Primo, Nassim Taleb will present on the importance of second order effects at the Ancestral Health Symposium (#AHS13) in August in Atlanta. There are many awesome presenters this year; I will be there--I hope you will be too! #AHS13 information: http://www.ancestryfoundation.org Segundo, Edward Wilson just released his book, Dimensions in Ancestral Health, and I composed a Foreword for it.

We live by fiction; by the story systems we construct--by our m=1 personal my-thologies. These story systems are collections of conjectures; they are tentative statements about the world that we transiently hold to be true (that is, they are yet-to-be-falsified). We place our faith in this assembly of beliefs because these views reflect our values, our vehicles for decision-making and behavior

Hunting for cheap health options ... Coffee has anti-inflammatory properties, independent of caffeine. Some people are sensitive to caffeine, and their bodies falsify most coffeedy conjectures in their n=1 self-experiments (these results should be heeded wisely). However, for those who can tolerate it, coffee has the potential to help ameliorate knee pain (joint pain, generally, in addition to

Part I: Introducing wartime trauma medicine as an example of anti-fragility Nassim Talebs concept of Anti-Fragility is, fundamentally, about harnessing entropy. Anti-fragile systems break but rebound through repair to grow and progress; they (need and) gain from disorder, from unexpected fluctuations--they evolve over time, improving nonlinearly. Human physiology embodies anti-fragility. From

Its been fun; its been a great run. My blogging career is now done. Grazie. Finally, Ancestry - My grandfathers physician-leadership legacy: Long-time Vallejo physician leader leaves rich legacy Ill leave my essays up for folks to peruse leisurely. One last time: Thanks to Dave Lull (thx2DL). Ciao, Brent

Youre sitting there; Your fate grows near: You wait--you contemplate. Youre writing now; Your words pour out: You write--you explicate. Youre unsure how; Your minds gone out: You watch--you await. While you await; Your memory escapes-- It finds: your fate.

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Tradition. The importance of tradition has grown on me (by osmosis, seemingly). For instance, memorable traditions during my Jesuit education for high school shaped my personal development tremendously, thankfully. Similarly, this past weekend, I attended Second Look Weekend at The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. As part of this traditional celebration for admitted students, current

I am not you, and you are not me, but together we can self-experiment with shared stories in synergy. And we can even self-experiment with non-shared stories and still stumble upon peace. Self-experimentation with Story Systems is, I suspect, foundational to the process of deducing a m=1 personal my-thology. If we define a Story System (thx2DL) as the conjectures, thoughts, values, beliefs, et

I respect the complexities of human biochemistry; the intricacies of our diverse digestive processes. Stephen Colbert trusts his gut principally; this seems wise to me, particularly when it comes to figuring out this business of eating and drinking--the craft of fueling our bodies with building block dietary pieces. Personally, I suspect an empirical foundation built on digestion provides the

Sometimes, the stars align. Sometimes, things coincide. Its at these times when serendipity collides; we see signs of the times. The recent publishing of two Ancestral Health books, Gray Grahams (et al.) Pottengers Prophecy and Art DeVanys The New Evolution Diet, provides one such time: its full-circle time. When these two books combine, we see three clear signs: Uno: Through

From the ashes they will rise, institutions that we newly derive. The Three-Body Agency Problem in Health Care & The Integrated Health System Model Solution R-evolution: During the 20th Century, medicine evolved at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine into a science-based practice grounded in combining clinical care, research, and education all in one setting. Similarly, Kaiser

"Fleeting Fate" Fleeting fate: You set a date And then you wait. You await, But it escapes. You play mind games; Everything seems to race. Then comes another day. And you wait; You wait for the next state: For your fate. To good health, Brent

Ancestry Fractal Governance: Organizing Society like Nature by Brent Pottenger, healthcare epistemocrat, @epistemocrat (*BP) by G, The Daily G, not-on-Twitter! (*G) Its supremely challenging; this whole business of governing; of leading. BP: The problem with inventing something that doesnt exist is simply that: it doesnt exist. Thus, conceptualizing a new system of governance, for

The whole truth is wholly elusive. But that doesnt mean we dont try. "Blind men and a elephant" is an insightful parable that frames truth-seeking perceptively: Given our personal opacities, we individually conceive varying realities to some degree, despite seeking the same underlying "truth" ultimately. About four years ago, Craig Ventor published his personal genome online; he wanted the

(Graphic by Sarah Rebich) Above all, Im thankful for my family and my friends. Thankfully, I can count Brian Geremia (President of Ancestry) and Aaron Blaisdell (President of the Ancestral Health Society) as friends--friendships are blessings. In response to my previous poem--"Stumbling Upon Ancestry"--Brian composed a thoughtful analysis--"Reflection on Stumbling Upon Ancestry"--on his

"Stumbling Upon Ancestry" From these ashes they will rise: Institutions that we newly derive. Institutions that we re-create glocally; That is, institutions that we scale up fractally. From the individual to the family; From the family to the community: Well band back together synergistically, And help each other regain our dignity, our integrity. That is, well organize society like Mother

We Arent Who We Thought We Were Things are improving For this whole business of being A human being. It started with a G. It now has a M. The Genome was a human thing. And now it has a Microbiome silver-lining. That is those bacteria, fungi, and viruses; Those micro-organisms that are lining our inner-beings And interacting with our reasons for being. We knew about that twisted

Ancestry is one idea, one main theme: Respecting our ancestral heritages as human beings. Tickets for the Ancestral Health Symposium (AHS) are here: Ancestral Health Symposium The Ancestry Web site has additional information (hat tip to Brian Geremia for designing it): AncestryFoundation.org The awesome, amazing logos for the Ancestral Health Symposium, the Ancestral Health Society, and

HARVARD MEDICAL SCHOOL: HOME TO DR. ATUL GAWANDE, MD, MPH Serendipity. Is a mystery to me. Is important to me. Is plain fascinating. The Internet has its pros and its cons; its positives and its negatives. Personally, one of the greatest benefits of the Internet is exposure to the envelope of serendipity. Recently, I connected with Adam Stoffa: He read my previous essay on Dr. Atul

The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right by Dr. Atul Gawande Over the past decade, weve learned a lot from Dr. Atul Gawande, MD, MPH. From his previous works, Complications and Better, we learned (a) to count things (e.g. Apgar Score) and (b) to write something (e.g. The Velluvial Matrix). Now, from his latest masterpiece, Checklist Manifesto, we learn (c) to check things. To check

As Ive said before, I think maps matter. A lot. Just ask Daniel Kahneman. Mental maps, that is. Cognitive landscapes for decision making. Organized threads for thinkering. Well, Robb Wolf is one of my favorite Ancestral Health cartographers. Therefore, here are my caveats: 1) Robb generously sent me a copy (pictured above) of his new book, The Paleo Solution: The Original Human Diet. 2)

I think the arts are forms of craft.  I think people find craft fulfilling; that is, transcending.  Heres what Karl Popper said (thanks to Dave Lull): Karl Popper: I do think that all men, including myself, are religious. We do all believe in something more--and it is difficult to find the right words--than ourselves. While I do not want to set up a new kind of faith, what we really believe in

All things Ancestry (Ancestral Health Society, Ancestral Health Symposium, et al.) exist and persist via a hobbyist volunteerism model. Collectively, many talented and passionate volunteers connecting around the central idea that we can learn things about health and lifestyle choices by studying and respecting our diverse heritages as human beings can produce amazing results in serendipitous ways