Hacker News Reader

Comment by criddell | Hacker News Reader

> 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).

View on HN

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.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com