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The brain can recall and reawaken past immune responses

quantamagazine.org

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Re: The brain can recall and reawaken past immune responses

#81

Post by inter_netuser »

vaylian wrote: post #34
inter_netuser wrote: post #31

Does poor memory result in poor immune response?

There is more than one type of memory in biology. Just like there are different types of memory in computing.

Yes, but any type of memory decline linked to immunity decline would be interesting, as memory performance is known to decline in older adults, who also have a decline in immune function.

What’s really interesting, thymus involution becomes more or less clinically relevant just around the time cognitive performance begins to decline.

Re: The brain can recall and reawaken past immune responses

#83

Post by inter_netuser »

kortex wrote: post #36

I've heard it phrased "Stress wrecks the body in strange ways." It is one of the best aphorisms I've been given. A physiologist friend told me this years ago when I was remarking how it seems like psychological stress seems to cause every subsystem of the body to freak out, yet there's no obvious connection between these things - why should the brain, which is evolutionarily "late", affect such deep subsystems? This…

Is immune-psychiatry a thing? Why not simply neurology?

Re: The brain can recall and reawaken past immune responses

#84

Post by inter_netuser »

jerf wrote: post #73
phonypc wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don't actually have to be in conditions of siege or famine for them to be stressful. They merely have to be a threat. And what would a common person (i.e. peasant) have been able to do about that threat? If your village is raided and you escape harm (quite the assumption), why would you generally return to "baseline"? What if the raiders took all your food and you can't feed your family? What if your family was m…

You are making the cognitive mistake of seeing the exceptions as the default, because the exceptions are what come to mind. As I said, when constant persistent stress was occurring, I'm sure it wasn't any better for them than for us. But those were the exceptions. History writes about the famines and the sieges precisely because they're the interesting exceptions. Most people, most of the time, were not in a siege or…

I’ve once stayed on a farm that was away from everything, no phones, no TV, electricity barely.

It was a great summer, can confirm.

Re: The brain can recall and reawaken past immune responses

#85

Post by inter_netuser »

freeest-will wrote: post #57
r0b05 wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Please elaborate on why you think free will is exaggerated and how it could be healthy. I'm really interested in this being a meditator.

Our current understanding of physics leaves no place for free will. Of course, many disagree with this. https://physicsworld.com/a/why-free-will-is-beyond-physics/ https://aeon.co/essays/heres-why-so-many-physicists-are-wron...

Leaves no room for free will? We literally assume axiomatically experimenters freedom.

Since when is superdeterminism a done deal?

Conway had a few interesting words on this topic: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_will_theorem

Re: The brain can recall and reawaken past immune responses

#86

Post by oofoe »

baq wrote: post #48

this gives a tiny sliver of credibility to stories about people focusing really hard for really long on imagining tumors being eaten by their immune system and this actually happening. used to sound like total crap, now... just crap? it'd be amazing if it wasn't.

See also, "Carcinoma Angels", Norman Spinrad, 1967.

Re: The brain can recall and reawaken past immune responses

#87

Post by tdrdt »

0xdeadb00f wrote: post #63
tdrdt wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is also the reason why a lock-down against a virus is not always the best option for healthy people. A lock-down causes stress and this weakens the immune system. Personally I think it is obvious why the connection between stress and 'subsystems' is there. Stress puts the body into survival mode. Heavy breathing is an example. But when the stress holds on for too long it exhausts your body causing all kinds of t…

Lockdowns comfort me, knowing that I have less chance to get (and spread, if I do happen to have it) the virus if I'm not out and about.

That is one aspect of a lockdown. But there are others and they are different for each person.

In the Netherlands it was estimated that a lockdown would save 150000 life years but would cost 650000. This takes into account a huge number of factors. For example health, but also job safety, happiness, and so on.

A lockdown causes stress for a lot of people. It seems you are not one of them.

Re: The brain can recall and reawaken past immune responses

#88

Post by freeest-will »

inter_netuser wrote: post #85
freeest-will wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Our current understanding of physics leaves no place for free will. Of course, many disagree with this. https://physicsworld.com/a/why-free-will-is-beyond-physics/ https://aeon.co/essays/heres-why-so-many-physicists-are-wron...

Leaves no room for free will? We literally assume axiomatically experimenters freedom. Since when is superdeterminism a done deal? Conway had a few interesting words on this topic: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_will_theorem

We know our knowledge of physics is incomplete.

There is no largely accepted obvious place where free will emerges from, while at the same time superdeterminism is not proven as you say.

So it's fair for some to say that physics as we know it doesn't allow free will, while at the same time it's fair for others to say that obviously they have free will thus it must exist.

Re: The brain can recall and reawaken past immune responses

#89

Post by inter_netuser »

freeest-will wrote: post #88
inter_netuser wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Leaves no room for free will? We literally assume axiomatically experimenters freedom. Since when is superdeterminism a done deal? Conway had a few interesting words on this topic: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_will_theorem

We know our knowledge of physics is incomplete. There is no largely accepted obvious place where free will emerges from, while at the same time superdeterminism is not proven as you say. So it's fair for some to say that physics as we know it doesn't allow free will, while at the same time it's fair for others to say that obviously they have free will thus it must exist.

"physics as we know it doesn't allow free will"

How?

Re: The brain can recall and reawaken past immune responses

#90

Post by 0xdeadb00f »

tdrdt wrote: post #87
0xdeadb00f wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lockdowns comfort me, knowing that I have less chance to get (and spread, if I do happen to have it) the virus if I'm not out and about.

That is one aspect of a lockdown. But there are others and they are different for each person. In the Netherlands it was estimated that a lockdown would save 150000 life years but would cost 650000. This takes into account a huge number of factors. For example health, but also job safety, happiness, and so on. A lockdown causes stress for a lot of people. It seems you are not one of them.

Yes I'm not denying that it causes people stress. Just putting my thoughts in.

I think because I'm not stressed about it I'm definitely in a position of privilege. There are people who could not work during lockdowns - and I can completely understand why such people would be stressed. Not being able to make a living, and not knowing what's to come.

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