3 ms·
What if a more useful definition of age isn't your solar revolution count, but (mitochondrial function, concentration of tau in your prefrontal cortex, degree o
by ridgeguy 8y ago
What if a more useful definition of age isn't your solar revolution count, but (mitochondrial function, concentration of tau in your prefrontal cortex, degree of autoimmune attack on your joints, reaction time, etc.)?
Then age starts to look as definitional and mutable as names or gender. Why not petition to change it?
Anecdotes: I know someone age 53 whom I would not trust to add two numbers and get the right answer. OTOH, my wife's uncle, who died two years ago at 91, was somebody I consulted regularly until his death about MacOS issues and what DSLR I should use to photograph microwave plasmas. He was an MD. Go figure.
I think definition of age deserves more discussion.
- posterboy 8y agoYeah no, clearly some abbrupt break happens after precisely the 18th or 21st revolution around the sun /s.
- reustle 8y agoI agree that it's important to think about that. That does not change the definition of the word age. What you're saying is we should have a different metric to measure ability / health, which isn't called age.