MIKE SINN

ABOUT ME,
UNFORTUNATELY

SOFTWARE ENGINEER & ECONOMIST & INSANE PERSON WHO WANTS TO REDIRECT 1% OF GLOBAL MILITARY SPENDING TO PRAGMATIC CLINICAL TRIALS

VERY CONCERNED ABOUT HOW HUMANITY SPENDS 40 TIMES MORE ON WAR THAN CURING DISEASE. TRYING TO CHANGE THIS WITH SPREADSHEETS AND ECONOMIC MODELS.

I BUILT A DECENTRALIZED FDA PLATFORM THAT PUBLISHED OVER 50,000 CAUSAL INFERENCE STUDIES ON THE EFFECTS OF FOODS, DRUGS, AND SUPPLEMENTS ON HUMAN HEALTH.

THE MILITARY-INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX REMAINS UNBOTHERED. CHRONIC ILLNESS REMAINS UNRESOLVED.

BY THE NUMBERS

I'VE TRACKED THESE METRICS BECAUSE THAT'S WHAT DATA PEOPLE DO. WE COUNT THINGS. IT'S VERY SATISFYING. WHETHER IT'S HELPFUL IS A SEPARATE QUESTION.

1.7B
PEOPLE WITH CHRONIC DISEASE
TARGET POPULATION FOR OUR RESEARCH
10M+
DATA POINTS ANALYZED
HEALTH DATA FROM 100+ SOURCES
1000+
FACTORS STUDIED
FOODS, DRUGS, SUPPLEMENTS & MORE
7+
ACTIVE PROJECTS
OPEN-SOURCE PLATFORMS & RESEARCH

THE SITUATION

THE PROBLEM

1.7 BILLION PEOPLE HAVE CHRONIC DISEASES.

I HAVE GENERATED 50,000+ STUDIES ABOUT IT.

WE ARE NOT SOLVING THIS AT THE SAME RATE.

AN APPROACH

BUILD PLATFORMS THAT AGGREGATE HEALTH DATA FROM MILLIONS OF PEOPLE TO DISCOVER WHAT ACTUALLY HELPS.

THIS IS A BIT LIKE TRYING TO SOLVE WORLD HUNGER BY CREATING A REALLY THOROUGH SPREADSHEET OF EVERYONE WHO'S HUNGRY.

IN THEORY IT HELPS. IN PRACTICE, THE SPREADSHEET IS NOW VERY LARGE.

WHAT I'VE ACTUALLY BUILT

THE PLATFORM

I'VE PUBLISHED OVER 50,000 CAUSAL INFERENCE STUDIES. LIKE, MORE THAN ANYONE ELSE IN THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD.

THE SECRET IS NOT HAVING ANY FRIENDS AND NEGLECTING YOUR FAMILY.

I'VE GENERATED META-ANALYSES FOR 90%+ OF CONDITION/TREATMENT PAIRS.

I'VE CREATED TREATMENT RANKINGS FOR 100+ CONDITIONS.

I'VE AGGREGATED 14 MILLION DATA POINTS FROM THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE.

THE REALITY CHECK:

  • CHRONIC ILLNESS IS STILL HERE
  • 1.16 QUADRILLION COMBINATIONS REMAIN UNTESTED
  • WHEN I MENTION THIS AT PARTIES, PEOPLE SUDDENLY REMEMBER THEY NEED TO CHECK ON THEIR CAR

THE INSTRUCTION MANUAL FOR HUMANITY

AN ALIEN NAMED WISHONIA HAS BEEN WATCHING YOUR PLANET SINCE 1945 AND IS VERY CONCERNED. I HELPED IT WRITE AN INSTRUCTION MANUAL EXPLAINING HOW TO STOP SPENDING 40X MORE ON SKYNET THAN ON CURING THE DISEASES THAT ARE DISSOLVING YOU.

IT IS NOW AVAILABLE ON AMAZON IN KINDLE AND PAPERBACK. THE ALIEN DID THE THINKING. I DID THE TYPING. IT HAS NOT YET BEEN NOMINATED FOR ANY MAJOR AWARDS.

THINK BY NUMBERS

DATA-DRIVEN PUBLIC POLICY ANALYSIS. 2M+ VISITORS. ARTICLES INCLUDE "DOES GUN CONTROL REDUCE VIOLENT CRIME?" AND "WHY DRUG PROHIBITION INCREASES VIOLENCE."

THE POLICY REMAINS LARGELY UNCHANGED. BUT THE CHARTS ARE QUITE COMPELLING.

FORESIGHT INSTITUTE FELLOWSHIP

I'M A FORESIGHT INSTITUTE FELLOW. THIS IS A REAL THING. THEY STUDY "EXISTENTIAL HOPE," WHICH IS ALSO A REAL ACADEMIC TERM.

I PRESENTED "THE PROSPERA FDA" AT THE 2022 LONGEVITY WORKSHOP. THE PRESENTATION WENT WELL. THE FDA REMAINS UNCHANGED.

WANT THE FORMAL STUFF?

TECHNICAL SKILLS, YEARS OF EXPERIENCE, EDUCATION, ALL THAT.

SELECTED WORKING PAPERS

I BUILD FORMAL ECONOMIC MODELS. THIS REQUIRES SPREADSHEETS, GREEK LETTERS, AND A BELIEF THAT HUMAN BEHAVIOR CAN BE CAPTURED IN EQUATIONS. I AM ACTIVELY LOOKING FOR CONTRIBUTORS TO REVIEW THESE MODELS. YOU CAN LEAVE COMMENTS INLINE DIRECTLY ON THE PAPERS.

HOW TO END WAR AND DISEASE
Non-fiction, Public Policy, Health Economics, Peace Studies

HOW TO END WAR AND DISEASE

GET 443 YEARS OF CLINICAL RESEARCH DONE IN 39, AVOID THE APOCALYPSE, AND MAKE HUMANITY FILTHY RICH THROUGH THE MAGIC OF LEGAL BRIBERY

THE 1% TREATY: HARNESSING GREED TO ERADICATE DISEASE
Non-fiction, Public Policy, Health Economics, Peace Studies

THE 1% TREATY: HARNESSING GREED TO ERADICATE DISEASE

6.65 THOUSAND DISEASES HAVE ZERO FDA-APPROVED TREATMENTS; AT CURRENT TRIAL CAPACITY, EXPLORING THEM TAKES ~443 YEARS. REDIRECTING 1% OF MILITARY SPENDING SCALES CAPACITY 12.3X, CUTTING THE TIMELINE TO ~36 YEARS AND PREVENTING 10.7 BILLION DEATHS. AT $0.0018/DALY, 50.3KX MORE COST-EFFECTIVE THAN THE BEST EXISTING INTERVENTIONS. INCENTIVE ALIGNMENT BONDS MAKE ADOPTION POLITICALLY VIABLE.

INCENTIVE ALIGNMENT BONDS: MAKING PUBLIC GOODS FINANCIALLY AND POLITICALLY PROFITABLE
Academic Paper, Political Economy, Mechanism Design, Public Policy

INCENTIVE ALIGNMENT BONDS: MAKING PUBLIC GOODS FINANCIALLY AND POLITICALLY PROFITABLE

GOVERNMENT SPENDING IS OPTIMIZED FOR LOBBYING INTENSITY, NOT NET SOCIETAL VALUE. PROGRAMS WITH 100:1 BENEFIT-COST RATIOS GET BILLIONS WHILE PROGRAMS WITH NEGATIVE RETURNS GET HUNDREDS OF BILLIONS. INCENTIVE ALIGNMENT BONDS FLIP THIS BY CREATING A CAPITAL POOL THAT REWARDS POLITICIANS (VIA CAMPAIGN SUPPORT AND POST-OFFICE OPPORTUNITIES) FOR FUNDING HIGH-NSV PROGRAMS OVER LOW-NSV ALTERNATIVES. THE RESULT: PUBLIC GOOD BECOMES PRIVATE PROFIT FOR BOTH INVESTORS AND ELECTED OFFICIALS.

WISHOCRACY: SOLVING THE DEMOCRATIC PRINCIPAL-AGENT PROBLEM THROUGH PAIRWISE PREFERENCE AGGREGATION
Academic Paper, Public Policy, Political Science

WISHOCRACY: SOLVING THE DEMOCRATIC PRINCIPAL-AGENT PROBLEM THROUGH PAIRWISE PREFERENCE AGGREGATION

REPRESENTATIVE DEMOCRACY SUFFERS FROM AN INESCAPABLE PRINCIPAL-AGENT PROBLEM WHERE ELECTED OFFICIALS' INCENTIVES DIVERGE FROM CITIZEN WELFARE. WISHOCRACY INTRODUCES RAPPA (RANDOMIZED AGGREGATED PAIRWISE PREFERENCE ALLOCATION), WHICH AGGREGATES CITIZEN PREFERENCES THROUGH COGNITIVELY TRACTABLE PAIRWISE COMPARISONS AND CREATES ACCOUNTABILITY VIA CITIZEN ALIGNMENT SCORES THAT CHANNEL ELECTORAL RESOURCES TOWARD POLITICIANS WHO ACTUALLY REPRESENT WHAT CITIZENS WANT.

THE PRICE OF POLITICAL CHANGE: A COST-BENEFIT FRAMEWORK FOR POLICY INCENTIVIZATION
Academic Paper, Political Economy, Mechanism Design, Public Policy

THE PRICE OF POLITICAL CHANGE: A COST-BENEFIT FRAMEWORK FOR POLICY INCENTIVIZATION

WHAT'S THE MAXIMUM COST TO ACHIEVE ANY POLICY CHANGE THROUGH LEGAL DEMOCRATIC CHANNELS? $25B FOR THE US, $200B GLOBALLY. FOR HIGH-VALUE REFORMS LIKE MILITARY-TO-HEALTH REALLOCATION, THIS YIELDS ROI EXCEEDING 400,000:1.

UBIQUITOUS PRAGMATIC TRIAL IMPACT ANALYSIS: HOW TO PREVENT A YEAR OF DEATH AND SUFFERING FOR 84 CENTS
Academic Paper, Health Economics, Policy Analysis

UBIQUITOUS PRAGMATIC TRIAL IMPACT ANALYSIS: HOW TO PREVENT A YEAR OF DEATH AND SUFFERING FOR 84 CENTS

ONLY 15 DISEASES/YEAR GET THEIR FIRST TREATMENT EACH YEAR. WITH 6.65 THOUSAND DISEASES LACKING EFFECTIVE TREATMENTS, THE BACKLOG WOULD TAKE 443 YEARS TO CLEAR. INTEGRATING PRAGMATIC TRIALS INTO STANDARD HEALTHCARE INCREASES TRIAL CAPACITY 12.3X, CUTTING THAT TIMELINE FROM 443 YEARS TO 36 YEARS. THE AVERAGE UNTREATED DISEASE GETS A TREATMENT 212 YEARS EARLIER, SAVING 10.7 BILLION DEATHS AT $0.842 PER YEAR OF HEALTHY LIFE SAVED.

THE CONTINUOUS EVIDENCE GENERATION PROTOCOL: TWO-STAGE VALIDATION (RWE → PRAGMATIC TRIALS)
Academic Paper, Medical Research, Methodology

THE CONTINUOUS EVIDENCE GENERATION PROTOCOL: TWO-STAGE VALIDATION (RWE → PRAGMATIC TRIALS)

WE PRESENT THE PREDICTOR IMPACT SCORE (PIS), A NOVEL COMPOSITE METRIC OPERATIONALIZING BRADFORD HILL CAUSALITY CRITERIA FOR AUTOMATED SIGNAL DETECTION FROM AGGREGATED N-OF-1 OBSERVATIONAL STUDIES. COMBINED WITH PRAGMATIC TRIAL CONFIRMATION (BASED ON EVIDENCE FROM 108+ EMBEDDED TRIALS), THIS TWO-STAGE FRAMEWORK WOULD GENERATE VALIDATED OUTCOME LABELS AT 44.1X LOWER COST THAN TRADITIONAL PHASE III TRIALS. THIS ENABLES CONTINUOUS, POPULATION-SCALE PHARMACOVIGILANCE AND PRECISION DOSING RECOMMENDATIONS.

Non-fiction, Health Economics, Regulatory Analysis

DRUG DEVELOPMENT COST INCREASE ANALYSIS

RIGOROUS ANALYSIS OF THE 105X INCREASE IN DRUG DEVELOPMENT COSTS FROM PRE-1962 TO 2024, USING BAILY (1972) ACADEMIC STUDY WITH CPI ADJUSTMENTS AND SENSITIVITY ANALYSIS

THE INVISIBLE GRAVEYARD: QUANTIFYING THE MORTALITY COST OF FDA EFFICACY LAG
Academic Paper, Health Economics, Regulatory Policy, Public Health

THE INVISIBLE GRAVEYARD: QUANTIFYING THE MORTALITY COST OF FDA EFFICACY LAG

AFTER PROVING A DRUG IS SAFE, THE FDA REQUIRES 8.2 YEARS TO PROVE IT WORKS BEFORE PATIENTS CAN ACCESS IT. WE ESTIMATE THIS DELAY COST 102 MILLION DEATHS AMONG PEOPLE WAITING FOR APPROVED DRUGS (1962-2024). THE HUMAN COST IN DEATH AND DISABILITY OF BLOCKING GOOD DRUGS IS 3.07K:1 HIGHER THAN THE COST OF APPROVING BAD ONES.

THE OPTIMAL BUDGET GENERATOR: A CAUSAL INFERENCE PROTOCOL FOR MAXIMIZING MEDIAN HEALTH AND WEALTH THROUGH PUBLIC GOODS FUNDING
Academic Paper, Public Policy, Economics

THE OPTIMAL BUDGET GENERATOR: A CAUSAL INFERENCE PROTOCOL FOR MAXIMIZING MEDIAN HEALTH AND WEALTH THROUGH PUBLIC GOODS FUNDING

THE OPTIMAL BUDGET GENERATOR (OBG) USES CAUSAL INFERENCE, DIMINISHING RETURNS MODELING, AND COST-EFFECTIVENESS EVIDENCE TO DETERMINE OPTIMAL PUBLIC GOODS FUNDING LEVELS THAT MAXIMIZE TWO WELFARE METRICS: REAL AFTER-TAX MEDIAN INCOME GROWTH AND MEDIAN HEALTHY LIFE YEARS. FOR EACH SPENDING CATEGORY, OBG ESTIMATES AN OPTIMAL SPENDING LEVEL (OSL) AND PRODUCES A GAP ANALYSIS SHOWING WHERE CURRENT GOVERNMENT BUDGETS ARE OVER- OR UNDERFUNDED RELATIVE TO EVIDENCE-BASED BENCHMARKS. THE BUDGET IMPACT SCORE (BIS) MEASURES CONFIDENCE IN EACH RECOMMENDATION BASED ON THE QUALITY OF CAUSAL EVIDENCE.

THE OPTIMAL POLICY GENERATOR: A CAUSAL INFERENCE PROTOCOL FOR MAXIMIZING MEDIAN HEALTH AND WEALTH THROUGH PUBLIC POLICY
Academic Paper, Public Policy, Political Science

THE OPTIMAL POLICY GENERATOR: A CAUSAL INFERENCE PROTOCOL FOR MAXIMIZING MEDIAN HEALTH AND WEALTH THROUGH PUBLIC POLICY

THE OPTIMAL POLICY GENERATOR (OPG) PRODUCES SYSTEMATIC PUBLIC POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS FOR JURISDICTIONS AT ANY LEVEL (COUNTRY, STATE, CITY), GENERATING PRIORITIZED ENACT/REPLACE/REPEAL/MAINTAIN RECOMMENDATIONS TO MAXIMIZE REAL AFTER-TAX MEDIAN INCOME GROWTH AND MEDIAN HEALTHY LIFE YEARS, BASED ON QUASI-EXPERIMENTAL EVIDENCE FROM CENTURIES OF POLICY VARIATION DATA.

OPTIMOCRACY: CAUSAL INFERENCE ON CROSS-JURISDICTIONAL POLICY DATA TO MAXIMIZE MEDIAN HEALTH AND WEALTH
Academic Paper, Public Policy, Political Science, Economics

OPTIMOCRACY: CAUSAL INFERENCE ON CROSS-JURISDICTIONAL POLICY DATA TO MAXIMIZE MEDIAN HEALTH AND WEALTH

THOUSANDS OF JURISDICTIONS HAVE MADE DIFFERENT POLICY AND BUDGET CHOICES OVER DECADES, CREATING A NATURAL EXPERIMENT. OPTIMOCRACY APPLIES CAUSAL INFERENCE TO THIS CROSS-JURISDICTIONAL TIME-SERIES DATA TO IDENTIFY WHICH POLICIES PREDICT ABOVE-AVERAGE MEDIAN INCOME AND HEALTHY LIFE YEARS. IT THEN PUBLISHES EVIDENCE-BASED RECOMMENDATIONS FOR EVERY MAJOR VOTE, TRACKS POLITICIAN ALIGNMENT, AND FUNDS ALIGNED CANDIDATES VIA SUPERPAC, MAKING SUBOPTIMAL POLICY POLITICALLY EXPENSIVE WHILE PRESERVING DEMOCRATIC STRUCTURES.

THE POLITICAL DYSFUNCTION TAX
Academic Paper, Public Policy, Political Science, Economics

THE POLITICAL DYSFUNCTION TAX

QUANTIFYING THE GAP BETWEEN CURRENT GLOBAL GOVERNANCE AND THEORETICAL MAXIMUM WELFARE, ESTIMATING A 31-53% EFFICIENCY SCORE AND $97 TRILLION IN ANNUAL OPPORTUNITY COSTS.

RIGHT TO TRIAL & FDA UPGRADE ACT
Legislative Text, Public Policy, Healthcare Reform

RIGHT TO TRIAL & FDA UPGRADE ACT

ACT TO MODERNIZE MEDICAL RESEARCH AND TREATMENT ACCESS THROUGH AN OPEN-SOURCE FDA.GOV V2, GIVING PATIENTS THE RIGHT TO PARTICIPATE IN TRIALS.

UNITED STATES EFFICIENCY AUDIT
Academic Paper, Public Policy, Economics, Systems Engineering

UNITED STATES EFFICIENCY AUDIT

SYSTEMS AUDIT ESTIMATING AN ANNUAL U.S. EFFICIENCY GAP OF $4.90T, WITH $2.45T RECOVERABLE AT OECD-MEDIAN PERFORMANCE ACROSS DIRECT SPENDING WASTE, COMPLIANCE BURDEN, POLICY-INDUCED GDP LOSS, AND SYSTEM INEFFICIENCY.

A BRIEF HISTORY OF
QUESTIONABLE DECISIONS

Optomitron
CAUSAL INFERENCE

Optomitron

An open-source platform that uses causal inference to figure out which policies actually save lives instead of just sounding good at press conferences. Analyzed 11 natural experiments and 14 policy areas across 50+ years. Found that Singapore gets better health outcomes at 4.1% GDP while the US spends 17.3% and somehow does worse. Portugal decriminalized drugs and deaths dropped 94%. Norway rehabilitates prisoners and recidivism dropped to 20% vs America's 76%. All of this data is freely available. Policymakers remain committed to vibes-based governance.

Decentralized FDA
REGULATORY DELUSION

Decentralized FDA

A system optimized for saving lives rather than avoiding lawsuits. 50,000+ observational studies analyzed. Meta-analyses for 90%+ of condition-treatment pairs. Treatment rankings for 100+ conditions. The current FDA approval process takes 10+ years and costs $2.6B per drug. During that time, between 11,000 and 115,000 people die who could have been saved if the drug had been approved immediately. There are roughly 1.16 quadrillion possible drug combinations we haven't tested. At the current pace, we'll finish testing them all in approximately never. The dFDA could accelerate clinical discovery by 80X. Which, if my math is correct, means we could map the entire space of possible treatments in about 45 minutes.

Wishocracy
GOVERNANCE MATH

Wishocracy

A governance mechanism called RAPPA that decomposes impossible budget decisions into simple pairwise slider comparisons. You spend 5-10 minutes doing ~20 comparisons. The eigenvector math does the rest. The US spends $886B on military vs $47B on NIH despite medical research having a 45:1 benefit-cost ratio vs military's 0.7:1. When Porto Alegre let citizens set priorities, water access went from 75% to 98% and schools quadrupled. Taiwan used pairwise comparison tools to resolve a 4-year regulatory deadlock. The math works. The political will remains theoretical.

How to End War and Disease
BOOK

How to End War and Disease

I helped an alien named WISHONIA write an instruction manual for humanity about how to stop spending 40x more on building Skynet than on curing the diseases that are dissolving you. The alien has been watching your planet since 1945 and is very concerned. Available on Amazon in Kindle and paperback.

Global Survey on the 1% Treaty
OPTIMISTIC SPREADSHEETS

Global Survey on the 1% Treaty

Redirect 1% of global military spending to health research. Save 416 million lives. 700× more effective than current spending. I sent this proposal to everyone with the power to implement it. They have enthusiastically ignored me. When your last name is Sinn, you take validation wherever you can find it.

Think by Numbers
SHOUTING INTO VOID

Think by Numbers

Data-driven policy analysis. Articles like 'The War on Drugs Increases Drug Deaths' and 'We Spend More on Corporate Welfare Than Social Welfare.' 2 million people read these. The policy remains exactly the same. But I made some really compelling charts and I stand by them.

CureDAO
DAO

CureDAO

A DAO focused on clinical research. That's a lot of technical jargon, so let me translate: imagine if Wikipedia and a clinical trial had a baby that was raised by blockchain. The result is a platform where anyone can contribute to medical research without needing permission from a committee of very tired people in lab coats.

Wishonia
AI EXPERIMENT

Wishonia

An autonomous agent platform where AI tries to solve global problems. The agents are very enthusiastic. Their success rate is still being calculated. But they never sleep and they never complain, which is more than I can say for myself.

Decentralized Institutes of Health
PLATFORM

Decentralized Institutes of Health

A hub for digital health intelligence. At some point I decided that having multiple platforms was a good idea. The jury is still out on this decision.

The Plutonium Kidz
MUSIC (LOOSELY DEFINED)

The Plutonium Kidz

The Plutonium Kidz were born of a secret government program involving the testing of plutonium exposure on human subjects. Through these experiments three normal children were thus transformed into the Plutonium Kidz! The government program, regrettably, remains classified.

QuantiModo
HUBRIS

QuantiModo

I built a platform to analyze what affects human health. 14 million data points. Novel causal inference methodology. The entire thing is open source. Most people do not, in fact, want to know what affects their health. They want to eat chips and watch TV. Which is fair. I would also like to eat chips and watch TV. Instead I made this.

SKILLS (ORGANIZED BY HONESTY LEVEL)

HIGHLY CONFIDENT

  • SOFTWARE ENGINEERING
  • DATA ANALYSIS & VISUALIZATION
  • FULL-STACK DEVELOPMENT
  • DIGITAL HEALTH PLATFORMS
  • EXPLAINING COMPLEX SYSTEMS TO DISINTERESTED AUDIENCES

MODERATELY CONFIDENT

  • ECONOMIC MODELING
  • COST-BENEFIT ANALYSIS
  • MECHANISM DESIGN
  • CLINICAL RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
  • CHROME EXTENSION DEVELOPMENT

LISTED ON LINKEDIN FOR SOME REASON

  • DIGITAL MARKETING
  • MUSIC COMPOSITION & PRODUCTION
  • ANIMATION
  • PODCAST PRODUCTION
  • COMEDY (APPARENTLY)

QUESTIONABLE / SKILLS I'M WORKING ON

  • WORK-LIFE BALANCE
  • KNOWING WHEN TO STOP
  • FINISHING PROJECTS
  • RETIREMENT PLANNING

WANT TO
WORK WITH ME?