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Comment by anon84873628 | Hacker News Reader

Surprised there is no mention of Bryan Johnson. Whatever you think of his methods, he has certainly done a lot to popularize longevity research in the last couple years.

Also no mention of rapamycin and related research on immune modulating pathways.

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After seeing some of his daily routines I am not so sure he is that interesting to talk about. Lots of pseudoscience devices, I imagine his caloric restriction has been the biggest impact.

Yeah, a lot of his approach also seems to be to try everything that could remotely have the possibility of working, and if it works it works, if it doesn't he can afford the expensive pee and the time wasted.

For most everyone else that has to budget (both money and time) and try to figure out what core supplements and practices could be beneficial, that doesn't really help.

Caloric restriction thing is true, but is also what he advocates. He always says if you are not sleeping well or eating right don't worry about anything else. Red light therapy, supplements, stem cells and all the other expensive experiments he does are all less effective and shouldn't even be considered until your sleep, exercise and diet are good.

I am not jumping into his program, but I am definitely keeping an eye on him. If he is still doing the same protocol and he looks the same 10 years from now it will get difficult to keep criticizing it.

sure but he hasn’t contributed much to the actual research itself, i agree that he’s done cultural contributions, but afaict he isn’t funding much

rapamycin is something i left out yeah, just was something i was less interested in + believe in less. i really only covered sirtuins because its had such a large cultural impact through David Sinclair’s book on aging

What drives your skepticism of rapamycin for anti-aging?

> he hasn't contributed much to the actual research itself

From what I've read, he's done quite a bit of this but it's been restricted to a population of one. If his healthspan hits 120, the experiment he's run has been successful, no? He's already 46 so we will have a result relatively soon (within 60-70 years).

In 20 or 30 years you can look and see if he's 99th percentile for his age along whatever metrics (mile run time, VO2 max, skin elasticity, etc.) and that will be an obvious sign of a successful experiment.

Statistically it will not be a very useful scientific experiment - too many variables, too small sample size. Plus he will die a lot sooner from all the pills he is taking.

IMHO, even experiments that don't seem useful today can still be interesting.

Dying at age 48, 80, or 150 are all potentially interesting results.

I really doubt he will die young, people who die in their 40s usually have something they don't notice until it is too late (heart disease, cancer). There is no way he would not notice something like that lol.

The amount of testing he undergoes is as interesting as the regimen itself to me. So many things that take you out are very survivable if caught in advance, and he is going to catch everything.

Results on those timescales are a bit too much of a Pascal's Wager for my liking.

How do you get longevity results on short timescales?

GM lab rats if you want in-vivo, better computational models of you want in-silico.

Both are happening; I have no idea what ultimate (or indeed present) limits each has.

Rat experiments would give you longevity results for rats which may or may not be the same in humans. AFAIK, the only way to get actual results for humans is to run the experiment.

lol, bro takes 100 pills a day. With all the tainted supplements in the world, he’s just playing Russian roulette with pills.

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