Sherrie Rose ★

Happy Birthday Carl Sagan

𝗝𝗼𝗵𝗻 𝗡𝗼𝘀𝘁𝗮: 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗠𝗮𝗻 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗛𝗶𝘀 𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗸 A deep thinker who kept asking the hard questions about AI and the human mind @JohnNosta was an innovation theorist, author, and the founder of NostaLab, a think tank focused on how artificial intelligence is reshaping medicine, business, and the structure of thought itself. He wrote for Psychology Today, Fortune, Forbes, and Bloomberg, and published more than 500 articles. His book, The Borrowed Mind: Reclaiming Human Thought in the Age of AI, asks what happens to human effort, judgment, and responsibility when AI systems supply fluent answers. His Psychology Today column carried that question to a wide audience, and his Muck Rack profile lists the range of his writing and speaking. His path began early. Raised in Perth Amboy, New Jersey, John served on the local first aid squad and joined an advanced summer program at Harvard at sixteen. He studied at Boston University and worked as a research associate at Harvard Medical School, where he co-authored papers in cardiovascular physiology while still an undergraduate. He later held senior leadership roles at Ogilvy CommonHealth, including Chief Creative Officer, Chief Strategic Officer, and unit president, and served in advisory roles with the World Health Organization, Roche, Google Health, and ARK Invest. John died in early November 2026. His friend and colleague Gile Bashe shared the news on November 5 and reported that the cause was an aortic aneurysm. The two had spoken about the future of human cognition the day before. John leaves his wife, Amy, and their children, Katie, Annabel, and Jack. *The Tributes* Within hours, colleagues and friends across healthcare, technology, and media began to write about him. The posts below come from X and LinkedIn, and from the publications that knew his work. Each tribute links to the original post or article. Read together, they describe a man who was curious, generous with his time, and unwilling to settle for easy answers. Gil Bashe @Gil_Bashe Gil's tribute, published in Medika Life and Health Tech World, is the piece many other tributes trace back to. He called John a friend, mentor, and frequent intellectual sparring partner, and described conversations that moved from artificial intelligence and religion to creativity, marketing, philosophy, and the power of words. He wrote that John embraced complexity and ambiguity in an information environment shaped by speed and certainty, and he highlighted John's intellectual generosity. Gil named John one of the most original and provocative thinkers in health innovation. Brian Roemmele @BrianRoemmele On X, Brian announced the loss of a dear friend and called John a brilliant mind and a polymath. He traced John's story from the Harvard summer program at sixteen through his paramedic training and his years as president of the Perth Amboy First Aid Squad, and he noticed a pattern that began there: John measured first. Brian closed with prayers for Amy, the children, and the wider family. The post drew more than 32,000 views and many replies. Joel Comm @joelcomm In a reply on X on November 6, Joel said the news made him very sad. He remembered John as a great thinker who was unafraid to challenge a scientific narrative when it did not line up with the science. Harvey Castro, MD, MBA On LinkedIn, Harvey wrote that he was heartbroken. He said John pushed hard on the difficult questions about AI and the human mind and never settled for easy answers. He added that John shaped his AI journey and, more importantly, the person behind it. Tatyana Kanzaveli @OpenHealthH Tatyana shared her tribute on LinkedIn, where it appears in Amy Li's activity feed. She wrote that she was still in disbelief at the loss of a dear friend. She had been looking through photographs from the healthcare conferences they attended over the years, the many stages they shared, and the conversations about medicine, technology, innovation, and the future. She thanked John for his friendship and his brilliant mind and wished they had more time. Tory Cenaj Tory, also on LinkedIn, called John a pioneer and a thought-provoking thinker and sent her condolences to his family. Amy Li Amy wrote on LinkedIn that she was heartbroken. She described a rare kind of person who changes the way you think, challenges what you believe, and helps you become a better version of yourself, and she counted John among them. Sherrie Rose (me) On X, Sherrie wrote that the world is less bright without him and that she loved borrowing his mind, a phrase that echoes the title of his book. A second post shared her tears at the news. (This tribute x post written with the help of ai.) Hector Valle @hectorvalle On November 5, Hector posted a goodbye to a friend on X, and called John one of the most insightful minds he knew at the intersection of technology, AI, and health. Justin Maynard @JADM823 John's own final post announced that The Borrowed Mind was coming as an audiobook. Justin replied there with a short message: he misses John already. Others have used the same thread to say goodbye. ICT&health The editors at ICT&health called his passing a personal loss. John had contributed articles and interviews to their platform and had been in discussions to keynote the ICT&health World Conference. They wrote that he challenged the healthcare community to look beyond technological progress and ask what innovation means for human intelligence, clinical judgment, and the future of medicine. ARK Invest John advised ARK Invest, and a market update reporting on Cathie Wood's outlook also paid tribute to him as a longtime collaborator. What Each Shared The tributes repeat the same few words: kind, brilliant, generous, unafraid. People remembered the late-night debates, the shared stages, the willingness to challenge a popular idea, and the habit of asking one more question. Many wrote that John changed how they think about AI, and several said he changed who they are. John spent his last years asking what people carry when machines do more of the thinking. The people who loved his company have answered in their own words. They carry his questions with them. teapawt.net/JohnNosta/status/21168…

The world is less bright day. RIP @JohnNosta You were amazing! I loved borrowing your mind.

I echo the tears over the news of @JohnNosta