5 ms·

This is an interesting case where it's hard to separate rationality from human nature. On the one hand, people don't want to lose their investment. On the other

This is an interesting case where it's hard to separate rationality from human nature. On the one hand, people don't want to lose their investment. On the other hand, people really, really don't want to die. So as billionaires get older, they are going to feel a lot of psychological pressure to believe life-extension startup stories they might not find as credible in another context. I think one nice way to solve this is to require a small, objective proof of concept for startups claiming to have a rejuvenating technology. I propose they solve baldness. It will not only demonstrate the technology, but remove the funding problem entirely.

yazaddaruvala 9y ago
It also removes 99.9999% of the reward :) Moonshots should be moonshots
jacquesm 9y ago
> This is an interesting case where it's hard to separate rationality from human nature. The Roman Catholic Church has had this thing sewn up for at least a millennium. Giving large amounts of money to the church on your deathbed is a surefire way to open the gates of heaven, or so I'm told.
- tptacek 9y ago
  Maybe in the time of the Medicis. The Roman Catholic Church doesn't give much of a fuck whether you give them a dime today. It's not that kind of organization.
  - jacquesm 9y ago
    Haha. That's so funny. You should have been around when my grandmother died. They took her for a pretty penny. Not that I care because I didn't want any money from her anyway but they sure know who their marks are. In Poland just about every interaction with the church has a price tag attached to it, ditto in Spain. There's a reason the Vatican is lined with gold and it has precious little to do with the Medicis and everything to do with tithe, real estate, compound interest and outright scams.
    - tptacek 9y ago
      I can't speak to the Catholic church in Poland; if you say so, I believe you. Then I'd just say: you mean the Polish Roman Catholic Church, not the Roman Catholic Church in general. I feel confident that old ladies in Poland are not gilding the Vatican, which, FWIW, is worth less than 1/8th a single Jeff Bezos. (I, too, would be happier if that number were even lower, since it contradicts some of the better-known values of the religion).
      - jacquesm 9y ago
        Bezos' worth is paper, the Vatican has billions in cash, that's outside of all its other holdings in stocks, real estate and so on. They pull in 100's of millions per week, now obviously lots of that is spent again but plenty of it flows upwards. I don't think there is any proper accounting of the true worth of the Vatican other than what slips out and the official reporting by the Vatican bank. Personally I'd be happy if the whole thing went bust but they keep finding new people to fleece so it will be a while. Get them while they're young... It's remarkably effective, once brainwashed as a child it takes a very strong person to break out of that stuff. It's interesting how accidents of birth tend to tie people to some religion (or none) and then that becomes a defining part of their identity to the point where they can no longer separate from it. And so if you're born in Pakistan chances are large that you will feel like the Muslim religion is the one and true and when you're born in Ireland it will likely be Catholicism or Protestantism (but the dividing line between those two is - unless you're part of either - for non-religious people roughly the same as between Orthodox verions of that same religion, in other words, all followers of Jesus in some variation). Born to Jewish parents Judaism is very likely to be your religion and so on. That alone should make you wonder how much of this is free choice and how much of it is indoctrination. Maybe we'll kick the religion virus one day but I'm not too hopeful it will happen. Then a whole bunch of old guys in robes and people speaking with great authority on subjects they could not possibly know anything about will have to find some new way of conning people.
        tptacek 9y ago
        I don't know what most of this is meant to persuade me of, but I will say that when people estimate the value of the Vatican, they're not just basing that on the cash in the Vatican Bank.
TheSpiceIsLife 9y ago
Is baldness linked to premature death?
- hn_throwaway_99 9y ago
  Baldness is fundamentally about cellular senescence. If you are arguing your startup can solve a major problem in getting you (and your cells) to live longer, solving baldness would be a great, objective proof of concept.

yazaddaruvala 9y ago

It also removes 99.9999% of the reward :) Moonshots should be moonshots

jacquesm 9y ago

> This is an interesting case where it's hard to separate rationality from human nature. The Roman Catholic Church has had this thing sewn up for at least a millennium. Giving large amounts of money to the church on your deathbed is a surefire way to open the gates of heaven, or so I'm told.

tptacek 9y ago
Maybe in the time of the Medicis. The Roman Catholic Church doesn't give much of a fuck whether you give them a dime today. It's not that kind of organization.
- jacquesm 9y ago
  Haha. That's so funny. You should have been around when my grandmother died. They took her for a pretty penny. Not that I care because I didn't want any money from her anyway but they sure know who their marks are. In Poland just about every interaction with the church has a price tag attached to it, ditto in Spain. There's a reason the Vatican is lined with gold and it has precious little to do with the Medicis and everything to do with tithe, real estate, compound interest and outright scams.
  - tptacek 9y ago
    I can't speak to the Catholic church in Poland; if you say so, I believe you. Then I'd just say: you mean the Polish Roman Catholic Church, not the Roman Catholic Church in general. I feel confident that old ladies in Poland are not gilding the Vatican, which, FWIW, is worth less than 1/8th a single Jeff Bezos. (I, too, would be happier if that number were even lower, since it contradicts some of the better-known values of the religion).
    - jacquesm 9y ago
      Bezos' worth is paper, the Vatican has billions in cash, that's outside of all its other holdings in stocks, real estate and so on. They pull in 100's of millions per week, now obviously lots of that is spent again but plenty of it flows upwards. I don't think there is any proper accounting of the true worth of the Vatican other than what slips out and the official reporting by the Vatican bank. Personally I'd be happy if the whole thing went bust but they keep finding new people to fleece so it will be a while. Get them while they're young... It's remarkably effective, once brainwashed as a child it takes a very strong person to break out of that stuff. It's interesting how accidents of birth tend to tie people to some religion (or none) and then that becomes a defining part of their identity to the point where they can no longer separate from it. And so if you're born in Pakistan chances are large that you will feel like the Muslim religion is the one and true and when you're born in Ireland it will likely be Catholicism or Protestantism (but the dividing line between those two is - unless you're part of either - for non-religious people roughly the same as between Orthodox verions of that same religion, in other words, all followers of Jesus in some variation). Born to Jewish parents Judaism is very likely to be your religion and so on. That alone should make you wonder how much of this is free choice and how much of it is indoctrination. Maybe we'll kick the religion virus one day but I'm not too hopeful it will happen. Then a whole bunch of old guys in robes and people speaking with great authority on subjects they could not possibly know anything about will have to find some new way of conning people.
      - tptacek 9y ago
        I don't know what most of this is meant to persuade me of, but I will say that when people estimate the value of the Vatican, they're not just basing that on the cash in the Vatican Bank.

TheSpiceIsLife 9y ago

Is baldness linked to premature death?

hn_throwaway_99 9y ago
Baldness is fundamentally about cellular senescence. If you are arguing your startup can solve a major problem in getting you (and your cells) to live longer, solving baldness would be a great, objective proof of concept.