[ExI] alzheimers and attitudes about the future

[spike]

OK we know that if an Alzheimer's patient exercises the hell outta their
brains, and works against it, there seems to be some positive effect.  Of
course it is difficult to quantify, so the best source of info is to talk to
the people who work at the AD facility.  If you have not already accepted my
challenge to visit one, and you do now, ask them about that please.  The
brain exercise seems to be waaay more effective than the paltry and
apparently useless medications we have.  

 

I met a bunch of AD patients in the last few days and an idea occurred to
me.  Perhaps those people who appear to be in the worst shape were those who
didn't spend time thinking about the future, even before they were AD
patients.  The local AD facility is set up to relive the past, with stuff
such as big bands music, or 40s R&B, maybe some Elvis and such, but it is
definitely a place for those who are more comfortable in the far-off past
than thinking about anything in the future.  We can suppose this is
completely understandable.

 

So then, what if pondering the future is a good mind exercise?  I think it
is.  I work like all hell at it, doing the MBrain calcs and such, pondering
the long term equilibrium future of thought, for instance.  So we now have
the transhumanist movement in general that has been around for over thirty
years, and then Extropian subset of that for over 20, so we should have some
data on what happens to people as they get really old.  Does a transhumanist
attitude help delay onset of Alzheimers?  Anyone know if any of our ranks
developed AD?  If so, what was their attitude towards futurism?  We have had
several deaths from causes other than AD, but I know of none who developed
AD.  Perhaps we should ask the question again in twenty years?  What I am
looking for is if an ExI or H+ attitude lost enthusiasm for futurism and
dynamic optimism and BESTDOITSO after developing Alzheimers.

 

Speculations welcome.

 

spike

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