Posted on 05/31/2026 8:50:01 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
Sam Altman, the co-founder of OpenAI, which launched ChatGPT, is not overweight. Gay tech billionaires rarely are. Even so, as he explained in a recent interview, he was keen to try a GLP-1, one of those drugs that have revolutionised weight loss in the past five years. You can understand why he was curious. Ozempic or Mounjaro might appear to have nothing in common with artificial intelligence, but both phenomena have created a sensation that we’re entering an era of accelerating and uncontrollable change.
Alas, he screwed it up. He had someone inject him with a megadose, puked all night and then lay in bed for days ‘staring at a white ceiling thinking nothing’, not only feeling no urge to eat but also no ‘desire for anything’.
When I read that on X, I knew exactly how Altman felt, or didn’t feel. In a few months I’ve lost three stone on Mounjaro. Now, I’m aware that journalists’ accounts of their weight-loss journeys could qualify for the World Boring Championships imagined by the satirist Michael Wharton in his ‘Peter Simple’ Telegraph column (suggested topics: ‘A history of plywood’ and ‘Parking problems in Wolverhampton’). So I’ll keep it brief.
This is the second time my weight has dropped from 14 to 11 stone. The first time was when I was 20. Thanks to a diet supervised by my mother, for the only time in my life girls hit on ‘Porky’ Thompson; my popularity soared, which told me a lot about how intensely people dislike fatness, even if they don’t say so.
Four decades later, friends and colleagues scarcely notice – which speaks volumes about attitudes to old people; if they’re thinner, it will just make life easier for the pallbearers.
Never mind. Running for the bus is suddenly as easy as it was decades ago. But – and this is the key point – only on the rare occasions when I can be bothered to go anywhere. I could give Altman lessons in staring at ceilings thinking nothing. I can even out-stare my deaf white cat Moira, who spends hours scrutinising the same patch of wallpaper.
I’ve been a martyr to pathological laziness since I was in the pram. Like Donald Trump, I maintain that ‘talking is a form of exercise’ and leave it at that. From time to time I torment myself by reading the dust-jacket of a book published in 1996 – ‘the debut of a promising new writer’. That was me. The promise wasn’t fulfilled because if there’s one thing I can’t bear it’s writing.
To quote another American president: ‘They say hard work never killed anyone, but I figured: why take the chance?’ That was Reagan, who didn’t allow cabinet meetings to disturb his schedule of afternoon soap operas.
And then, late in life, I discovered Mounjaro. The weight fell off and I fell into bed. Several times a day. For the first time ever, I lost interest in listening to music. Buying the 41-disc boxed set of remastered Antal Dorati Haydn recordings was no problem: Amazon’s one-click purchasing works perfectly well from a horizontal position. Listening to them? Some other time.
I asked my friend Dr Max Pemberton, an NHS psychiatrist who is also a writer of genius, what was going on. ‘It makes perfect sense to me,’ he said. Max knows that I have a long history of addiction to alcohol and psychotropic prescription drugs.
I haven’t touched the former since 1994, and the latter since… well, if I’m being honest, about eight o’clock this morning, when I started writing this piece. But I’ll get to that shortly.
Max explained that GLP-1s have a profound effect on reward regions of the brain that goes far beyond suppressing appetite, and that this effect is likely to be magnified in someone like me whose neural reward pathways have been overstimulated for decades. Even the harmless thrill of listening to Haydn’s ‘Military’ symphony is reduced. Thankfully the music problem seems to have sorted itself out, but the enhanced laziness still dogs me. It’s a miracle I can be bothered to write these words – and that miracle, I’m embarrassed to admit, comes in the form of a lozenge-shaped pill.
Modafinil is a stimulant drug that increases dopamine levels without the adverse effects of classical stimulants such as amphetamine or cocaine. What it does do is increase motivation and powers of concentration as reliably as Mounjaro reduces ‘food noise’. This one did work for Altman. ‘Man, do you get a productivity boost,’ he told an interviewer.
Since Silicon Valley is awash with modafinil and other cognitive enhancers, it’s likely that the accelerated development of artificial intelligence has been boosted by these drugs. There’s no way of proving that, of course. But what we do know is that there’s a blossoming relationship between AI and the development of drugs which affect mood, perception and behaviour. According to Scientific American, ‘researchers have used the protein-structure-prediction tool AlphaFold to identify hundreds of thousands of potential new psychedelic molecules which could help develop new kinds of antidepressants’. But why should they stop at antidepressants?
Let the cognitive games begin. Or, in my case, wind down. The dopamine produced by my 200mg of modafinil is fast running out. It’s time to drag my slim body back to the bedroom, where there’s a deliciously empty white ceiling waiting to be stared at.
He’s a good conversationalist. I don’t mind his voice in my head. I too have considered using such drugs for obesity, but besides the constant nausea I felt those weeks during my Ozempic experiment, I did wonder if I would lose the easy ability to enjoy aspects of life.Not everything is about physical survival. That’s only a part of Man’s requirements.
Think of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.
The Five Tiers of the Pyramid.
1. Physiologic Needs; Air, Food, Shelter, Clothing and Warmth.
2. Safety Needs; Personal security, financial security, protection from injury.
3. Love & Belonging Needs: Friendship, romance, being accepted as part of a community.
4. Esteem Needs: Self confidence, achievement, recognition.
5. Self Actualization Needs: Personal growth, pursing creative passions, self fulfillment and peak experiences.
,,, I read the entire article but the thought of using a bus and having a cat shut me down instantly. The move to soylent green is just around the corner, I’m certain. Paint your ceilings.
I have been on 15 ml of Mounjaro (the maximum dose) for several years, since it first came out. Lost 60 pounds. Diabetes improved dramatically. Other than the risk of nausea about 24 hours after taking it (which can be completely avoided by reducing the amount you eat to very little from about 12 hours to 24 hours after taking your weekly shot), I have had no side effects. Certainly nothing like those mentioned in this article.
The bottom line is so far, its vastly improved my life.
That’s great! Glad that it’s working for you.
You are proof that what is described in this article does not necessarily happen to everyone.
“megadose”
METOO! Since retirement my weight has been a constant battle until I started taking an unbranded compound semi glutide because it was the cheapest alternative. I lost 30 lbs with no side effects. It sounds like Altman tried to skip the dose titration process which allows the body to adjust to the drug.
Absolutely fascinating article. I’ve always been an 18 hour a day work-a-holic, even retired. But I now take Rybelsus, a once a day pill that functions beautifully in place of the shots. Works the same way everyone is saying - lost weight, medical numbers became brilliant, feel like I’m a 30 year old again, and no side effects.
But I’ve also dead stopped creating. No music video making. No writing fan fic. No expanding my two websites. No major genealogy research. Now I spend all my awake time watching Chinese and Korean dramas and writing up reviews and ratings to appease my obsessive personality. Since I’ve never taken a stimulant thru liquor or thru pills, it never occurred to me to attach the major life change to the Rybelsus. Fascinating.
I tried the Mounjaro. On my next visit to the Dr. I asked if it was available in chocolate. :(
I started Mounjaro in 2024. The weekly cycle has become routine. I am restless the first day after the shot. Then there really isn’t anything else noticeable for the rest of the week. I’ve dropped about 60 pounds. My T2 Diabetes is lower, but still not “perfect.” I’ve also significantly changed my eating habits.
Keeping the weight off is still a struggle—as it has always been.
GLPs work. They have been around for a long time now. If your doctor suggests them, it’s worth looking into. Do they work for everyone? Nope.
But if you do decide to go onto one of these drugs, listen to the professionals. Don’t be a dope that think you can take shortcuts. Don’t “megadose.” You shouldn’t do that with ANY drug. It’s not a “mega dose”, its an overdose.
I find exercise and eating right is the best bet but many people want instant results with absolutely no input from themselves...they are incapable of putting forth any effort in support of their own health.
I have no problem with whatever self induced health problems they have.
I prefer this prescription: Zechariah 4:6
So he said to me,
“This is the word of the LORD {YHWH} to Zerubbabel (sown in Babylon):
Not by might nor by power,
but by My Spirit {Ruach}, says the LORD of Hosts [Armies].”
https://biblehub.com/zechariah/4-6.htm
Or a daily dose of Psalm 33:
16 No king is saved by the size of his army;
no warrior escapes by his great strength.
17 A horse is a vain hope for deliverance;
despite all its great strength it cannot save.
18 But the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear him,
on those whose hope is in his unfailing love,
19 to deliver them from death
and keep them alive in famine.
20 We wait in hope for the Lord;
he is our help and our shield.
21 In him our hearts rejoice,
for we trust in his holy name.
22 May your unfailing love be with us, Lord,
even as we put our hope in you.
The thing about losing weight by shot or pill is that the underlying problem still exists and will still need to be dealt with, that is, overeating and the reasons why we turn to food for comfort rather than the Holy Spirit, whose name actually is The Comforter.
The human race keeps trying to divorce sin from its consequences. It's why there are now birth control pills, abortifacients, and abortion; and why we now have a pharmaceutical ‘solution’ to the obesity and diabetes caused by food covetousness/idolatry. We have invented gums and patches and pills and vaping to deliver us from cigarette addiction, and we exchanged methadone for heroin. We have a vaccine for HPV and drugs to prolong the lives of AIDS sufferers. But an exchange is not a cure.
As it says in Psalm 107:
17 Some became fools through their rebellious ways
and suffered affliction because of their iniquities.
18 They loathed all food
and drew near the gates of death.
19 Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble,
and he saved them from their distress.
20 He sent out his word and healed them;
he rescued them from the grave.
21 Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love
and his wonderful deeds for mankind.
I retired in 2010... not obese in profile but a tad over the “allowable” military BMI.
A few years into the retired life I needed to change. I was on the road to Type II... full stop, I wasn’t going there.
Got educated and basically went on a diabetic meal plan (it is very healthy) cleaned up my numbers before they hit the “magic” wafarin numbers.
All total with diet AND exercise it took me 2 years to lose 40lbs. Acquaintances that I know were going on the drug plans that are available these days. And while it did work fir them and it worked pretty good, they were picking their weight back up only a short while after they discontinued the drug therapy.
I took that into account. And I knew the homework was not going to be easy but it was easier than I thought, and it really came down to cutting out simple carbs and a Physical Therapy approach to exercises as needed for my age, a lifetime of wear and tear.
Try Sativa
Maybe he shoulda just got some old timey black beauties. We had on old doctor in town, you could go tell him you wanted to lose weight, he would write a script for biphetimene 20, black beauties we called them.
Go back the next week and say, Doc, them pills are working perfectly but I have one problem, I cant sleep. BAM!!! He would write another script for qualudes!
True story, though it is over 50 years old.
Congrats.. you did it right !
I started intermittent fasting two Decembers ago. I am 5’ 9” and now 63. I was 230 pounds. My lifetime high.
I had to do something.
So, I started fasting Mondays and Thursdays.
Meaning, I do not eat from Sunday after dinner until Tuesday morning. I drink only NON caloric drinks. Nothing with any sugar in it.
Then I repeat that from Wednesday night until Friday morning.
I get moderate exercise. I walk a lunch some days. Just a couple miles around my office park. I work around the house, etc. So, on the weekends I am on my feet moving a lot. I dod NOT go to the gym or run or ride a bike regularly.
I have been as low as 178. I weighed myself this morning and I was 183 after a weekend of eating and drinking(booze).
My first goal was to get under 200. Then under 190. Then under 180. I really should be 170-175. My chloresterol has also dropped. From 265 down to as low as 205. My blood sugar is down too into the range. My weight has now plateaued in the 178-185 range.
My 36 jeans fit fine again. The 34s are still tight. But the 38s(my peak) are now really loose.
I am not making this post to brag. It took me almost 2 years to lose this weight. One pound +/- a week.
I take NO drugs of any kind.
ANYONE could do what I have done. All you have do do is stop putting food in your mouth and stop boozing it all the time.
Try ice cream. It's good for those times yer feelin' down. I like to keep mini- semisweet chocolate chips in a bag in the freezer, as sprinkles, right next to the ice cream. That sound you hear is your diet dialing 9-1-1.
Anyone using “stone” should be banned from the planet.
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