Welcome to life!

The goal here is to keep track of various and sundry new things, including but not limited to new media (reading, movies, recipes, etc... Anything and everything).


To start - My current reading list. I will also be adding discussions on books that I've read in the past, as I feel like re-reading or discussing them.

 - More than Human (Ramez Naam)
 - Russia: A 1000-Year Chronicle of the Wild East (Martin Sixsmith)
 - The Unbearable Lightness of Being (Milan Kundera)
 - Ender's Game (Orson Scott Card)



More Than Human has an interesting perspective. It's an explanation of how human enhancements (genetic, lifestyle, medication-based, whichever) could work and improve our lives, not just cure diseases. It is a pro-enhancement stance, meant to offset some of the more negative works out there. As such, it focuses on the positives. It does typically mention the negatives in passing, but effectively assumes that at some point in the future, technology will overcome those problems.

One of the interesting aspects of this book is the fact that it was published in 2005, and cites many contemporary research projects in enhancements. As such, we are now able to go back and look at how some of research that was on-going or about to start turned out.  Of the two studies looking at IGF1 and its ability to treat ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease), one showed positive results and the other showed no significant data. IGF has to date not been approved for use in treating the disease. As regards studies on 2-deoxy-D-glucose (2DG) uses for anti-aging, we are effectively at the same place as when the book was written - it is toxic to humans in medium doses, has shown promise in low doses in mice, and we haven't been able to move forward with it in other ways yet. Other mimetics on the market have not been proven to help with anything, and your best bet still remains a glass of red wine. It is, however, just a bet still. (That said, moderate alcohol intake has been shown repeatedly to improve your cardiovascular outlook far more effectively than a lot of the blood-pressure-lowering-liver-or-kidney-killing medications out there, so why not?) 

As an interesting side note, at one point in the book the author talks about Caloric Restriction diets. That amuses me greatly, because a CR diet is one in which the person eats significantly fewer calories, 'on the point of starvation', with the goal of living a longer life. Although he doesn't get into numbers, a little bit of research into these diets show people going at about 1500 calories per day, carefully calculated to have a balance of nutrients. Interestingly, that's about how much I consume in a normal day when I'm cooking for myself. I wouldn't consider that anywhere near starvation, and I wouldn't consider it something where you need to be especially careful to get all your nutrients, as long as you're eating well and paying attention to what your body wants you to eat.

I'm about halfway through the book, so I will post more thoughts as I go through it.