Sthira

You're right! Thanks for reminding me why I don't like posting here anymore. I do enjoy your great writing, though, no sarcasm from me there; your work here is consistently a valuable read to me, and I've benefited a great deal from it. So thank you, and peace, virtual friend ☮️

Me: I'd like to add thoughtful comments to this thread. What should I contribute to the flow of conversation by including that I believe AGI might help improve the human condition and possibly help to advance the many seemingly intractable diseases of human aging? GPT-4: "If you would like to contribute to the conversation about how AGI might help improve the human condition and solve the many intractable diseases of aging, you could consider adding the following points: "AGI has the potential to dramatically accelerate the pace of scientific discovery in the field of aging research. By analyzing vast amounts of data and identifying complex patterns and correlations that may be invisible to human researchers, AGI could help identify new targets for interventions and develop more effective strategies for repairing the damages caused by aging. "AGI could also help researchers develop more personalized and targeted treatments for age-related diseases. By analyzing an individual's genetic profile, medical history, and other data, AGI could help identify the most effective treatments for a particular person's unique needs and circumstances. "AGI could help bridge the gap between basic research and clinical applications, by identifying new pathways and mechanisms that can be targeted by drugs and other interventions. By accelerating the translation of basic research into clinical practice, AGI could help bring life-saving treatments to patients more quickly. "However, it is important to ensure that the development and deployment of AGI is guided by ethical principles that prioritize the safety, privacy, and autonomy of individuals. This will require collaboration between researchers, policymakers, and other stakeholders to ensure that the benefits of AGI are realized in a way that is safe, ethical, and equitable." Me: Thanks, dude! It: "No problem! If you have any further questions or concerns, feel free to ask."

All that healthy variety seems so healthy! Congrats, seems like if anyone is gonna live to be 9,000 years old it's probably you lol But I wonder about all of thar healthy vegan variety and the idea of feast and famine. Does the body also benefit beyond 365-days of variety-only by increasing and decreasing with the seasons? Just spitballing, of course; but it seems like during the harsh we'd be historically forced by nature to limit variety, and even to endure long periods without eating at all. Then when the wheel in the sky keeps on turning, and everything blooms brightly again, we resume the happy feasting.

They're life-altering. And the fact that they became illegal and people were trained to fear them are such tragedies. Life is hard enough; everyone deserves the right to explore effective coping aids safely and without intimidation from ignorant legislators and law enforcement.

Did you buy the book?

Your work is fascinating, thank you! To decrease RHR and increase HRV (which appears optimal from your age charts) you lost eight or nine pounds. What were your BMI changes during this time?

So I should stop gathering magic mushrooms from area cow poop? I moved to rural America, psilocybin is literally everywhere. Treasure fields! I don't think people here know about it? Or if they do: mum silence. Maybe they fear mushrooms? That's pretty common here. But once I learned to distinguish the liberty cap mimics from the real liberty caps, which isn't difficult, the farm fields have become nice bountiful medicine chests. I don't have high blood pressure, just normal, average, a little low from CR, but I don't drink that much coffee. Three cups and I'm good. I'm sensitive, though, a slow metabolizer. Grazie tanto per i tuoi approfondimenti!

Thanks for the input, folks. Welp, after a 40 day hiatus from coffee, I'm back on it. Other than water it's the only beverage I drink, and consume about ~1,110 ml per day. I drink a cup (~340 ml) and add two cups to oatmeal as a sub for hot water. Over time I'll need to ramp up again as it loses effectiveness. I walk the tightrope between depression (not enough coffee) and anxiety (too much coffee). Coffee has too many benefits for me to ignore. Its anti-depression effects are far and away better than any pharma I've tried. No comparison. And coffee (believe or not) even rivals psychedelics (Psilocybe semilanceata, "liberty caps"). I don't think the effects are entirely due to "caffeine" (>1,000 compounds in coffee, science doesn't seem to know much, or why). The differences between micro dosing shrooms versus coffee, of course, are little studied; so the afflicted manage on their own. For me, small works better than large, but small grows large again, so I fast, return to baseline, and begin the cycle all over again. Teas (including the sacred white and matcha) don't do anything for me. But I'm probably drinking "crappy tea," too. Yet in the battle of crappy, crappy coffee at least does something rather than nothing.

I adore coffee. It's delicious, healthy, it keeps me motivated, and distracts the great dragging black dogs of depression. But I got carried away. Now it's turned against me. Coffee makes me happy for hours, and then horribly anxious for even more hours. So after a long and sad decontamination journey I've finally ramped off. I truly miss it, though, and believe in coffee's magical powers, so I know I'll return back to it again someday. Meanwhile, I'm transitioning back again to teas and wondered what world's healthiest brands you're drinking nowadays? White tea, green, hibiscus, what do you like, and where do you buy it?

Thank you for not dying, Al. Keep standing strong!

It seems strange, doesn't it? I mean, how do you mistake a niacin flush with a psilocybin experience that's powerful enough to set back anxiety and depression for six months?

I'm so excited, maybe they'll replicate with more mice studies in the next several decades. Follow up with depressed pigs and now we're cookin'. Horses seem morose, those long eyelashes and deep downturned faces, they could use "a 10% increase in the number of neuronal connections..." Cows look upset, and shrooms grow right there in their own dung patties. Sheep with all their sad baa-baa-baaing, and so many cats are suicidal, I see that. There's so much promise for the mental health of animals in the 30th century! https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03866174?term=Usona&draw=2&rank=1

Most def agree with that sentiment, and I also thank you, Dean, for your kindness and for some bantering around of my questions. You seem like such an interesting person -- many interesting folk here -- maybe we'll meet irl someday, I'd like to eat pawpaw and goof around the bonfire. Thought of a bonfire reminds me: Skipping out on y'all's Costa Rica voyage a few years ago for ayahuasca was a bummer for me; had I known then what I know now, ah well, I'd have made time off work to go. Did you retain any longer term afterglow from that experience?

I don't think your lifestyle sounds extreme. Sorry I implied that. It sounds monkish and wonderful. I wish I could! My mom did all the right things in terms of lifestyle choices (lifelong healthy vegan; strong, fit body; peaceful mind, a meditator who tried to limit stress; wide-ranging social life; several successful careers). All of it mattered precious little. When Alzheimer's moved in, it moved in fiercely, and no prior lifestyle choice seemed to matter. Maybe a healthy lifestyle delayed her AD? We need medical interventions, not just healthy lifestyle choices, for all of the diseases and ravages of aging. Is that because you're not surrounded by many people who pass on their snotty stuff? I haven't been sick once since moving out of the city. No COVID either. It seems this is less about my healthy habits and more about seclusion, though. Avoid people. I'm continuing to wear a mask whenever I'm in public, I don't care who says what, it's been great for preventing colds, the flu as well as COVID. I eat the same meals with same time schedules daily as well. Until recently, I've water-only fasted for five-days once per month -- month in, month out predictability. Yet consistency hasn't done anything for improving psychological well-being in me. If a cure for "clinical depression" was habitual healthy eating and fasting I believe I'd have found relief by now. Many insightful books are out there about targeted eating for depression; none have worked. Maybe clinical depression is different from psychological well-being? This sounds amazing, and I'd love to live this way. We're creatures of habit, I believe, like other mammals. A predictable, stable schedule would bring me so many feelings of safety and security. You're lucky! I'd freeze my body and let it wait in a pod for 500 years if I could. I want outer space exploration: earth is beautiful but we've spoiled and ruined so much of it. I want to see other areas of the universe. Don't we all?! I think we last agreed that we likely have no free-will. Is it possible to reprogram the brain? I'm probably misunderstanding a lot, but I tend to think most of our neural pathways were set during development in early childhood, and while we retain some illusionary plasticity, we're generally don't have much control. If any control at all. I've had so many arguments with people about this, I'm bored with it, which itself is a hardwired response. Let's say your 20 year-old self isn't judging the appeal of the lifestyle you now live, but rather is asking how to improve upon it? What were the dead ends and false hopes and aspects you thought were important, but weren't?

This sounds like an experiment, and it's working for you. It would be great if you could determine if living with habits like these you're doing something helpful regarding aging. Can you use any of today's little measures to make determinations? If you could sit around the bonfire with the young, enthusiastic version of Dean at 20, what would you tell him about what's worked and what hasn't (in terms of slowing aging, CR and LS)?