(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

[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.