(no subject)

[egypturnash]

What is it about transhuman thought that seems to freak people out? circuit_four has been grumping lately about the number of TV shows and movies that present transhumanism as Meddling With Things Man Was Not Meant To Know, and the last few paragraphs in this article on extreme caloric restriction as a life-extending mechanism take that same bent.

It's like there's some sort of defense mechanism in our bodies, our culture, that wants to react against the idea of possibly not dying, of transcending the limits of what we were born with. I don't know if I'll make it to the point where life extension is something I can afford, I don't know if I'll manage to move my mind off of the biological processes it was born on. I'll welcome the possibility if I can get it.

Do these people sound cultish and crazy to the writer because they are, or are they cultish-sounding the same way, say, a Mac user sounds to a Windows person: something that works so well they can't believe they ever did it the hard way? I dunno.

hell, I'm already modifying my body in "unnatural" ways what with the transition...

Comments

[koogrr.livejournal.com]

Gods, so much number work. I hate diets.

Yes, I believe CR is true, and I think it's a very simple mechanism. Your body can process X calories, ever, during your entire life. Not sure what that number is, but you eat away at it quickly or slowly and when you're done, you're done.

[turbinerocks.livejournal.com]

Seems a bit *too* simple for me, reducing the fountain of youth to one magical thing you can do. I can of course accept that one will ravage their body by eating too much or eating junk food, but my longevity money would be on people who eat a more "normal" diet and exercise regularly.

[perlandria.livejournal.com]

That whole playing god(allah)/not going to heaven thing?

[turbinerocks.livejournal.com]

They are right: Quorn is pretty good. But if I have to swear off beer and pub food to Reach the Next Level, that ain't no kind of life worth living. ;-)

[grrrowly.livejournal.com]

yeah, same. I'd rather die at a normal age than to be starving my entire life. I love chocolate way too much. ^^

[trikotomy.livejournal.com]

If I remember correctly…

Dogbert: "What happened to you?"
Dilbert: [panting] "I've decided to take up running."
Dogbert: "Why?"
Dilbert "Running feels awful, but it will let you live longer."
Dogbert: "So, life will feel awful, but at least it will last longer."

[circuit-four.livejournal.com]

My eyes kinda glazed over at the actual article - just too much time being asked to spend with egocentric "truppies," imho. So just out of curiosity, was there any mention that I missed, whatsoever, of the global effects of a microcalorie diet, either in terms of the developed world consuming fewer calories or the . The only thing that really bugged me about this article is it strikes me as "boutique transhumanism": "Screw the ultimate existential fate of a human race that lives forever and commands all knowledge. Will I have a bitchin' bod in the year 3000!?"

Besides, I won't take part in a revolution that won't let me dance, and I won't take part in a transcendence with no tiramisu. (But then, you hear me say this every time Rik tries to feed me food discs. :) ) Hell, I'll even take soy tiramisu. Or perfectly recorded and replayed sense impressions of eating tiramisu. But no dessert capsules. :)

[ff00ff.livejournal.com]

The article never came right out and pondered the global impact of the CR diet becoming widespread in America. It did compare the CR diet to those of sub-Saharan Africans, but that was about it. My thoughts on it were that if American's stopped eating so much we would probably just stop making so much food instead of feeding the rest of the world. Although we probably wouldn't reduce our farm subsidies so we would have a Midwest full of people being paid to not grow corn for the durn foreigners.

Maybe if the 100 dollar laptop program comes to fruition, all those people in Africa who are already living on starvation diets will have access to the software they need to maximize their nutrient intake, and transhumanism will first be achieved by ancient and immortal Africans!

[dv-girl.livejournal.com]

Hmm. I guess I've been sort of doing this type of diet since about May, though certainly not to the extreme these people do. I just try to eat balanced amounts of everything and eat what I'm hungry for and (the really tricky part) _no more_ than I'm hungry for. I also made some minor lifestyle changes. Drinking water, carbonated water, or tea instead of a coke, and I drink a lot more than I used to to 'fill up' if I'm a little hungry. I also bike or walk everywhere instead of driving.

Results? I wouldn't say I'm more or less healthy. I feel pretty-much the same, but I am a lot more physically active now, and I find I don't get cold as easy as I used to (which is weird, should be opposite effect but may be related to higher metabolism and better circulation) and, of course, I've lost a lot of weight. Oh. Also, I can't drink coke at all anymore. It's so sweet and so thick and syrupy, it litterally chokes me and makes me cough and gag.

I'm seriously skeptical of their claims about increasing length of life by such a large amount, but eating sensibly (meaning here, not extreme in either direction) is probably a good idea.

Seriously though, if a cheeseburger makes you happy, don't fret it. Stress is a known killer and in the long run, a cheeseburger here in there is probably less destructive to your health than worrying constantly about what you're eating. I am perhaps fortunate in that I've never been able to eat really rich foods (sweets and fats tend to make me puke) so I tend to enjoy the taste and textures of lighter fare.

It'd be nice to think that it'll make me live forever, or at least long enough to get myself downloaded into a more permanent medium.

[jenkatb4u.livejournal.com]

Transhuman.

Well, Insect//sect.. Innnnn...seeccccctttt.../sd Well.

It's about losing your se.s..ssssen.. ssthhxxxxxkt. Sense of self
Self. self. in a timeframe too short to offer opportunity to Cope.

But perhaps my view on what I am picturing the term Trans.Human. To be are different.

[postrodent.livejournal.com]

This reads like advertising to me. Is that the desired reaction? :)

[jenkatb4u.livejournal.com]

Not Q-uiiiite~

[paka.livejournal.com]

I don't know whether I'd consider it transhuman the same way, you know? Diets have a different feel to them - like something corporate America rams at me about how I'm supposed to take care of myself and live a nice long time. Because obviously I'm fit and upper middle-class with a lot to look forwards to in my old age (insert warm-lit footage with dogs, autumn leaves and grandkids here).

This is a wee bit different from, say, wanting to have oryx style markings.

[shatterstripes.livejournal.com]

It's only at the very end where the transhuman-is-weird thing comes in.

[packbat.livejournal.com]

As far as I'm concerned, there's only one thing that bothers me about transhumanism: "Has this been properly beta-tested?" ;) And while those CR fellows did sound a little odd, it's equally possible that the writer merely didn't get it.

[orb2069.livejournal.com]

Wikipedia's article (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calorie_restriction) links to the more-or-less current state of research: Near as I can tell, it's fairly well established that it works, but nobody's completely pegged down the mechanism yet.

OTOH, Walford (Yeah, the walking skeleton on the Biosphere 2 crew.), one of the major proponents of CR (http://isbn.nu/aisbn/walford%20roy%20l) died of "complications of ALS, a rare muscle wasting disease with no well-established modifiable risk factors"(Here) (http://www.imminst.org/forum/index.php?s=&act=ST&f=1&t=3545).

I tried Walford's diet from the 120 year diet out for a few months: IMO, the recipes were expensive, complex, and the food was bland. I am normally NOT very picky about food, but I really couldn't stay on this.

[axonfuel.livejournal.com]

Agreed. Though I'd rather keep my body and work on making the rest of the world fit it. ;>

Aronofsky's "The Fountain" actually sounds like a non-negative treatment of immortality. Here's hoping!