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The Problem:
The phenomenon has been well documented, hyperbolic discounting is the human tendency to prefer smaller payoffs now over larger payoffs later, which leads one to largely disregard the future when it requires sacrifices in the present.
"Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we may die." It's an appealing philosophy to some, but for an average person in the modern world, on any given day we are roughly 26,000 times more likely to be wrong than right about tomorrow's survivability. More often than not, one must answer for all reckless consumption and merriment; yet most of us continue to make choices which are detrimental to our futures.
Our Solution:
We believe that a behavioural change intervention, at a social-network level, is required if we are to calm our rate of consumption to manageable levels.
We have leveraged behavioural economics techniques from the evidence based, Road Safety Average Speed Camera Intervention to allow people to self-select themselves to a programme of social surveillance, using wearable devices to remotely compete in games of discipline against friends and family, and by so doing maintain target behaviours that reduce consumption rates or increase activity levels to compensate for consumption rates.
Why Now:
The explosion of sensors we are witnessing today is spurring innovation across industry due to their effectiveness of price point, innovation in what can be measured, and the existence of ubiquitous networks to allow the aggregation of that data.
For the first time we have the technology to monitor and validate adherence to target behaviour remotely. Nowhere is that more important than in the health and wellbeing space, where the world faces epic challenges coming from an aging population, a centralised health system that is straining to scale to current demands, and growing health concerns due to obesity and diabetes.