So begins the journey into the development phase of Longevity Assistant. But the adventure started earlier.
Longevity Assistant is the genesis of two worlds colliding.
My professional world as an actuary and my personal world as I watched my wife battle through a health crisis with the fierceness of an Amazonian warrior.
Actuaries study life, death, sickness, and I've encountered all three in my training and in my career. A lot the actuary's focus is "what could go wrong?" And in my experience of studying and preparing for worst case scenarios, I had something lingering in my brain. "What could go right?" Instead of studying forces of decay or degeneration, what is the opposite? Forces of renewal or regeneration? I started paying attention to the compliments of the probabilities and drivers of hazards.
Then my wife got sick. Like real sick. But the illness is not the story. The real story is that she got better. And by a large degree without medicine. And in this adventure, we have opened our eyes to the power and effectiveness of some really basic stuff that has amazing effects.
When this contest came out, it had the perfect timing. I had accumulated a lot of knowledge about what can help you live longer. But the contest needed something new. And many of the most effective ideas are already out there. But yet, we aren't doing them. So I decided we didn't need something else to do, but a tool to help us do those things. Hence Longevity Assistant.
First, I needed a teaser video:
Then I did a phone interview with the judges:
- Jean-Marc Fix, FSA, MAAA
- Jenny Haid, FSA
- Al Klein, FSA, MAAA
Then, I did a presentation in front of a live audience, who then voted alongside the judges.
My post contest interview with the SOA is available here.