held various visiting professorships and fellowships at elite academic institutions. Her first novel was The Mind-Body Problem. Whats the big idea? We all want to feel connected to others and know that we matter. The ways we go about making our lives matter shape who we are, the meaning we find, and the mark we leave on the world. Listen to the audio version of this Book Biteread by Goldstein herselfbelow, or in the Next Big Idea app. 1. Our need to feel that we matter in the way that most matters to us is one of the two prime motivators of human behavior. The other prime motivator is our need for connectedness. Theres a tendency to confuse these two, since they both have to do, in a certain sense, with mattering. Connectedness is our need to feel that there are certain others who will pay us special attention, whether we deserve it or not. In other words, we need to feel that we matter to certain people. These are the people whom we regard as in our lives, and we crucially need people in our lives typically our family, friends, romantic partners, sometimes our colleagues, neighbors, or community members. We are born into a helplessness unmatched in the animal kingdom, and if, in our prolonged immaturity, no caretakers regard us as deserving of their special attention, we die. Our need for connectedness, in its most fundamental sense, begins here and continues throughout our life. We are social animals. But thats not all that we are. Which brings me to the mattering instinct. Unlike our need for connectedness, which intrinsically concerns our relationship to others, the mattering instinct intrinsically concerns our relationship with ourselves. It consists of our longing to prove to ourselves that we are deserving of our own attentionthe monumental attention we have to give ourselves in pursuing our life. And unlike connectedness, which is a trait that humans share with other gregarious species, the mattering instinct characterizes us humans alone. It comes to us by way of our evolved capacity for self-reflection, and it provides us with our existential dimension. The mattering instinct forces us into the sphere of values without equipping us to see our way through. We are social beings, yes, but we are also, because of the mattering instinct, existentially questing creatures. 2. Connectedness and the mattering instinct are essential to life satisfaction, which is a far deeper desire for us than our desire for happiness. Its life satisfaction that provides us the sense that we are flourishing in our lives, and we can tolerate a great deal of unhappiness, frustration, and disappointment in pursuit of our flourishing. In one of his most famous statements, Sigmund Freud said, Love and work are the cornerstones of our humanness. Freud was right about the duality at our core, only I would amend his statement. For Freuds love, I would substitute connectedness, since our need to feel that we are being paid special attention by those whom we regard as in our lives can assume forms quite distinct from love. And for Freuds work, I would substitute the sense of mattering, which in Freuds case, derived from his work. There is a strong tendency in all of us, including Freud, to universalize our own way of responding to the mattering instinct, to assert that my response to the mattering instinct must be, if it is right for me, the right response for everyone. 3. Humans display dazzling diversity in responding to our shared mattering instinct. I represent this diversity with what I call the Mattering Map, an idea which goes back to that first novel. The Mattering Map is composed of a multitude of regions, each of them premised on a different answer to the question of what matters in making a life that matters. The Mattering Map is where we amuse, bemuse, and sometimes absolutely appall one another by our life choices in responding to the mattering instinct. Depending on where were situated on the Mattering Map, we pursue different mattering projects, which, in channeling the mattering instinct, propel us into our future, giving us, in a sense, our reason to live. Our mattering projects can be selfish or altruistic, individualistic or communitarian, competitive or cooperative, religious or secular, creative or destructive. But whether its tending ones garden or ones cause, ones relationships or ones reputation, ones immortal soul or ones net worth, these mattering projects become the loci of some of our deepest emotions. We judge how well our lives are going by how well our mattering projects are going. Its our mattering projects, at least insofar as theyre working for us, that yield our lives a sense of coherence, purpose, and meaningfulness. While our shared mattering instinct expresses our distinctiveness as a species, our individual mattering projects express our distinctiveness from one another. Just as the language instinct resulted in the great variety of human languages, requiring the art of translation, so the mattering instinct results in the great variety of incommensurable forms of human life, requiring the art of interpretation. But beneath all this diversity among us, there are some general patterns to be discerned. 4. There are four general mattering strategies. These are transcendent mattering, social mattering, heroic mattering, and competitive mattering. We may employ more than one of these strategies, depending on the circumstances, but typically one of them prevails in us, determined by our individual temperament and life experiences. This sorts us into transcenders, socializers, heroic strivers, and competitors. You can think of these as the four continents of the Mattering Map: Transcenders seek their mattering in religious or spiritual terms, striving to matter to the transempirical spiritual presence which, according to their belief, exists and which they may or may not call God, but which they believe has purposefully created them. They look to their mattering from on high. This is the premise of all the traditional religions as well as those views that dub themselves SBNRspiritual but not religious. Socializers seek their mattering from other humans. They essentially collapse the two cornerstones of our humanness into one. To matter existentially, for a socializer, is to matter to those who are in their lives. Heroic strivers arent seeking their mattring from othersneither from humans nor from on high. Rather their sense of mattering comes from seeking to satisfy their own standards of excellence. These standards may be intellectual, artistic, athletic, or ethical. Competitors conceive of mattering, either their own or their groups, in zero-sum terms. To the extent that they matter, others must matter less. 5. Our mattering instinct is responsible for humanitys greatest achievements and greatest atrocities. Notice that in speaking of greatest achievements and greatest atrocities, Ive switched to evaluative terms. For most of the book, I confine myself to non-evaluatively mapping out the differences between uswe creatures of matter who long to matterhoping to provide a framework for how we might be able to see past our deepest and most fraught differences to our even deeper commonality. But inevitably, we have to confront the question of whether some of these ways of responding to the mattering instinct are better than others. We are the same in our longing, but stubbornly diverse in our responses to that longing, making it imperative that, if we are to live together in recognition of the dignity of human life in all its incommensurable forms, we find an objective standard to distinguish between better and worse ways of responding to the mattering instinct. The very science that explains how we evolved into creatures of matter, longing to matter, also suggests an answer to the evaluative question. At the heart of the explanation and the suggestion lies the law of entropy, formally known as the second law of thermodynamics, which states that all physical systems are internally heading toward disorder and dissolution. Life itself is a counter-entropic struggle, and the best of our mattering projects are, like life itself, counter-entropic. Everything worth living forlife, love, health, knowledge, peace, compassion, creativity, beauty, flourishingare highly ordered states that must be hard-won local reprieves from the law of entropy. A life well-lived is a life that, while pursuing mattering in a way that best accords with a persons individuality, allies itself with lifes own counter-entropic struggle. What better answer could there be to the age-old question of the meaning of life? Enjoy our full library of Book Bitesread by the authors!in the Next Big Idea app. This article originally appeared in Next Big Idea Club magazine and is reprinted with permission.
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For more than 60 years, contraception has been almost exclusively a womens responsibility. Today, women have more than 14 modern contraceptive options, while men have just two: condoms and vasectomies. That imbalance has pushed women to shoulder physical side effects, financial burden, medical risks, and the career impact of family planningcosts that have been accepted as the status quo for far too long. But the tide is shifting. Men are increasingly vocal about wanting to participate in family planning, and new science is finally catching up. For the first time in history, there are multiple male contraceptives in clinical trials, some only a few years away from approval. For companies and investors, this isnt just a public health opportunity, its a multibillion-dollar business opportunity in modern healthcare. A $25 Billion Opportunity The numbers are staggering. In the U.S. alone, there are approximately 70 million sexually active men ages 19 to 60. A landmark survey of 6,313 men in the U.S. found that 82% would try a new male contraceptive at some point in their lives. The same survey found that 49% of men would try a new male contraceptive within 12 months of it being on the market. A downside case looks like 34.3 million potential male contraceptive users. Some estimate that there are 17 million early adopters.Reaching just a fraction of the men interested in male contraception would result in a blockbuster product: For example, 5 million prescriptions for male contraception in the U.S. annually (half of the number of women who are on the Pill) would result in $10 billion-plus of annual recurring revenue. Globally, the opportunity is even larger. There are roughly 2.5 billion sexually active men in the world, and surveys indicate that interest in male contraceptives is even higher in countries like the U.K., Europe, Canada, and Australia. This market potential is why Amboy St. Ventures highlighted male contraception as one of the largest ghost markets in womens health.Sexual health is routinely underestimated by investors, yet the category routinely proves its commercial strength time and time again. Viagra and Cialis each scaled to blockbuster status with annual revenues of $1.8 billion and $2.5 billion for Pfizer and Eli Lilly, respectively. Truvada for HIV preexposure prophylaxis generated approximately $3 billion for Gilead in 2018 by enabling safer sexual activity. Meanwhile, testosterone and hormone-replacement therapies represent another multibillion-dollar sector, driven largely in part by the desire to preserve libido and sexual well-being. Theres no reason male contraception cant become the next big sexual health blockbuster. A Digital-First Model We are in the age of telemedicine. Hims & Hers (valued at $8.7 billion today) launched by targeting mens health needs, such as erectile dysfunction, premature ejaculation, and hair loss. It proved what many underestimated: Men will seek out healthcare when it is accessible, discreet, and convenient. The early adopters who want male contraceptives are similarly digitally native. They wont need their doctor to recommend a new contraceptive; theyll be actively searching for it on their phones. On a recent episode of the podcast Cheeky Pint, Dave Ricks, the CEO of Eli Lilly, said that the reason why LillyDirect works so well for GLP-1s is because The diagnosis step [is] dead easy. Everybody knows the biomarker tool in their bathroom. It’s called the scale. They can know if the drug’s working, and we can offer telehealth post-pandemic at scale. In other words, a straightforward condition and clear feedback loop make remote care feasible. Male contraception fits that mold perfectly: No complex diagnosis or workup is neededa simple at-home sperm check can provide confidence that the method is working. Furthermore, the need for contraception is even more universal than reducing obesity and presents a massive opportunity for a first mover to capture the male birth control market via a direct-to-consumer, digital-first approach. Whats in Development After decades of little progress, several novel male contraceptives are now in clinical trials, addressing a range of preferences: NES/T (Nesterone-Testosterone gel): The most clinically advanced product, NES/T is a topical gel applied to the shoulders daily. Inspired by products in the TRT and HRT space, NES/T delivers a combination of hormones to suppress sperm production while maintaining normal hormone levels and minimizing side effects. A Phase II b trial including 462 couples was recently completed to evaluate its safety, efficacy, and reversibility. Contraline, which secured the development rights from the Population Council, is now preparing for a Phase III trialthe first Phase III male contraceptive trial in history. YCT-529: The nonhormonal daily pill temporarily halts sperm production by blocking a vitamin A pathway in the testes. The first human safety study showed promising tolerability, and now YourChoice Therapeutics is testing whether it reliably suppresses sperm in a Phase I b/II a trial. This compound could become a convenient oral contraceptive for men if it proves safe, effective, and reversible. ADAM: This is a long-acting, reversible contraceptive implant (essentially an IUD for men). ADAM is a nonhormonal hydrogel implanted into the vas deferens, blocking sperm passage until the gel dissolves or is removed. A first-in-human trial showed ADAM is safe and effective for two years. Contraline, the company behind ADAM, is advancing the device toward a larger trial. Given the potential $25 billion-plus market size and mens desire for having multiple options to choose from (just like women do), it is unlikely that male contraception will be a winner-takes-all market. Each of these products may be a blockbuster in its own right. In 1960, the launch of the female Pill sparked a social revolution and created one of the most profitable drug categories in history. Sixty-plus years later, the next sexual health revolution is overdue. This time, it may be led by men. (Disclosure: Foreground Capital is an investor in Contraline and YourChoice Therapeutics, and Amboy St. Ventures is an investor in Contraline.)
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While speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on January 21, Jamie Dimon, chairman and CEO of JPMorgan Chase, said AI could bring about “civil unrest” by destroying jobs, and that businesses and governments need to step in to help. He made the comments in response to a question about whether AI will lead to fewer jobs over the next several years. Dimon said he believes the impact won’t be as catastrophic to the labor market as some are predicting, but he also didn’t deny some inevitable upheaval. “Don’t put your head in the sand,” he urged. “It is what it is. We’re gonna deploy it.” He continued, “Will it eliminate jobs? Yes. Will it change jobs? Yes. Will it add some jobs? Probably. . . . However, it may go too fast for society, and if it goes too fast for society thats where governments and businesses [need to] in a collaborative way step in together and come up with a way to retrain people and move it over time. Dimon pitched the idea that local governments and businesses are going to need to provide support to workers in the form of income assistance programs, relocation assistance, and retraining to avoid mass unemployment. “We’re not gonna kill all of our employees because of AI,” he said. “We’re just not.” The CEO also said that phasing in the technology slowly is the best approach in order to give people time to adjust and for businesses to come up with solutions, even if that means additional government regulation. He cautioned that companies should not conduct mass layoffs all at once: Youll have civil unrest. You want the government to tell you you cant lay off a whole bunch of people at JPMorgan? moderator Zanny Minton Beddoes, editor-in-chief of The Economist, asked. Wed agree, Dimon replied. If we have to do that to save society. He caveated this should be done at a local levelfor example, governments providing incentives for retraining employees or giving them assistance. In the past, Dimon hasn’t been shy about criticizing the government for too much regulation or what he deems the wrong regulation. In fact, he opposes other precautionary measures like capping credit card interest at 10%. Last year, he called the government “inefficient” and “not very competent” and said he hoped the Department of Government Efficiency would be “quite successful.” Regardless of the worries that Dimon expressed about the pace of AI, job losses, and the potential for the technology to “do something terrible,” he seemed ready to accept his own company’s fatewhatever it may be. When asked if JPMorgan will have fewer employees over the next five years, he predicted that it would. Still, not everyone agreed with Dimon’s statements on AI’s impact on jobs. Jensen Huang, chief executive of Nvidia, said that labor shortages are the issue we should be more concerned with, arguing that AI is actually creating more roles than it is stealing. “This is the largest infrastructure build-out in human history,” Huang said. “That’s gonna create a lot of jobs.”
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