Fat Fix

There’s a simple cure for the obesity problem in the US. The government should offer a $100B prize to the first company (or person) to develop a weight control solution that meets the following three characteristics:

1)    The cure has a fatality rate no higher than the fatality rate for obesity. That is, if obesity kills X people per year, this cure would have to kill some number less than X per year

2)    The cure may not involve exercise

3)    The cure may not include diet

In other words, the cure needs to be entirely metabolic, not behavioral. In the simplest conceptual form, there would be a pill that you could take. If you want to weigh less, you take more pills. If you want to weigh more, take fewer pills. At some point you will find the equilibrium level that will produce the weight you want, given all of the other circumstances in your life.

Exercise and diet may be used as ACCELERANTS for someone who wants to lose weight faster, but the cure has to work entirely without them.

I don’t have the slightest doubt that this is technologically achievable. Unfortunately, I’m almost certain it isn’t politically achievable.