How Aging Research Is Changing Our Lives

1. I have concerns over this institute.

2. I don't have the expertise to question anything they do.

3. That said, it sometimes looks like just a playground for a few bored scientists. Or, a place rich kids play with worms--"will look great on my college application?"

4. The history of the Buck Institute. A very nice lady, who lived in Ross, left her estate to Marin County. It was suspose to go to the poor, suffering, and Artists. Since her bequeath, it seems like so much of the money was spend on dubious endeavors. The Buck Institution was lavishly built with her money, and gets a huge stipend yearly. Money is spend on everything, but she really wanted it to go to?

My problem with the Institute is it doesn't seem to do much. Every once in awhile, I hear something they might have discovered with their Nematodes, but they could say they anything, and those at the trust would still just continuing the lavish funding.

I think it really bothers me because I looked at the original Trust, and I'm stepping over Marin Homeless(people who were born here). Money this trust was suspose to eliminate.

I don't want to debate, but this place needs outside scrutiny. Completely impartial scrutiny, but then again how do you prove they are Not helping in the long term? It's aging. It's like proving the existence of God. If it's actually doing something--fine. If it's just a waste of her money, shut it down, or retool the Institute.

And no--I'm not impressed with the Institute so far, but I'm a nobody. Just someone who knows I would never give so much to a county, without a iron clad Trust. The Trust seemed straight foreward to me, but Lawyers just tore it apart, and those that dole out the money do not do it in the spirit she wanted.

Did you read the article?

"First, if you hear the word immortality, just run"

No one is talking about immortality here.

You can have pretty much the same mental condition when you are 70-80 years old as when you are 20-30. But to have that you need to keep using your brain and challenging it. Old people usually have much less opportunity to stay mentally active. And less motivation.

Statements above are based mostly on The Brain That Changes Itself by Norman Doidge[1] which I highly reccomend. Plus just listen to some old folks that you can tell are still quick - Warren Buffet 86, Chomsky 88, James Harris Simons 79 and so on.

1. https://www.amazon.com/Brain-That-Changes-Itself-Frontiers/d...

Great article, this is the first one on aging I've read in a while that has it's head on straight and isn't trying to make weasel arguments that suggest aging cures are just around the corner. Happy to see a clear distinction between lifespan and longevity, so many people like to leverage confusion between those concepts to argue that medical advancements have improved longevity, like Ray Kurzweil does.

> People talk about healthcare, but in essence what we have right now is not healthcare. It’s sick care. Some people see their physician when they’re well, but most people don’t because there’s not much advice that they can give you other than not to smoke and to exercise and all that.

I feel like I identify with this; I want to have conversations with my doctor all the time about routine advice seeking kind of stuff, but I don't because there's nothing wrong, plus it costs a lot. I would love to have a health care plan where conversations during and about being well were expected and included, but I don't see it coming any time soon.

> I want to have conversations with my doctor all the time about routine advice seeking kind of stuff, but I don't because there's nothing wrong, plus it costs a lot.

I assume you mean it costs a lot as a total package, including paying for health insurance.

For me, my individual visit to see my doctor costs me $20 per visit, which I do not consider to be expensive.