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Asked today if the Titanic II could sink, Mr Palmer told reporters: "Of course it will sink if you put a hole in it."
http://www.smh.com.au/business/clive-palmer-plans-to-build-titanic-ii-20120430-1xtrc.html
In response to
Rationality Quotes May 2012
In response to
Rationality Quotes May 2012
If you're trying to choose between two theories and one gives you an excuse for being lazy, the other one is probably right.
Paul Graham “What You’ll Wish You’d Known” http://paulgraham.com/hs.html
In response to
Rationality Quotes May 2012
I don't think we can get much more specific without starting to be mistaken.
Paul Graham, "Is It Worth Being Wise?" http://paulgraham.com/wisdom.html
In response to
Crowdsourcing the availability heuristic
I like the idea. Perhaps we should start a periodic discussion thread where people post midrange goals and get feedback.
I think you accidentally a word in your title (should read "If calorie restriction works in humans, shouldn't we have observed it already?").
That said, you bring up a good point, and I would also like to see this question answered.
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comment
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on
If calorie restriction works in humans, should we have observed it already?
thanks for the catch
If calorie restriction works in humans, should we have observed it already?
Although there are no long-term scientific studies of calorie restriction in humans, there are religious groups, cults, and ascetics who voluntarily practice calorie restriction or intermittent fasting. Presumably there have been tens or hundreds of thousands of people who have practiced calorie restriction throughout most of their adult lives. There were/are probably also groups that involuntarily practice calorie restriction - servants, slaves, prisoners, or people who simply regularly don't have enough to eat.
If calorie restriction has a dramatic effect on life expectancy in humans, shouldn't we expect to observe extended life expectancy in at least some groups? Or would each of these groups likely have some mitigating circumstances that would shorten their lifespans, such as lack of medicine?
With an hour on Google, I found some references to Okinawa, to monks on Mount Athos, and to similar groups. In no case was there a reasonable claim of life expectancy over 90 (which would represent just a 10% improvement over life expectancy in Japan).
This paper reviews the evidence on calorie restriction in humans and other animals, including discussion of religious fasting, but there's no evidence there of fasting extending lifespan.
I found a few other sources where people asked this question (or made this point as an attack on CR), but I haven't yet found any good answers on the subject, and didn't find any discussion on LessWrong yet.
What about vitamins/medication? Isn't Ray Kurzweil on like fifty different pills? Why isn't everyone?
And Aubrey de Grey doesn't take any. (http://www.quora.com/What-supplements-does-Aubrey-de-Grey-take-to-stay-young-if-any/answer/Aubrey-de-Grey)
“Everyone” is tricky, since the main causes of mortality vary with your age. Anyway, I'd say, not smoking, exercising, not being obese (nor emaciated, but in the parts of the world where most Internet users are, short of anorexia nervosa this isn't likely to be a problem), driving less and in a less aggressive way, not committing suicide... Don't they teach this stuff in high school?
The last sentence is patronizing, and especially inappropriate in a thread about asking stupid questions.
In response to
Stupid Questions Open Thread Round 2
What's 3^^^3?
Is this Knuth's arrow notation?
wait, that was easier to search than I thought. http://lesswrong.com/lw/kn/torture_vs_dust_specks/
Yes, it is Knuth's arrow notation.
= b715d02e85f7b3b4ae65ca3d3e450868)
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Why do I fantasize about being angry?
I'm breaking the rule a bit by asking about myself here.
Sometimes when I have down time and am daydreaming, especially if I'm walking somewhere or going for a run, I fantasize about someone wronging me (say with a traffic violation), then imagine myself getting angry, yelling at them, and physically beating them up. I think about knocking them down, screaming at them, challenging them to get up, and knocking them down again.
I've never acted on such a fantasy. I have no idea how to actually fight someone if I wanted to. It's very rare that I show anger, and I don't think I've ever punched someone as an adult. But I think about it pretty regularly, and the thoughts disturb me. I have no idea where they come from or why I take pleasure in these sorts of fantasies.
Is this a common thought pattern? Why do people have it?