My Journey in Solving Complex Problems and the Path to Longevity

I have always been dedicated to tackling complex problems and developing advanced solutions on the web. Take ADSL, for example: on the surface, it may seem simple, but managing all the activities involved—last-mile delivery, worker coordination, regulatory compliance, and legal requirements—makes it incredibly intricate.
Imagine rolling out ADSL across Europe, with each country having its own set of last-mile regulations. This meant managing different contracts, languages, and pricing structures for each market.

I’ve always been responsible for large-scale, high-complexity systems that required automated responses to millions of similar requests daily. Manual handling was impossible, so I relied on supercomputing to automate these processes. What we now call artificial intelligence (AI) was, in essence, the automation and computational power needed to meet these demands. Back then, it wasn't "generative AI" as we know it today, but it was intelligent processing nonetheless.

For instance, I once developed a search engine to locate people selling cars, based on the insight that someone selling a car was likely in the market for another one. The market has since evolved—today, someone selling a car might instead buy an electric bike or scooter. But the principle of creating solutions based on complex data remains the same.

Throughout my career, I've consistently pursued complex, innovative products and advanced research. Then, one day, I moved to Saint Moritz and discovered I had high blood pressure. At 2,000 metres above sea level, this was dangerous. My then-wife, a doctor, was deeply concerned—though perhaps today, she’d feel differently!

She warned me of the risks. In an attempt to manage the issue, I casually mentioned I’d download an app to monitor my blood pressure remotely, thinking it would be a straightforward solution. To my surprise, no such app existed that could reliably track and report my health metrics in real-time. This exposed a significant gap in healthcare, one that remains today.

The gap lies not only within healthcare but also between specialised fields. We have highly skilled engineers and doctors, both operating in intensely vertical domains. Yet, there’s little collaboration across these fields.

This creates a siloed approach to innovation, with each solution addressing narrow areas like cardiovascular health, orthopaedics, or dermatology. Holistic medicine exists, but it rarely goes deep enough to integrate vertical specialities effectively.

Bringing an “horizontal” perspective into such a highly verticalised world is challenging. I spend hours training specialists to adopt a broader view, aiming to instil an interdisciplinary mindset.

However, interdisciplinary teams often simply align experts side by side, which is a delegated approach to achieving an integrated view, rather than a truly holistic one. To achieve longevity and comprehensive patient care, we need an inherently horizontal vision—one that isn’t just a patchwork of specialties.

This is especially challenging in the medical field, where depth and rigour are rightly prized. Doctors, trained to delve deeply into their specialisations, find it difficult to approach problems with the necessary flexibility. It’s not about undermining depth but fostering a degree of adaptability that allows them to see the bigger picture.

My goal, despite not being a doctor myself, is to cultivate this mindset. It’s a difficult mission—guiding professionals whose dedication to depth runs deep towards an openness to broader thinking. But if we are ever to achieve true longevity and preventive health, this integration is essential.

Someone has to bridge this divide, and I am committed to doing so. Without a cohesive, cross-disciplinary approach, we risk missing the larger vision needed to advance healthcare and promote longevity in meaningful ways.