Michael Sherman (CRonie) - Priorities or the Gospel According to Sherm
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6 years on CR. Former CR-list luminary.
Sherms bias's
o Science, imagination, action, responsibility
o Sovereignty of individual; human as creator - especially me!
o People are the best form of mater
o Nature is his enemy - wants to kill him, but a nice planet anyway
o Capitalism is a great thing - creating companies is very creative
o Loves being alive
Professional Interests
o Amassing wealth and power
o Taking calculated risks & resulting stress
o Really hard problems with practical applications
Sherms "sandbox" - predictive computer simulation
o model world and then manipulate it via computer
o Done it for mechanical engineering, now doing it for molecule engineering
o His startup company to do this is named Protein Mechanics
What does it take to make a breakthough - like protein folding:
o Novel idea and obsessed founders
o Excess to expertise & current research - 30+ people in his company
o Access to capital - ($7M so far)
o Time (2.5 years and counting)
o Mental energy and hard work, and some luck
Message:
o Individual can initiate, but not execute significant idea
o Need to work with others well
o Need to normally interact w/ people
CR can make this difficult, if not done carefully.
His CR background:
o 40 years of junk food, then 6 years on CR
o Problems hes encountered
o diet
o Hunger
o Emotions/mood
o Relationships
o CR almost effortless now; successfully integrated
Dropped weight to 122 during strictest CR (1800kkca/day).
He was neglecting other parts of his life - family.
He gained 6 lbs of muscle and lost 5 lbs of fat through
weight lifting and personal trainer.
Couple years ago he had a wakeup call when wife said she
wanted a divorce. changed priorities (marriage) and upped
calories for a while to gain weight (to 128).
Hes able to eat less and maintain weight now, which he attributes
to replacing (high burn rate) running with (low burn rate)
weight lifting.
WBC count low, thyroid low, insulin low, all other blood tests
normal or better than normal - hes doing well.
Optimizing Expected Return from CR (or anything)
o Learn to tell fact from fad
o Uncertainty
o Decrease expectations - dont assume positive outcome
o Requires error tolerance - minimize impact of mistakes
o Watch for diminishing returns (80/20) - dont obsess over
tiny points
How do you know if something is (probably) true?
o A safe bet: its not - in generally, everything you hear or
read is wrong
o Chapter 1 of Walfords book
o Good evidence
o Repeated, controlled, peer-reviewed experiments
o Identified and consistent mechanism
o Predictions made and then validated (no post hoc)
o Suspect evidence
o Correlation, but not causation
o Good experiments extended outside their reach - saturate fat
o Results consistent with vested interest
o "everyone knows"
o Worthless
o Anecdotes
o "It stands to reason!"
o Argument from authority; famous; not right
o Watch out for famous old physicists!
Risk reduction - Steer middle course to avoid hidden shoals
("got yas") - thinks that will kill you if youve made the wrong
choice. Example, supplement intake - dont want to go to too extreme.
Sherms takes lots of supplements, but not in large doses. He things
no supplements is an extreme, and LEF recommendation is other extreme.
Priorities for Longevity:
o Who ya gonna call:
o Life insurance companies
o If you make it to middle age, with reasonable health practices,
you can expect to live to 90+ years if you are a man.
o Things insurance company says to avoid:
o Drug use (-7 years), Heavy drinking (-7), bad driving (-7) unknown
or high BP (-5), Smoking (-5)
o Things insurance company says to do:
o Lots of fruit and veggies (+5)
o Moderate exercise (+5)
o Parents in good CV shape at 55; lived to 70 (+4)
o Always wear set belt (+1)
o Bonus; being female (+5)
o Weight is neutral (if BMI between 18 & 29)
o What do old men (85+) die in 2000?
o 80 Heart diseasse
o 35 Cancer
o 20 Stroke
o 15 Infection
o 12 Smoking
o 6 alzheimers
o 4 Kidney disease
o 4 Accidents
o 4 Diabetes
o What will likely kill CRonies?
o Accidents
o Infections
o Neurological (Alzheimers)
o Kidney disease
o CR makes you stronger
o You are unlikely to get cancer, diabetes, and heart disease
o Your immune system works better
o Neurons better protected
o So: no need to be so obsessed about details
Priorities for CR Diet
Important:
o Diet
o low calories
o lots of protein
o Fruits and veggies
o Fish & tomatoes
o Low GI
o Moderate exercise
o CV
o Weight bearing
o Resistance
o Objective data about your body
o Basic care & safety
o Sanitation
o Medical & dental
o Vaccinations
o Accidents, sunburn
o Chronic exposures
May be important
o Some supplements
o Fiber
o Sleep & stress
o Avoid trans fats
Not Important - and have high social costs
o Diet composition details
o Eating schedule
o Food preparation methods
o Organic food
o Food sources, e.g. vegetarian, paleo
o Salt, cholesterol, sat. fat, caffeine
o Trendy toxins: pesticides, cell phone
o Pursuit of perfection, suffering because it is good for you
Example of how to use this info:
* Dont skip fruits and vegetables because they arent organic. Need
How Sherm Eats
o Count calories all day; stop at 1650 per day
o Use convenient CRON chow staples to ensure adequate nutrition
at < 1000kcal
o Dine comfortably with other the rest of the time (eat normal
stuff with other people)
o End-of-day variable CRON meal to mop up calories
His nutrition is pretty darn good. Its adequate, but may not be that
optimal. But there isnt hard evidence
Expectations for CR
o 60 Billion humans, 90% dead
o None lived past 122
o Your life expectancy
o Healthy man, good habits: 92
o Add 65 years of CR: ~105
o That is a lot of work for a decade!
o We are all fanatics - were doing a lot of work for 65 years to
gain a decade
CR is not good enough!
o It is a good health strategy
o Slows aging a little bit
o Buys a little time; probably not enough
o Think: Steering Titanic to next iceberg
o CR mimetics wont be any better
o Do something about it, quick!
Sherms final nagging:
o Skepticism is healthy
o Cynicism is a crippling & contagious disease
o It is easier to be cynical if youre smart
o But others motives are opaque; how do youknow yours are better
o Try this instead: everyone has good motives
o They just arent as smart as you are -> teach
o Or, they have different priorites - that is their right
Action takes courage
o You will get duped
o You will compromise your values
o You will help people you dont like
o Your mistakes will hurt people you like
o Youll be faced with failure and impotence
