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Brooke the Immortal: An American Child May Hold Secrets to Aging

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Re: Brooke the Immortal: An American Child May Hold Secrets to Aging

#91

Post by [deleted] »

Judson wrote: post #89
btilly wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Show me a real currency backed by something (Sorry, "faith" in the government doesn't count), and we can talk about progression on the GDP front. How about the fraction of disposable personal income spent on food? http://www.ers.usda.gov/briefing/cpifoodandexpenditures/data... From 1929 to the present that has dropped from 23.4% to 9.5%. This despite what other evidence suggests is a considerable increase in the quan…

This is what I hate about HN. People who don't understand economics are inherently the people that are down-vote happy. Thats why I don't care one bit about karma. You have chosen to compare what I was talking about, GDP (Nominal in this case) and a percentage of dollars (since you quote the USDA, I was talking about worldwide btw, just like the op) to food. It's an apples to oranges comparison, and for the most part…

[deleted]

Re: Brooke the Immortal: An American Child May Hold Secrets to Aging

#92

Post by ugh »

Judson wrote: post #89
btilly wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Show me a real currency backed by something (Sorry, "faith" in the government doesn't count), and we can talk about progression on the GDP front. How about the fraction of disposable personal income spent on food? http://www.ers.usda.gov/briefing/cpifoodandexpenditures/data... From 1929 to the present that has dropped from 23.4% to 9.5%. This despite what other evidence suggests is a considerable increase in the quan…

This is what I hate about HN. People who don't understand economics are inherently the people that are down-vote happy. Thats why I don't care one bit about karma. You have chosen to compare what I was talking about, GDP (Nominal in this case) and a percentage of dollars (since you quote the USDA, I was talking about worldwide btw, just like the op) to food. It's an apples to oranges comparison, and for the most part…

GDP might be not that meaningful but you can, for example, look at what share of humanity is still starving (thus getting a handle on poverty), how many people can afford a bike, a washing machine, a TV, a car, holidays on other continents and so on. That would give you a more realistic view on economic progress. GDP was my (probably ill-advised) way of saying that the economy has massively grown in the last hundred years. We can produce more things at a lower cost.

Re: Brooke the Immortal: An American Child May Hold Secrets to Aging

#93

Post by btilly »

Judson wrote: post #89
btilly wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Show me a real currency backed by something (Sorry, "faith" in the government doesn't count), and we can talk about progression on the GDP front. How about the fraction of disposable personal income spent on food? http://www.ers.usda.gov/briefing/cpifoodandexpenditures/data... From 1929 to the present that has dropped from 23.4% to 9.5%. This despite what other evidence suggests is a considerable increase in the quan…

This is what I hate about HN. People who don't understand economics are inherently the people that are down-vote happy. Thats why I don't care one bit about karma. You have chosen to compare what I was talking about, GDP (Nominal in this case) and a percentage of dollars (since you quote the USDA, I was talking about worldwide btw, just like the op) to food. It's an apples to oranges comparison, and for the most part…

It seems that you're on a rant against a straw man who has little resemblance to me. I'd prefer it if you address the points I've made, instead of the ones you think I've made.

Before you asked for a real currency, backed by something. With the implicit point that you don't believe the numbers.

Well my point is that any basket of goods implicitly defines a currency. Therefore food defines a currency, which is backed by the very real effort and resources it takes to produce that food. I've shown that GDP per capita in that "currency" has gone up. I presented figures for the USA because that is what I found first, but the same is true for the world as a whole. This is true at the same time that the number of people has gone up. Which means that food production must have gone up a lot.

You demanded a real measuring stick. I gave one. There is nothing special about that measuring stick. You can adjust for inflation using the CPI. You can adjust by many specific things we use daily, such as the cost of energy or metal. GDP has gone up.

Now you say that it is an apples and oranges comparison? Well of course it is! Productivity increases because we do things more efficiently. Using 1920s methods and technology we can't be any more productive today than we were 80 years ago. But we're using 2010 methods and technology, and there is a stark difference. The result is that today we generate more stuff, services, and things people want than at any point in history.

So yes, you are trivially right that inflation makes GDP numbers meaningless in isolation. But those numbers don't exist in isolation. We have lots of ways to adjust for inflation. After you have done so, it is clear that you can quibble about specific numbers but the broad point is good. Productivity has gone up.

Re: Brooke the Immortal: An American Child May Hold Secrets to Aging

#94

Post by DennisP »

possibilistic wrote: post #53
guynamedloren wrote: post #16

I've always wondered about the human body. Right now I am studying engineering, but eventually I would like to delve deep into anatomy and biology. An automobile can theoretically run forever as long as it is properly maintained, even if that means replacing major parts - engine, transmission, even frame (but at a certain point the repairs are no longer financially feasible). Why then, can't the human body last forev…

Computational biochem student here. Unfortunately we do not have the technological prowess to replace parts of our body as they age. Researchers are working on growing whole organs from the extracellular scaffolds of cadavers, but this technique is in its infancy and I would take all news concerning it with a grain of salt. Unfortunately, we are limited by which organs and tissues we can replace. Case in point: we ca…

"Intracellular and extracellular buildup" are two of the problems the SENS people are trying to fix. It sounds like you'd be interested in Aubrey de Grey's book...he goes into a lot of detail on their ideas.

On another note, Kary Mullis has a clever idea that he thinks could make cures for all infections diseases: http://www.edge.org/3rd_culture/mullis10/mullis10_index.html

Re: Brooke the Immortal: An American Child May Hold Secrets to Aging

#95

Post by Judson »

btilly wrote: post #93
Judson wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is what I hate about HN. People who don't understand economics are inherently the people that are down-vote happy. Thats why I don't care one bit about karma. You have chosen to compare what I was talking about, GDP (Nominal in this case) and a percentage of dollars (since you quote the USDA, I was talking about worldwide btw, just like the op) to food. It's an apples to oranges comparison, and for the most part…

It seems that you're on a rant against a straw man who has little resemblance to me. I'd prefer it if you address the points I've made, instead of the ones you think I've made. Before you asked for a real currency, backed by something. With the implicit point that you don't believe the numbers. Well my point is that any basket of goods implicitly defines a currency. Therefore food defines a currency, which is backed…

Of course I am trivially right, I posted a trivial reply to something I was only nitpicking about (and I told the op I agreed, just not with GDP).

No one offered up inflation adjusted GDP, and my point, which was very simple, though long winded, was that you simply can't say "Increases in GDP make the world better".

Look at zimbabwe. Their GDP is Hundreds of Trillions of Zimbabwe dollars, because they print a 1 Trillion dollar note.

To be more fair, the OP would have been better off using your food example instead of saying "GDP rose". I wasn't arguing that we are worse off today than 1929, just that it isn't because of an increase in GDP. If the currency wasn't inflated, we could get better off with GDP staying constant, through productivity gains.

Re: Brooke the Immortal: An American Child May Hold Secrets to Aging

#96

Post by adrianwaj »

possibilistic wrote: post #53
guynamedloren wrote: post #16

I've always wondered about the human body. Right now I am studying engineering, but eventually I would like to delve deep into anatomy and biology. An automobile can theoretically run forever as long as it is properly maintained, even if that means replacing major parts - engine, transmission, even frame (but at a certain point the repairs are no longer financially feasible). Why then, can't the human body last forev…

Computational biochem student here. Unfortunately we do not have the technological prowess to replace parts of our body as they age. Researchers are working on growing whole organs from the extracellular scaffolds of cadavers, but this technique is in its infancy and I would take all news concerning it with a grain of salt. Unfortunately, we are limited by which organs and tissues we can replace. Case in point: we ca…

Dental health is really interesting to me right now. There are cultures that have little decay but don't clean there teeth. It's all in the diet. I am also interested in Weston Price's research into Root Canals causing all manner of diseases - the idea being that bacteria and toxins can remain in the tubules of dead teeth and with this as a base, branch into other parts of the body. Dental health is linked to longevity.

Re: Brooke the Immortal: An American Child May Hold Secrets to Aging

#97

Post by JabavuAdams »

possibilistic wrote: post #79
JabavuAdams wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can I ask you three questions? 1) What are the names of the courses you're taking this year? 2) What books are you reading for your studies? 3) Who would you most want to work with, in your field?

I'm done with my undergrad CS and Bio education (with a few exceptions), and now I'm working on the finishing up on chem--then it's time for grad school. My biggest worry is that I do not know enough physics... I'm hoping P.chem rectifies that. For the next academic year I'm taking the following: Biotechnology, Physical chemistry, Analytical chemistry, Instrumental analysis, Biochemistry, Drug design, Cancer bio, and…

Thanks, and good luck!
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