Jan 2, 2019 · 31m · a16z
a16z Podcast | On Wearables, Quantified Self, and Biohacking
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Hosted by Sonal Chokshi, this episode of the a16z Podcast explores the intersection of wearables, quantified self, and biohacking with industry experts Rachel Kalmar, Jeffrey Wu, and Gary Wolf. The panel discusses how continuous biometric sensors, ambient technology, and algorithmic health optimization can transform personal wellness while addressing user adoption barriers and ethical data challenges.
How this conversation actually went
Every chapter scored 0–10 on four independent dynamics. Hover any point for the reasoning behind the score. The host holds 23.6% of the talking time here. How this is scored →
The host as informed peer 5.0 Guest teaching 3.7 Guest disagreement 1.3 The host pushing back 2.3
speaking balance: gold is the host, purple is the guest (3 minute bins)
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 19:58 Jeffrey Reframes Nootropics and Legality
Jeffrey gently corrects Sonal's assumption that nootropics exclude pharmaceutical drugs, explaining that cognitive enhancement and legal/pharmaceutical classification are orthogonal.
Hardest push from the host ▶ 11:18 Sonal Challenges Mainstream Wearable AdoptionSonal directly challenges the optimistic adoption narrative, pointing out that consumers are fundamentally lazy and frequently collect wearable data without ever acting upon it.
Biggest teaching moment ▶ 25:19 Rachel's Studio Portrait vs. Selfie MetaphorRachel provides an insightful framework for understanding noisy health signals by contrasting formal doctor visits as clinical studio portraits against continuous biometric tracking as real-world selfies.
The host holds their own ▶ 16:40 Sonal Invokes Ethnography and GUI HistorySonal showcases her deep background in ethnographic methodology, articulating how user observation in natural environments shaped technology milestones like the GUI.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
| Chapter | Topic | The host as informed peer | Guest teaching | Guest disagreement | The host pushing back | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Core Motivations and Engineering the Human System | 4 | 3 | 1 | 1 | The guests present their core motivations around applying engineering principles to human biometrics and tracking daily personal health. Sonal facilitates smoothly, drawing on external knowledge to highlight the concept of a health feedback loop for humanity. | |
| Scaling Quantified Self Beyond Early Adopters | 3 | 4 | 1 | 2 | Rachel and Gary explain how quantified self technologies move from niche early adopters to mainstream passive tracking, drawing distinctions between market size and active user communities. Sonal asks clarifying questions about diabetic monitoring and personal routines to keep the discussion moving. | |
| The Flour vs. Cookie Analogy and Automated Insights | 6 | 4 | 2 | 7 | Sonal explicitly pushes back on the assumption of widespread usage, arguing that people are fundamentally lazy and often do nothing with raw wearable data. Rachel validates this critique and responds with the 'flour versus cookie' analogy to explain the current gap between raw data and actionable consumer insights. | |
| Designing Ambient Sensors and Contextual Technology | 7 | 2 | 1 | 1 | Sonal demonstrates strong host expertise by bringing her background in ethnography into the discussion, explaining how contextual observation and human habitus drive technology adoption, citing the historical evolution of the GUI. | |
| Defining Key Terms: Nootropics, Ketones, Biohacking, and Wearables | 5 | 4 | 2 | 2 | The panel defines key terms like nootropics, ketones, biohacking, and wearables. Sonal contributes actively to the discussion on fashion driving wearable ubiquity, highlighting her personal use of smart jewelry. | |
| Addressing Modern Health Crises and Noisy Signals | 3 | 5 | 1 | 1 | Jeffrey touches on public health crises like obesity while Rachel educates the host on interpreting 'noisy signals' in daily biometrics. Rachel offers a clear analogy comparing periodic medical visits to studio portraits and continuous sensor data to informal selfies. | |
| Future Outlook, Data Ethics, Privacy, and Social Inequality | 7 | 4 | 1 | 2 | Rachel addresses data privacy and compares current biometric tracking to mid-century shoe store X-rays. Sonal demonstrates high domain knowledge by linking these concerns to Yuval Harari's work on how technological augmentation could entrench social inequality. |
Statements from this episode (17)
Rachel Kalmar once wore 38 wearable devices every day
“I think my peak was 38 devices that I wore every day.”
Gary Wolf: Most lifestyle advice is adopted without empirical measurement
“Go to any bookstore, and you'll see shelf after shelf of ideas about things that are supposed to dramatically improve our lives. Most of these ideas are tried without any attempt to carefully measure whether they work for us or not.”
Rachel Kalmar: Longitudinal wearable data will improve predictive health models
“We can take this data that right now is more in the health and fitness space, look at it in a longitudinal sense, and tie it together with clinically relevant outcomes that's going to allow us to have better predictive models of health and disease.”
Jeffrey Wu: Health should be managed continuously, not via occasional checkups
“We should be Manipulating our health and wellness on a continuous basis, not a snapshot basis.”
Jeffrey Wu uses diabetic continuous glucose monitors for biohacking
“I've been wearing continuous glucose monitors designed for diabetics.”
Gary Wolf: Fitbit Has Well Over 20 Million Active Users
“The market is much bigger, and Fitbit alone, you know, has well over twenty million active users, so this is a lot of people.”
Rachel Kalmar: Wearables fail by delivering raw data instead of solutions
“Most people say, okay, I have flour, but I don't bake. I want a cookie. Where's my cookie? And the challenge is that there aren't cookies yet, and that's not the fault of any one company. It's just a reflection of where the field is.”
Rachel Kalmar: Future wearables will not require users to review data
“I think that what a cookie will look like will be apps and services built on top of this data that don't require people to look at the data. Predictive models like, hey, you're at risk for a heart attack because we've seen in all of the populations like you th…”
Rachel Kalmar: Future wearables will automatically control smart home environments
“And I think another path will be closing feedback loops automatically. So without the person in the loop, the mood ring that would monitor how much exposure I've had to light. And instead of going through the seasonal affective disorder, kind of a funk where y…”
Rachel Kalmar: Automakers are installing biometric sensors to monitor driver drowsiness
“There are a number of car manufacturers who are adding these kinds of sensors in the car, whether for use in driving, looking at drowsiness, et cetera.”
Jeffrey Wu: Health tracking must be passive for mainstream adoption
“I think it has to be super passive for 90% of people to use it.”
Jeffrey Wu: Ketones yield more energy per unit carbon than glucose
“Ketones are compounds that are broken down from fat And our cells can use that to create ATP, and it's very interesting because a lot of emerging data around ketones being more efficient for the mitochondria to produce energy, you actually get more power per u…”
Rachel Kalmar: Wearable algorithms are useless if users reject the hardware
“If you can't get somebody to wear the device that you built, none of the sophisticated algorithms that you have matter at all.”
Jeffrey Wu: Modern humans are the sickest cohort in human history
“I think one interesting notion is that we're probably the sickest cohort of humans in the history of humanity. If you look at obesity, Alzheimer's, diabetes, I think one of the latest statistics up to seven percent of Americans are predicted to be obese by 20 …”
Jeffrey Wu: Tracking glucose and insulin will become standard daily protocol
“We're all going to be tracking our blood glucose or insulin responses. I think that could be something that brings quantified self from more of a niche activity to be a standard protocol for people to live by.”