• HugeNerd@lemmy.ca
    24·
    2 days ago

    Aging sucks. I think with the tremendous computing resources presently wasted on vapid AI slop and endless fart videos, we could instead use it for anti-aging research.

    • exasperation@lemm.eeEnglish
      7·
      1 day ago

      anti-aging research.

      I mean, there’s plenty of anti aging research going on. It’s just that aging isn’t any one thing. At the genetic level, telomeres are getting shorter and mutations are accelerating. In cells, certain metabolic waste products accumulate, and the cells experience increased oxidative stress.

      At the tissue level, you see blood vessels stiffening up, accumulating calcium deposits in the vessel walls themselves, and arterial plague within the vessels. Conversely, bones lose strength and lose calcium, and muscles and joints and tendons and ligaments deteriorate in strength and range of motion. Skin loses elasticity. Plaques and other abnormalities form in the brain and throughout the nervous system. The endocrine system undergoes changes as the hormonal balance of people changes in late adulthood (most notably menopause in women).

      Each of these effects of aging is being investigated, researched, and potentially treated. Dermatologists can make old skin look younger, or at least slow down the rate of apparent aging. There are pills that give 60 year old men the boners of a 20 year old. Some hormone therapies reverse some of the age-related decline in particular hormone levels. Each treatment treats its own thing, reversing or stalling one tiny aspect of aging.

      And they’re continuing to work on it. There’s plenty of research being done, with lots and lots of funding behind it.

    • WorldsDumbestMan@lemmy.todayEnglish
      3·
      1 day ago

      Let’s just say that even if you where immortal, there is still the issue of your “soul” aging. In other words, you know you are old, and you won’t enjoy playing Pokemon Platinum in the same way.

      Society will also increasingy isolate you in various ways.

      • HugeNerd@lemmy.ca
        10·
        1 day ago

        Fear mongering nonsense. Did anyone feel that way when infant mortality went way down?

        You’ll have other people the same “old” as you to hang out with. Many people say they “feel 25” inside, well guess what, now we can make your body align with that.

        We already have “anti-aging” compared to how people aged, say, two hundred or two thousand years ago.

        Besides, “immortality” is an absolute, you can always choose to unalive yourself if you feel so strongly about Pokemon Platinum. No Greek-style tragedy of the “immortal” who can’t kill themselves.

        Seems to me there is a lot more in life that can be enjoyed with a few extra centuries.

        Or even better, a Logan’s Run style of extended youth for your “allotted” four score and ten, then poof! Carousel. No aging, no senescence, no frailty, sickness, disease, waning sense and shrinking brains, just extended 20-something for 60 years, then ZAAP!

        I’ll take that over the meandering aging nonsense of how I’m supposed to revel in my aging carcass.

        PS: There is no soul. Just complex patterns in a vat of neurons.

        • WorldsDumbestMan@lemmy.todayEnglish
          3·
          1 day ago

          Ok. All that just to tell you I’m 29, and get asked occasionally what grade I’m in. I’d know. I can already see all the anti-aging interventions, but I feel like I missed out on something permanently. Like nothing can make up for that fact.

          And that is why I’m going to compensate by being a glorious warrior. I have nothing else left.

          • Dagwood222@lemm.ee
            3·
            1 day ago

            Knew a fellow who had a similar look. He’d go into the bars and hand the hottest woman there a $20 and ask her to buy the drinks because he was afraid of getting carded. Most of the time they enjoyed the idea of corrupting an innocent and paid for his drinks.

        • WorldsDumbestMan@lemmy.todayEnglish
          2·
          1 day ago

          Not saying I’d rather be dead (oftentimes I would), but there’s some things money, time, and success can’t fix. Like for example: if you fuck a goat, you are a goat fucker for life.

        • exasperation@lemm.eeEnglish
          1·
          1 day ago

          Depends. Will I still have my glasses, now that I have time to read all the books in the library?

    • Comment105@lemm.ee
      2·
      1 day ago

      Not gonna happen, humans don’t prioritize like that.

      They’ll make slop and scams in desperate attempts to justify taking their share of the produce from the mechanized fields.

      • HugeNerd@lemmy.ca
        3·
        1 day ago

        I remember SETI@home and folding@home… SETI I think is a dead end, but understanding our genome and proteome and how constantly recycled ageless atoms somehow manage to encode “age” is something I really want to know.

    • PieMePlenty@lemmy.world
      21·
      2 days ago

      This but it just keeps on going.
      8? 15 = adult
      15? 25 = adult
      25? 35 = adult
      I have income, a job, a car, a place to live. I dont feel like an adult yet.

      • Blackmist@feddit.ukEnglish
        13·
        2 days ago

        You become an adult when you hear someone telling their kids to behave or “that mister” will tell them off.

        You look around. There’s nobody else. You have become The Mister. The stranger based punishment of exasperated mothers everywhere. You are now an adult.

      • Dagwood222@lemm.ee
        2·
        1 day ago

        Heard an interview one. The man said that at 20 he could imagine being 40, and at 40 he could imagine being 80. He was 67 at the time…

      • Shanmugha@lemmy.world
        5·
        1 day ago

        Same here, save a car. I am also waiting for that magical moment when “you will understand when you grow up”. Welp, how much more growing do I have to do to reach that magical understanding that some grown-ups are toxic morons untold mysteries of the universe

  • PunnyName@lemmy.world
    62·
    2 days ago

    “When I am 40, I will have lost my will to live over 20 years prior. I simply wait to die every day. Occasionally I try to do things I think I might enjoy, only to be proven wrong.”

    • teft@lemmy.world
      55·
      2 days ago

      If you have wrinkles at 40 you need to wear more sunscreen and drink more water.

      • exasperation@lemm.eeEnglish
        19·
        2 days ago

        If you have wrinkles at 40 you need to wear more sunscreen and drink more water.

        But also even if you don’t have wrinkles you should wear sunscreen and probably drink more water anyway.

      • FeelzGoodMan420@eviltoast.orgEnglish
        9·
        2 days ago

        What planet do you live on where you see 40 year olds without any wrinkles at all? Absolutely ridiculous comment. Why do people upvote trash replies like this?

        • teft@lemmy.world
          9·
          2 days ago

          I’m in my forties and have no wrinkles. I have a few friends who have wrinkles but most of them don’t. Maybe you should drink more water and wear more sunscreen.

          • FeelzGoodMan420@eviltoast.orgEnglish
            7·
            2 days ago

            That’s such BS dude. You’re telling me you have absolutely no wrinkles that weren’t there in your 20s or early 30s? Not a single one. That’s absolute bullshit I’m sorry. Unless you’re claiming to be some genetic oddity and are immortal, you are lying.

            • teft@lemmy.world
              11·
              2 days ago

              Eesh why the hostility? I don’t have wrinkles. I don’t care if you believe me or not. This is the internet.

              Treat your skin well, get good sleep, drink lots of water, don’t do drugs or smoke. You won’t have wrinkles at 40. Neglect any of those and the likelihood of having wrinkles increases. Sorry that you look like an old bag at 40 but maybe treat yourself better.

              • FeelzGoodMan420@eviltoast.orgEnglish
                5·
                2 days ago

                I’m coming off as hostile because I don’t like it when clearly false or misleading comments get upvoted. It’s upsetting.

                • teft@lemmy.world
                  8·
                  2 days ago

                  You don’t know everyone on the planet or where they live or how they’ve lived so to call someone a liar for a statement about their own body is asinine.

            • flicker@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
              7·
              2 days ago

              I know you’re claiming it’s not possible but I’m 38, I’ve done mostly night shifts and stayed out of the sun, I moisturize religiously and have since I was a teen, and I don’t smoke and barely drink (ADHD meds don’t play nice with alcohol).

              I’m wrinkle-free.

              Now compare to my sister, a few years older than me, used to tan growing up by laying out and getting a sunburn, has smoked since we were teens. Insanely wrinkled. Big, deep wrinkles.

              This happens. I think the other person was being flippant and dismissive but… it happens!

              • FeelzGoodMan420@eviltoast.orgEnglish
                4·
                2 days ago

                Sorry, I refuse to believe that you do not have a single facial wrinkle that wasn’t there in your 20s or early 30s. I just don’t believe it. It’s impossible. Perhaps people are misunderstanding me and thinking I mean a shit ton of wrinkles that make you look like you’re 80? Because no, that’s not what I’m saying.

                • flicker@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
                  4·
                  2 days ago

                  Not even crow’s feet.

                  I do a facial once a week. I do microdermabrasion once a week. I can’t stress enough that I hate the sun. I’m sorry if that isn’t your experience, but it happens. I’d share a picture of my face, but I’m trying not to completely dox myself.

                  Eta: And lots of water. Gotta drink lots of water.

            • exasperation@lemm.eeEnglish
              5·
              2 days ago

              Are we all assuming everyone in this conversation is white? Because I know plenty of black and Asian friends who I don’t recall having wrinkles. Most of them have pretty solid moisturizing/lotion/sunscreen routines, though, so it’s hard to tell how much is cultural versus genetic.

              • RowRowRowYourBot@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
                2·
                2 days ago

                Look at the corners of their eyes, mouths, and forehead and you will see wrinkles. They are slight but pretty much everyone has them by 40 something

              • FeelzGoodMan420@eviltoast.orgEnglish
                2·
                2 days ago

                I think any race will show wrinkles at 40. Some more than others, sure. But definitely all races will at least have SOME newer wrinkles at age 40. To deny this is insanity.

            • grue@lemmy.world
              4·
              2 days ago

              I just double-checked in the mirror, and I don’t have any wrinkles yet either.

              That’s what happens when you don’t go outside enough, I guess!

              (I am starting to get a few gray hairs, though, if it makes you feel any better.)

              • FeelzGoodMan420@eviltoast.orgEnglish
                3·
                2 days ago

                Impossible. Not physically possible. If you were to compare your face to a close up high res pic of your younger self, you wil 100% see changes and wrinkles. They may be small but they’re there. No way in absolute hell this isn’t true.

          • Jiggle_Physics@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
            5·
            2 days ago

            Yeah, I am 43 and while I have some very fine lines on my forehead, and near my eyes, you can’t really see them unless you are like within 2 feet of me, or closer. And I have a long history with smoking and drug use. Also I am white, very white, not quite ginger ghost white, but not too far off. Genetics play a very strong role in this, and, at least from my perspective as someone who smoked for 28 years, and did hard drugs for 17, staying out of the sun. I have only really been doing anything close to a routine skin care regimen in like the last 5 years. I have also been homeless. So… yeah, not only do I believe you, I know people just like you. Hell, I probably would have much smoother skin, with no lines, if it wasn’t for how bad I treated myself.

  • dependencyinjection@discuss.tchncs.de
    49·
    2 days ago

    Use it or lose it people. I’m over 40 and I’m quite fit and healthy. Do lots of walking, running, rock climbing, golf, and enjoying nature.

    I’m in better health than my younger friends simply because I’m more active. See dudes in their 70’s climbing harder than me still and in great shape. You’ve just got to keep moving.

    • paranoia@feddit.dk
      13·
      2 days ago

      Hearing people younger than me talk about how their bodies are falling apart is surreal. I do basically the bare minimum in terms of nutrition, exercise a bit daily, and I feel basically the same as I did in my 20s. Maybe better even because I’m not underweight.

  • some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org
    17·
    2 days ago

    I’ve abused my body so much with drugs and alcohol and crowd surfing at concerts and late night dance parties and raves and vaping and smoking before that (actually quit for seven years; starting again was the biggest mistake of my life) and junk food and fast food. Even now that I have a pretty healthy diet and we like to go hiking, I know how much I’ve taken from my future. I don’t expect to live much past seventy, and maybe not even that. But then again, I was sure I wouldn’t reach 25 and that came and went.

    • lemonaz@lemmy.world
      10·
      1 day ago

      As someone who has a relationship with smoking, I feel like I have to say a few words:

      Apart from abusing my body in ways similar to what you described, I also smoked for almost 15 years. I started out of stupidity in my twenties. I was not even in high-school, I totally averted that danger… only to step in it years later voluntarily and for stupid reasons (I coughed when trying to smoke pot so I thought I should practice, then found out the high was pretty nice and reasoned it was cheaper to smoke this than pot). Anyway, I gave up 2 years ago, but I tried many times before that. I tried cold turkey, I tried gradually, I tried lighter cigarettes, but nothing worked. The idea of never ever smoking another cigarette for as long as I lived was paralyzing. I also hated how it controlled me, and it felt like avoiding any contact with any cigarette ever was also a form of it controlling me from the other direction. So I worked something out that works for me, and maybe it will for you:

      My goal was to solve the control problem more than anything. So I said I don’t want a love or hate relationship with cigarettes: I want indifference. It means I don’t buy cigarettes anymore, for one. This is probably the most important part, just don’t smoke at home or during normal activities. The physical dependence is present in the first 3 days, after that it’s just psychological, or so they say, so I took advantage of when I was down with a cold and couldn’t smoke, and I kept it up after. I still had some cigarettes left and I smoked them with some friends when I was out for beers, about 2 weeks later. Whenever I felt stressed at work or whatever, I tried to just take my hand and put it on my mouth with like 2 fingers as if I was holding a cigarette and just suck thin air like it was a cigarette then blow the fictional smoke, I’d do it multiple times if needed — this gesture was calming, even if it didn’t last as long as it did with the real thing, it was like halfway there. Even though this sounds like quitting, the goal was still indifference, but I was way too much in the “I need to smoke” control zone so I focused on pulling out. Throughout I didn’t think of myself as anything related to smoking: I wasn’t a smoker because it felt defeatist, I wasn’t a non-smoker because it felt unearned, I wasn’t an occasional smoker because it felt lazy — I was just trying to take the control out of my relationship with smoking and turn it into something more like “friends with benefits”. I had a quit-smoking-timer app on my phone which in previous attempts I kept resetting with each cigarette I wasn’t able to resist, but this time I said I’m not going to punish myself anymore: this is a new mindset and it allows for casual smoking just like you casually try some weed at a party if someone is offering and it doesn’t make you addicted to weed or a weed smoker or anything like that — you’re just having fun — so the app measures the time since I adopted this new mindset and new (non)relationship with smoking.

      The first month was probably the only time I kept needing to repeat all of the above to myself. After that it became second nature. It was both easier and harder to do than I initially thought, but I’m confident in myself now because it’s more of a fundamental identity change than a change in habits or actions: it’s internal, how I see myself vis a vis smoking.

      Maybe a mindset like this can help you conquer your addiction, if you’re interested. I say “if you’re interested” because you probably know already: you have to want it first. It can’t be forced on you, it really has to come from you. If it helps, for me it came when I got mad that, after forcing myself to smoke lighter and lighter cigarettes, I learned that they’re just as harmful in the long run, so I got even more mad at big tobacco for lying to me like that (apart from all the other horrible shit they’ve done) and that betrayal was the fuel I used as motivation. It’s always the petty stuff that gets us the most, lol. Also, I really don’t want to check out that soon. Non-existence is terrifying, and life is finally getting better for me. But I’m also older and need to watch my health, so I’m more open now to actively changing stuff for said health.

      • bampop@lemmy.world
        2·
        1 day ago

        For me I found casual or occasional smoking could too easily become “just one more”. I hated the fact that it had a grip over me but I needed a more definitive reason to quit. What worked for me was when my sister told me she was going to have a baby. I didn’t want that kid to have smoking adults in her life. Which meant I had to quit, and hopefully that would help my sister to quit as well. I don’t know if my actions made any difference but she did quit. Doing it for a kid was a powerful motivator for me. When she gave me the news, I put down the phone, tossed my remaining cigarettes in the trash and left it at that. Not even one last one. I knew I had the motivation I was waiting for and that was the end of it.

        I guess everybody has their own way that works for them and you just need to find what that is.

        • lemonaz@lemmy.world
          5·
          1 day ago

          Yeah for sure. I’m afraid of the “just one more” thing too, that’s why I don’t think of it as casual. It’s more like I expressly forbid it in association with things I do every day or places I am every day, then if it happens in the corner cases once in a blue moon, I’m fine. So for instance, one rule I have is not to buy any packs ever and I don’t keep any around the house — you don’t move in with your FWB lol. But if there’s a crowd of friends or something, we can partake, but it’s like a ritual, it has a clear start and end and you don’t take it home with you. I specifically modeled it after weed, since I’m not addicted to that at all, and if it’s around me I sometimes partake and sometimes don’t. That’s how I’m currently with cigarettes. Plus, I don’t go out much these days, so I barely even see anyone else do it.

          That said, you’re right: both that it’s a different experience for everyone, and that it’s better to just never touch it again, but personally I can’t live with the thought of being banned from something for the rest of my life, because that implies I’ve already experienced it for the last time in my life, and that just brings in the existential dread.