Twenty-Nine
What’s in this article
Old enough to have opinions about the future, young enough to be surprised by how fast it arrives. This birthday feels a little different, so this is a short letter instead of an essay.
The questions that stayed
In my late twenties the questions I could not put down all moved into one place: AI, longevity, behaviour, human potential. Not just what the technology will be able to do — what it will mean for us. What becomes valuable when intelligence is abundant? What happens to human potential when machines can do more of the work? And how do we build lives that are not just longer, but better?
The wrong question
The one I find most interesting is no longer how we compete with AI. It is who we become when we no longer need to. That is the space I spend my days thinking, building and learning in — and I test everything on my own week before I write a word about it.
Twenty-nine
It feels like a good age to be asking bigger questions. And an even better age to start building the answers. If you are working on any of this, or simply circling the same questions — say hi. That is what this year is for.
The Life Audit is free and comes back written: where your hours actually go, and what handing the repeatable half over would change.
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What is the main idea of "Twenty-Nine"?
A birthday note on the questions that moved in and stayed: what becomes valuable when intelligence is abundant — and who we become when we no longer need to compete.
29 today. old enough to have opinions about the future, young enough to be surprised by how fast it arrives. i spend this one at the intersection of ai, longevity and behavioural science — and the question that feels right for the last year of my twenties: who do we become when we no longer need to compete with the machines? if you're building or researching in ai, health or human potential, say hi. i want to enter 30 surrounded by people who ask these questions?
29 today.
How do you actually apply this?
Start with the Life Audit at marsa.ai/life-audit — free, and it turns this piece into a concrete first step.
Is this about willpower or systems?
Systems. Willpower is finite and unreliable; the durable lever is changing the system, the environment, and the defaults underneath the behavior.
Who is this for?
Founders, operators, and anyone trying to perform and live well in the AI age — the science applies whether it moves a person, a market, or a machine.
Where can I go deeper?
Start with the MARSA operating system at marsa.ai. Every claim here draws on the clinical literature — see the full bibliography at marsa.ai/research.