4 ms·

Research is great -- I'm all for that -- but I'm less certain about actually turning this into a product just yet. As an analogy, it is like a weekend cyclist

Research is great -- I'm all for that -- but I'm less certain about actually turning this into a product just yet. As an analogy, it is like a weekend cyclist spending $10,000 on a high end bike to save a pound or two off their bike, meanwhile they are 30 pounds overweight. It would be better to lose that weight (for cycling performance and for many better reasons) before trying to buy cycling performance at $10,000/lb. Getting back to the point, people imagine it would be great to live 500 years, perhaps longer. Ask yourself: are you maximizing your current life? If you are currently unhappy, bored, sick, lonely, feeling like you are trapped in a certain lifestyle, why would you want an extra 400 years of that?

adamisom 4y ago
That's a good point. At the same time, more chances (to discover an electric life) is better. But your point really matters because however long you live, youth will only be a fraction of that (and I do expect that one's relatively-unencumbered and energetic years are better... if used well--thing is, older people usually aren't so dumb, they use their years better, which is why their self-reported happiness is higher).
SilverBirch 4y ago
Well this strikes pretty directly at the heart of the whole longevity argument. There was an article on HN the other day about Bryan Johnson and how he was spending millions a year, eating exactly 1977 vegan calories per day, taking a dozen pills every day, doing 1 hour of high intensity training, and as a result some tests showed that he was scoring like an 18 year old. It's all a bit... self-defeating? You're going to live forever spending your entire life.... trying to live forever? Living a long life isn't necessarily living a good life, and wasting the time you have in order to get more time.... maybe stop doing that and just get on with doing the stuff that you want to do given the time. Having said that, on your analogy, it's a great business selling $10,000 bikes to rich idiots...
- nluken 4y ago
  I think these startups look at aging like a disease and want to treat it in a way that doesn't necessarily require an incredible amount of effort from people. Somewhere between nothing and spending all your time just to extend your time.
- deegles 4y ago
  He only needs to live like that until less extreme interventions are available (and proven to work).
p1esk 4y ago
Every time I’m “unhappy, bored, sick, lonely, feeling like you are trapped in a certain lifestyle” it’s precisely because I’m aging, and only have maybe a couple of decades of productive life left, at best.
- MagicMoonlight 4y ago
  And yet you’re just sitting at home wanking instead of going out and using the life you have. If we gave you another 500 years you’d waste them too, begging us for more.
  - d_tr 4y ago
    You are making assumptions in bad faith here. You won't give anyone anything and no one will beg you for anything. It is just going to happen at some point because people want to live (yes, even suicidal people, mostly) and not need reading glasses and worry about cancers and heart attacks by the time their kids enter high school. I am not kidding myself that anyone currently alive will live to benefit from it, but I am also not kidding myself that I am or should be OK with the current status quo and that there is something romantic or beautiful about it, or that it is how things should be.
ericmcer 4y ago
This is the opposite approach you should have. The whole point of longevity is you no longer have to maximize your life. The idea of doing self-improvement and min/maxing my lifestyle for 500 years sounds like a nightmare. The whole point would be getting to dive recklessly into anything without fear that you may be wasting your short life. Get fat as hell, get in insane shape, get hooked on heroin, start a successful company, be homeless, whatever. With 500 years of being 30 years old locking yourself into any "maximized" lifestyle seems stupid. A huge part of feeling trapped is knowing you are wasting the few years you have.

adamisom 4y ago

That's a good point. At the same time, more chances (to discover an electric life) is better. But your point really matters because however long you live, youth will only be a fraction of that (and I do expect that one's relatively-unencumbered and energetic years are better... if used well--thing is, older people usually aren't so dumb, they use their years better, which is why their self-reported happiness is higher).

SilverBirch 4y ago

Well this strikes pretty directly at the heart of the whole longevity argument. There was an article on HN the other day about Bryan Johnson and how he was spending millions a year, eating exactly 1977 vegan calories per day, taking a dozen pills every day, doing 1 hour of high intensity training, and as a result some tests showed that he was scoring like an 18 year old. It's all a bit... self-defeating? You're going to live forever spending your entire life.... trying to live forever? Living a long life isn't necessarily living a good life, and wasting the time you have in order to get more time.... maybe stop doing that and just get on with doing the stuff that you want to do given the time. Having said that, on your analogy, it's a great business selling $10,000 bikes to rich idiots...

nluken 4y ago
I think these startups look at aging like a disease and want to treat it in a way that doesn't necessarily require an incredible amount of effort from people. Somewhere between nothing and spending all your time just to extend your time.
deegles 4y ago
He only needs to live like that until less extreme interventions are available (and proven to work).

p1esk 4y ago

Every time I’m “unhappy, bored, sick, lonely, feeling like you are trapped in a certain lifestyle” it’s precisely because I’m aging, and only have maybe a couple of decades of productive life left, at best.

MagicMoonlight 4y ago
And yet you’re just sitting at home wanking instead of going out and using the life you have. If we gave you another 500 years you’d waste them too, begging us for more.
- d_tr 4y ago
  You are making assumptions in bad faith here. You won't give anyone anything and no one will beg you for anything. It is just going to happen at some point because people want to live (yes, even suicidal people, mostly) and not need reading glasses and worry about cancers and heart attacks by the time their kids enter high school. I am not kidding myself that anyone currently alive will live to benefit from it, but I am also not kidding myself that I am or should be OK with the current status quo and that there is something romantic or beautiful about it, or that it is how things should be.

ericmcer 4y ago

This is the opposite approach you should have. The whole point of longevity is you no longer have to maximize your life. The idea of doing self-improvement and min/maxing my lifestyle for 500 years sounds like a nightmare. The whole point would be getting to dive recklessly into anything without fear that you may be wasting your short life. Get fat as hell, get in insane shape, get hooked on heroin, start a successful company, be homeless, whatever. With 500 years of being 30 years old locking yourself into any "maximized" lifestyle seems stupid. A huge part of feeling trapped is knowing you are wasting the few years you have.