Tal Zaks

It's called Voltaire's Bastards, and the subtitle is The Tyranny of Reason in Western Civilization. And he made a point in... that ever since quote-unquote the age of reason, we have mistakenly assumed that science in itself and reason will be an ethical force for good, which of course it isn't.

It's called Voltaire's Bastards, and the subtitle is The Tyranny of Reason in Western Civilization. And he made a point in... that ever since quote-unquote the age of reason, we have mistakenly assumed that science in itself and reason will be an ethical force for good, which of course it isn't.

Science and reason are science and reason, but it's the humanistic moral compass that needs to frame how we deploy them. But the other point he makes is that in this age of reason, the way that experts have survived and grown is in silos. And that silo is enshrined in language. And so every discipline changes. develops its own language over time, and it becomes a barrier to common understanding.

Science and reason are science and reason, but it's the humanistic moral compass that needs to frame how we deploy them. But the other point he makes is that in this age of reason, the way that experts have survived and grown is in silos. And that silo is enshrined in language. And so every discipline changes. develops its own language over time, and it becomes a barrier to common understanding.

And if you're trying to solve a multidisciplinary problem, you very quickly realize that one of your greatest barriers is language. The finance world knows this very well. We coined the term FedSpeak. That's clearly an example of language as a barrier constructed, so on purpose. But we all fall into the trap.

And if you're trying to solve a multidisciplinary problem, you very quickly realize that one of your greatest barriers is language. The finance world knows this very well. We coined the term FedSpeak. That's clearly an example of language as a barrier constructed, so on purpose. But we all fall into the trap.

And what I realized early on is that physicians are probably as guilty or guiltier than anybody else in doing that. And I'll give you an example. So

And what I realized early on is that physicians are probably as guilty or guiltier than anybody else in doing that. And I'll give you an example. So

Back in the day, if a patient came to me and his platelet counts, these are the blood clotting elements we have in our blood, were low for reasons that the physician didn't know, but it would lead to a skin rash because when blood doesn't clot, it will accumulate under the skin.

Back in the day, if a patient came to me and his platelet counts, these are the blood clotting elements we have in our blood, were low for reasons that the physician didn't know, but it would lead to a skin rash because when blood doesn't clot, it will accumulate under the skin.

So people would show up with this skin rash and you'd go, the patient would come to the physician and the physician would look at him and say, hey, yeah, you have idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura. Oh, God, that sounds scary. Now, what did I just say? Well, all I said is in Latin, you've got low platelets and a skin rash, and I don't know why.

So people would show up with this skin rash and you'd go, the patient would come to the physician and the physician would look at him and say, hey, yeah, you have idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura. Oh, God, that sounds scary. Now, what did I just say? Well, all I said is in Latin, you've got low platelets and a skin rash, and I don't know why.

Idiopathic, I don't know why, purpurized skin rash, and thrombocytopenia is low platelets. So just by using Latin, we made ourselves sound smart, but the physician had no clue actually what it comes. Now, today we learned a little bit about the biology, so it's not as bad as I make it out to be, but you get the picture. And so when I came into the industry,

Idiopathic, I don't know why, purpurized skin rash, and thrombocytopenia is low platelets. So just by using Latin, we made ourselves sound smart, but the physician had no clue actually what it comes. Now, today we learned a little bit about the biology, so it's not as bad as I make it out to be, but you get the picture. And so when I came into the industry,

I was super curious always to understand what is the language of the other functions that have to come together to solve this problem. And yes, I'm the physician in the room, but the guys doing the biology and the guys doing the chemistry and the manufacturing, they're just as important.

I was super curious always to understand what is the language of the other functions that have to come together to solve this problem. And yes, I'm the physician in the room, but the guys doing the biology and the guys doing the chemistry and the manufacturing, they're just as important.

And by the way, one of the reasons I'm now in the investor seat is because I realized from my time in Moderna how critical it is to understand the language of investors and the expectations that they have in order to align across this mission to be successful. So it is a multidisciplinary challenge and that's not gonna change. We'll be able to make it more efficient.

And by the way, one of the reasons I'm now in the investor seat is because I realized from my time in Moderna how critical it is to understand the language of investors and the expectations that they have in order to align across this mission to be successful. So it is a multidisciplinary challenge and that's not gonna change. We'll be able to make it more efficient.

Yes, these tools are already making an impact in drug discovery. And as we integrate and have better and better ways of looking at human data, I think it will also make a dent in development. But it's interesting to sit back and figure out, well, how can we actually radically change it? And I don't know that I have a good answer, although I'm trying.

Yes, these tools are already making an impact in drug discovery. And as we integrate and have better and better ways of looking at human data, I think it will also make a dent in development. But it's interesting to sit back and figure out, well, how can we actually radically change it? And I don't know that I have a good answer, although I'm trying.