Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Age Simulation Suit

age-simulation-suit.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

111–120 of 191 posts

Re: Age Simulation Suit

#111

Post by copperx »

specialist wrote: post #87
coldcode wrote: post #62

The site is slow so I can't see it. I'm 68, eat well, lost 20 pounds, work out twice a week. Everything is working fine. But I live in a place surrounded by people in walkers, wheelchairs, or using canes. Some of them have had strokes or accidents making improvement hard, but many simply chose to not do anything to avoid the aging. You don't ordinarily wind up with a walker at a single point; it often starts many yea…

Yes and: Maintain your balance. Get tested (assessed). Do the exercises. (For anyone who hasn't heard.) My mom and her bf were hard core. Swimming, biking, running, the works. They served as one of the hosts for BBC's program Are You Fitter Than a Pensioner? [2010] https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00tyr5n My mom was 70 at the time. Spoiler: The seniors smoked the youths. Alas, as with so many: falls -> injury -> idl…

There's some hoping that some maladies of aging such as vertigo are more treatable in the coming decades, for those fortunate to be alive by then.

Re: Age Simulation Suit

#112

Post by peepee1982 »

barnabyjones wrote: post #99
nate wrote: post #8

My dad is 85 and this article hits hard about what he fights going on in his body. What sucks is how much of a downward, self reinforcing spiral it all is. It's so hard to see the curbs to walk over or how to get to a thing himself, so he just naturally chooses to do fewer and fewer things. Watching TV is safer and kinder and becomes the default to anything. Which just makes his brain less and less stimulated and act…

My parents have similar issues due to hearing loss, it really makes any kind of social interaction a chore which results in a similar spiral. For years I've wanted to try to make, or hope someone else would make, a set of AR glasses that's purely focused on providing accurate real-time subtitles, no other gimmicks or features that might affect the wearability/usability. I think that's the biggest QOL boost most old f…

I've never thought of this usecase and I think it's fantastic.

Re: Age Simulation Suit

#113

Post by peepee1982 »

raincole wrote: post #53
nate wrote: post #8

My dad is 85 and this article hits hard about what he fights going on in his body. What sucks is how much of a downward, self reinforcing spiral it all is. It's so hard to see the curbs to walk over or how to get to a thing himself, so he just naturally chooses to do fewer and fewer things. Watching TV is safer and kinder and becomes the default to anything. Which just makes his brain less and less stimulated and act…

One of the technologies I look forward to is exoskeleton. Yes I know it will be used by the army. But the potential to improve elders' lives is huge.

Agreed. But the pessimist in me fears that some people might fall back to that much too soon instead of adopting healthier lifestyles.

Re: Age Simulation Suit

#114

Post by thefourthchime »

rootusrootus wrote: post #97
coldcode wrote: post #62

The site is slow so I can't see it. I'm 68, eat well, lost 20 pounds, work out twice a week. Everything is working fine. But I live in a place surrounded by people in walkers, wheelchairs, or using canes. Some of them have had strokes or accidents making improvement hard, but many simply chose to not do anything to avoid the aging. You don't ordinarily wind up with a walker at a single point; it often starts many yea…

Reminds me of a guy I knew when I was growing up. At the time he was in his 80s. Walked miles every day, he was in great shape. Still died before 90, so it did not buy him notable longevity, but he was mentally sharp and physically capable up to very near the end. That sounds way better than slowly turning into a vegetable over the last 20 years of your life.

The age you die shouldn't be an accomplishment. The quality of life is.

Re: Age Simulation Suit

#115

Post by safety1st »

coldcode wrote: post #62

The site is slow so I can't see it. I'm 68, eat well, lost 20 pounds, work out twice a week. Everything is working fine. But I live in a place surrounded by people in walkers, wheelchairs, or using canes. Some of them have had strokes or accidents making improvement hard, but many simply chose to not do anything to avoid the aging. You don't ordinarily wind up with a walker at a single point; it often starts many yea…

I didn't realize this until a couple of years ago (in my 40s) but boy did it alter my perspective on life. And I've heard what you're saying here from a couple other people in their 60s too. When you're young you don't really think about it much, health comes for "free."

But as you age your biology will force a choice upon you, one option is you spend progressively more time maintaining your health, in which case it drops off MUCH less than you'd expect. Or you can neglect that maintenance, in which case your quality of life WILL drop off in a big way due to health problems.

That's what it is, it's a choice, one you don't get to opt out of, but there is a path where you're in remarkably good shape for less effort than you would probably assume... for most people even just 2-3 hours a week of moderate exercise at the gym is probably a game changer.

I'm a little worried about the health of younger people today, because I read the statistics about obesity, blood pressure, ED and so on all going up for them. I'm also occasionally taking 20-30 minute walks with people in their 20s, who want to take a car, they're exhausted at the end of it, and they can't keep up with me. I get it, I was like that a couple years ago before I started hitting the gym, but really, at 25, you can't handle under a half hour of brisk walking? Oof, habits sure have changed.

Re: Age Simulation Suit

#116

Post by copperx »

barnabyjones wrote: post #99
nate wrote: post #8

My dad is 85 and this article hits hard about what he fights going on in his body. What sucks is how much of a downward, self reinforcing spiral it all is. It's so hard to see the curbs to walk over or how to get to a thing himself, so he just naturally chooses to do fewer and fewer things. Watching TV is safer and kinder and becomes the default to anything. Which just makes his brain less and less stimulated and act…

My parents have similar issues due to hearing loss, it really makes any kind of social interaction a chore which results in a similar spiral. For years I've wanted to try to make, or hope someone else would make, a set of AR glasses that's purely focused on providing accurate real-time subtitles, no other gimmicks or features that might affect the wearability/usability. I think that's the biggest QOL boost most old f…

Spending R&D in something like this is much more important that building fancier hearing aids. Universal subtitles would be a life changer.

Re: Age Simulation Suit

#117

Post by peepee1982 »

ACCount37 wrote: post #58
nate wrote: post #8

My dad is 85 and this article hits hard about what he fights going on in his body. What sucks is how much of a downward, self reinforcing spiral it all is. It's so hard to see the curbs to walk over or how to get to a thing himself, so he just naturally chooses to do fewer and fewer things. Watching TV is safer and kinder and becomes the default to anything. Which just makes his brain less and less stimulated and act…

Aging should be recognized as a disease already. It's long overdue.

Aging is part of a natural process we are already able to slow down significantly. Calling it a disease just muddies the semantic space of pathology in my opinion.

Everybody understands already that slowing down or stopping the aging process is desirable. I don't see the usefulness in lumping it in with muscle atrophy, clogged arteries, or cancer.

Re: Age Simulation Suit

#118

Post by a2128 »

trhway wrote: post #27
clcaev wrote: post #18

Alternatively, one might ask someone with those disabilities to provide feedback.

While i think we should do more things in that direction, it borders on human experimentation. Btw, somebody should mention that Putin/Xi's talk about living to 150 years and the 70 being just a children age today (if you have state resources at your disposal).

I think life extension is an age-old topic for every powerful monarch or authoritarian leader. Every one believes they'll at last be the one who has the right resources and people to finally cheat life and live to 150 or become immortal. If they really end up buying into immortality it usually leads to their demise, like what happened to so many Chinese emperors throughout history. New knowledge and new theories about aging always arise but so does new quackery from people who have a lot to gain from convincing powerful people.

Yesterday it was immortality elixirs that lead to mercury poisioning, today it's young blood transfusions and young organ transplants (having multiple major surgeries and living on lifelong immunosuppresants does not bode well for longevity)

Re: Age Simulation Suit

#119

Post by peepee1982 »

HSO wrote: post #28

One thing you have to experience to really get it, that cannot be simulated with a mechanical suit or transmitted through words, is all the f-ing little aches you get past a certain point. I´m now convinced it is this that makes older people cranky. Some days, my body is just constantly in a low but annoying pain somewhere , and it seems in increasingly weird, obscure places you never even thought about. I dont even…

Yes. I am 42 and feel and am fitter than at any other point in my life (I started taking care of myself in my 30s).

The joint pain is the only thing that makes me feel old right now. And I don't think there's much I can do about it. (although I'll be happy for suggestions.)

Re: Age Simulation Suit

#120

Post by sniffers »

greyb wrote: post #43

From what I recall, there are retirement homes (the examples I'm thinking of are in Asia) that make use of these suits in their onboarding processes, where they need to wear these suits for a few hours to understand some of the challenges their patients experience, and develop empathy when they can't walk as fast or do things that we'd expect in short order. I would love to see more widespread adoption of these suits…

Doing this is probably a net good but also a bit risky. It creates the impression that there's one experience we all go through as we decline, when in reality it's pretty wildly different. It's helpful to build some empathy, but also a limited understanding.

For instance, these suits might restrict movement but they don't simulate hip or knee pain. They don't simulate shortness of breath, etc. It certainly doesn't induce cognitive impairment or anxiety. A young healthy person might wear one of these and go, "it's not soooooo bad.... I could do it why can't they".

Post reply on HN