Jonah Probell

@naval See dropout @CathyTie debate the ethics of embryo gene editing with the Deputy Dean of Harvard Law. x.com/probell/status…

Technology will eventually have to drive human evolution (embryo selection, gene editing). Otherwise, our technology will evolve faster than our biology and lead to Paleolithic humans facing Neolithic stressors.

@HankGreelyLSJU @CohenProf Who will not have a voice are the children who will not survive preventable polygenic diseases that doctors might be prevented from preventing.

Could the bioethics "community" (wh/is as monolithic as "the world community") stop patients from voicing opinions even if it wanted to? I expect @CohenProf will do a very good & measured job, focusing on the risks to babies & the few situations w/clear benefits. But we'll see.

Will the bioethicist community allow patients to voice an opinion? What about the 83% of the public who said "yes" to the @royalsociety UK survey? What about progressive scientists like @geochurch and public voices like @JamieMetzl, @HankGreelyLSJU, @NitaFarahany, and @juliansavulescu?

SCIENCE vs SOCIAL SCIENCE Should parents be allowed to fix debilitating genetic diseases in embryos pre-birth? @CathyTie of @OriginGenomics to debate Deputy Dean of Harvard Law. The 2026 Scopes Monkey Trial. April 23 | 6 PM ET | Free livestream tinyurl.com/5avm5yyz

Zippers are the unsung heros of accessible and respectable fashion. A new essay. open.substack.com/pub/probell/p/…

It took some years from when IVF was first developed until so many parents recognized the joy it can brings. We don't need to wait so long to protect that joy by preventing inherited diseases.

Hello world. Our first press release: businesswire.com/news/home/2026…

Duck out of YC Demo Day to grab a caffeinated drink with Lexi Ventures and the startups bringing on the genetic software revolution. No agenda. Just great coffee and networking. Tuesday, March 24 at 1:30 PM at Piccino in Dogpatch, SF. luma.com/m3o700ig

@HooverInst @CondoleezzaRice @LTGHRMcMaster @nfergus @JohnHCochrane In Iran, the Trump administration, not wanting the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud, delivered shock and awe but seems to have misunderestimated the unknown unknowns. Now the Pottery Barn rule is in effect. @nfergus

Missiles. Drones. Oil shocks. Hoover Director @CondoleezzaRice joins our Senior Fellows @LTGHRMcMaster, @nfergus, and @JohnHCochrane to break down the stakes in the Iran conflict. Watch the latest GoodFellows now:

@LexiVentures March Newsletter: * How great VC firms are made * Sequencing for less than 1 barrel of oil * More big deals lexiventures.substack.com/p/march-2026

Why do donors who buy a professor put their own name at the beginning of the professor's job title? It sounds weird. A name like Fido, Rover, or Spot would be fitting.

@nfergus Unfortunately, like Iraq, Iran is multi-ethnic. Eventually, either the IRGC will stabilize the country brutally or ethnic groups will fight each other as in Iraq. There's no vice supreme leader who will accept US terms like Delcy.

The real question is: Who rules in Tehran after Khamenei? Or, to put it bluntly, who’s the Iranian Delcy Rodriguez in this regime alteration? 6/9

For the habitual critics of U.S. foreign policy in general and Donald Trump’s in particular, the analogy between today’s air raids against Iran and the invasion of Iraq nearly 23 years ago is too obvious to be resisted. 1/9

@nfergus That is the same goal and expectation as the Bush administration. Reread his speeches from the time.

But Operation Epic Fury differs from Operation Iraqi Freedom. The goal is not to march into Iran and confer, much less impose, freedom on the Iranians. It is to decapitate the Islamic Republic’s political structure and leave the Iranians to take their freedom. 4/9

#VCs crushed it in #SaaS for 2 decades. AI is ending that. The same force is making #biotech the obvious next bet. * Larger margins * Higher barriers * Larger and faster growing markets * Inelastic demand * Faster exits * Genetic engineering Details: probell.substack.com/p/ai-is-eating…

The first 3 rules of writing. 1. Succinct sentences elucidate. 2. Writing with simple words and grammar gets the point across to the reader in a way that is easier to understand. 3. Simple sentences are clearest.

Hypotheses are rational. Intelligence makes hypotheses. Theories are empirical. Experience makes theories.

A good thing about doing a lot of writing is that it creates many future opportunities to look back and find something that was right.

Lexi Ventures February Newsletter: * Dog and cat DNA * Mixed signals at the FDA * Better judgement with AI lexiventures.substack.com/p/february-2026

Triskaidekaphilia #biotech coffee meetup All are welcome on 3/13 at 3:13, especially founders, entrepreneurs, scientists, and investors. Join @LexiVentures at Farley's Coffeehouse, Potrero Hill, SF luma.com/6svgpyh0

The United Nations fails to distinguish between sovereignty derived from the consent of the governed and sovereignty derived from the containment of the governed. By treating both as legally identical, the UN validates the ownership of the person by the state.