Esther Dyson

Term Limits for an Infinite Age: Esther Dyson & Unity Stoakes on Abundance, Power, and Staying Human in an Age of AI



In this special year-end episode, StartUp Health Co-founder Unity Stoakes has an intimate chat with Esther Dyson –  investor, thinker, and StartUp Health Impact Board member – about her upcoming book on term limits, the dangers of abundance, and how to protect our humanity in a world of superintelligent tools.

Esther draws on decades in tech, health, and philanthropy to ask uncomfortable questions about power, valuation, and why “too much” rarely serves us. Along the way, she shares stories from Wellville, her unconventional life adventures, and the teachers and caregivers who shaped her more than any Nobel Prize winner.

In this wide ranging conversation, they dig into:

  • Why human finitude and term limits can be a source of comfort, not fear

  • How ultra-processed food, content, and money distort our “fitness functions”

  • What the current AI bubble reveals about power, inequality, and attention

  • Why AI should augment doctors, and why nurses and caregivers are irreplaceable

  • How to think about education, theory of mind, and “theory of business mind”

  • Esther’s practical career advice: always make new mistakes, and never do work you would not do for free

This is a must listen for founders, investors, and curious humans who want to navigate the age of superintelligence with more wisdom, more agency, and a clearer sense of “enough.”

Join us at Apollo House at JPM Healthcare Week in January to continue the conversation.


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