[ExI] The "real" world

Lee Corbin lcorbin at rawbw.com
Wed Mar 24 11:24:24 UTC 2010


Sarah had written

 > [Mike wrote]
 >
 > > Suppose that a special diet would halt the process of aging
 > > and allow those who practice this restricted diet to literally
 > > live forever (barring physical injuries that induce a state
 > > of death) - what percentage of the world's population either
 > > could afford it or have the discipline to practice it unerringly?

Did you know that Spike, since age 15, never eats anything
that allows his six foot frame to exceed 125 pounds? The CR
you mention later about your own question

 > What about calorie restriction? While I don't know any
 > staistics, I think I can confidently say, "Very few."

As Spike then said: "Mike's question taken literally is too easy"
and then Spike said what he would do. But he's already in the
vanguard here, so your reformulation

> Ok, then I'll ask a slightly different question: what if there was a 
> diet that dramatically slowed the aging process, thereby greatly 
> increasing one's chances of living until the advent of some technology 
> that made immortality possible?

was a no-op in his case. But he's extraordinarily rare.

But you don't ask about *who* in general could with profit
try the diet. So I will assume that you mean that it
"dramatically slows the aging process" for people 25 years
and older, as well as the very young. And I will assume
that it has no damaging side effects, (thus ruling out
CR for the young, incidentally).

(By forcing me or others to speculate as to the missing
parameters and conditions of your question, you run the
risk, methinks, of having your questions ignored.)

People jump on new diets all the time. If we had *scientific
proof* that this diet would do as you say, there would be
absolutely no shortage of takers.

Naturally, almost none of this applies to CR, a painful and
unproven regimen.

Lee



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