Speaker

Jason Karp, Founder and CEO of HumanCo

Context: Jason Karp has been on a 20 year adventure of healing his own body and channeling that passion into building companies and movements to change how healthcare is understood.   For the Arena Hall community, he developed a 20 minute TED talk to lay out what he sees as the biggest, existential threats to our bodies, the planet, and the universe.

Bio: Jason H. Karp, a Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania graduate with a B.S. in Economics, has an extensive background in both finance and entrepreneurship. He spent over two decades in the hedge fund industry, serving as Founder, CEO, and CIO of Tourbillon Capital Partners, managing over $4 billion. Before founding HumanCo, he co-founded Hu, a rapidly growing snacking company in the U.S., which was acquired by Mondelez International in January 2021. Beyond his business endeavors, Jason is deeply committed to promoting healthier living and sustainability. He is the Founder and CEO of HumanCo, a mission-driven holding company that invests in and nurtures brands with similar values.

Summary

We are living in the age of playing God - and to our dismay, utterly failing.

The modern paradigm of health paints a stark picture of crisis, revealing cracks in the foundation of our societal systems. It seems that our map of reality which we believed to have been working during the last 50 years of rapid technological and societal change has left us broken. In the attempt to revolutionize humanity with the aim of efficiency and scale, it would seem that humanity is being lost in the process. A profound reassessment of our relationship with the Earth, as well as with each other as humans, is urgently needed to rectify our relationship with food and health.

Big Ideas:

• When an estimated 45 to 78 million people perish as a result of a seemingly unobtrusive  misassessment and alteration of a natural ecosystem in Moaist China in which 100 million sparrows were killed, profound questions arise regarding the extent to which human intervention can destabilize the complex adaptive systems inherent in nature.
• We have largely overlooked the complexities of nature. Today, our attempts to play God have led us to underestimate the consequences of even slight alterations to natural variables, harming the delicate balance and cycles of nature as a whole.
• When individual productivity is the paramount concern, devoid of health implications, one inevitably becomes the cautionary tale that is a microcosm of humanity as a whole. Namely, by disregarding human health for human productivity, our society is ever-rapidly heading down a path of growing health crisis.
• There is a striking correlation among indigenous populations and their blue zones scattered all throughout the world who experience none of the ailments and diseases afflicting populations in more urban developments. The common factor among these indigenous groups is clear - they live and derive everything from the Earth directly. 
• Dramatically cleaning up one’s diet has the powerful potential to eradicate seemingly incurable diseases. Instead of treating the symptoms, we must begin to treat the root causes.
• We have become disconnected from what makes us human. In the attempt to beat everything with pure intellect and science, we are losing to other modern countries who do not place value on intellect and science to the point of detriment. While this altering of outlook on the part of the health industry requires substantial change, it should give us hope that there are other countries who are competently handling the balance of science and natural laws.
• We cannot fight nature, neither can we fight God; however, we can work with science to help. There are many ways in which we can begin to figure out our health. Regenerative farming, spending more time with loved ones, and appreciating our organs by treating them correctly are just a few ways in which we can begin to take back our health.
• There is a correct balance between advancement and maintaining that which makes us human. The company Monsanto is a great example of the importance of making a balanced approach - and the consequences of not doing so. While their product Roundup, a glyphosate-based herbicide, helped to successfully eradicate weeds and increase crop yields, it nonetheless was found to poison people. In the spirit of optimism, I believe it is entirely possible to create a solution that is both advancing humanity while also simultaneously protecting humanity. This process may be slower initially, but it will produce radically positive outcomes.
• Food lobbying in the United States is drastically harming the general populace in exchange for larger profit shares. Take Kellogg’s Froot Loops for example. The artificial flavoring and preservatives in Fruit Loops requires a warning label in Europe, Canada, and Australia and are banned because of their scientifically-validated harmful effects. Because of U.S. food lobbying, however, this product is being pushed to the youth without any warning domestically. What is even worse, is that the naturally flavored Froot Loops sold to Europe, Canada, and Australia are made in the U.S. Imagine that! Healthier versions of the terribly unhealthy cereal children are eating here in the United States are being made and sold right here at home to be shipped across our border. Why can’t Americans have the better version already being made? This issue is a large one that needs to be addressed.
• In order to change the dialogue with regards to the strain between health and profits, there needs to be both a top-down and bottom-up approach. The top-down is with regulation. There needs to be regulation to stop allowing people to get poisoned. That’s neither a left or right issue. The bottom-up approach is arguably even more important. This approach is predicated on the belief that if the consumers vote with their wallet, things will change. 
• The grass-fed milk example is exemplary of the belief that the wallet can dictate effective change within the health world. 15 years ago, if one wanted to buy grass-fed milk you most likely had to go to a farmer’s market and pay upwards of 400% of regular milk prices. This price and availability, however, has drastically changed since then. Now, grass-fed milk can be found in grocery stores all over the United States. What was once 400% of the price of normal milk, now has become only 40-50%. This is evidence of a change in outlook on food on the part of the consumer. If we can create a culture of appreciation for better food, then the wallet will continue its march towards healthier living practices. 
• With regards to diet, the closer to the Earth the better. The more processed food one eats, the more distantly removed they make themselves from the natural way in which food was meant to be derived. If we are to become more connected with the Earth again, then we must first become conscious of what we are putting into our bodies.
• It’s encouraging to see that people are beginning to wake up to the present reality of who we are as humans. Individuals are starting to realize that we require a deep connection to each other and the Earth, and that the further removed we are from those two things, the more we believe that we can solve everything with mere coding and machinery. This line of thinking, however, inevitably leads us to view everything as objects that are completely disconnected from us. This, as mentioned above, is antithetical to everything that humans are wired to be. The sooner we get back to an understanding of our interconnectedness with the Earth and each other, the sooner we can begin to heal and thrive.
• Everyone can make a difference. Whatever task you are engaged in, when faced with the decision to prioritize profit over people, don’t do that. Choose people; you can accomplish both. Change occurs as individuals adopt this approach one by one. While it may sound evangelistic, its truth is undeniable.

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