X-Message-Number: 20960
Date: Fri, 24 Jan 2003 11:22:41 -0700
Subject: Right Livelihood (was Re: CAN AN IMMORTALIST HAVE A LIFE?)
References: <>
From: (Tim Freeman)
I'm a bit behind on my email, as you can see, but this is still worth
paying attention to:
>Message #20742
>Date: Tue, 31 Dec 2002 00:56:33 +1100
>From: Philip Rhoades <>
>Subject: CAN AN IMMORTALIST HAVE A LIFE?
>The end result of Snags One and Two is that you end up being very
>boring because you don't do much of what normal people call "fun" i.e.
>You don't have a life.
Normal people are often quite tedious. I don't think it is worthwhile
to try to live in a way they would appreciate.
I do think it's worthwhile for *you* to develop a way to live that
*you* approve of. I haven't achieved this yet, but I can easily see a
number of ways I've moved closer during the past few years. If the
next piece of software I write is as marketable as I hope, then I
might feel that I've had some success at finding a way of living that
I like.
The idea that "right livelihood" is necessary for emotional
equilibrium has been known for a long time. It's part of the Buddha's
eightfold path. I don't aspire to achieve freedom from suffering, so
I'm not Buddhist. However, pointless suffering is worth eliminating
so IMO it's worthwhile to pay some attention to his advice.
I do not think this has much to do with life extension, unless your
desires contribute directly to your demise. If you decide that
"having a life" means doing Russian Roulette demonstrations, you need
to either give up on life extension or change your mind about what it
means to have a life.
>With respect to the Second Snag and ignoring the First Snag: Extending
>one's current life is not easy. You need to keep up with all the
>different research that is going on in all sorts of different areas
>that affect aging. Like nutrition advice, there is conflicting
>scientific evidence about what we should be doing. You need to read a
>lot, post lots of emails on appropriate mailing lists, persuade family
>and friends to join the cause while still working to pay the rent and
>studying etc.
I don't think it has to take that much time. Find a few things that
are obviously worth doing, and do them consistently. The doing is
more important than the finding, and also more difficult. There are
enough obvious things to do that you don't have to spend a lot of time
optimizing the finding. At the moment I do:
cryonics,
mild calorie restriction (slow weight loss is in progress),
daily ordinary multivitamins, and
excercise to the point where I know from experience that more
exercise will result in overtraining. It takes about 2.5
hours/week.
In my experience, trying hard to persuade family and friends isn't
worth the trouble. It is vital, however, to select family and friends
who don't block your goals. I'm on my second marriage so I'm not
kidding about selecting a family. Several years after the change I'm
still glad I did it.
>Firstly, according to my part-time partner (full-time is
>too much hard work) I am full of internal contradictions and she says I
>am bordering on obsessive compulsive disorder.
>I work strange (IT) hours; I slave over a hot computer all night; I
>watch Star Trek and then channel-flick until the sun comes up; I don't
>eat much junk food but I should eat more vegies and fruit; I have a
>fridge full of food supplements that I forget to take most of the
>time; I am burnt out by the weekend and sleep for most of it; my
>partner calls me a "Westie" made good who is camping in a luxury unit.
Obsessive compulsive disorder is washing your hands 40 times a day, or
being unable to travel away from your house because you're never
certain enough that you locked the front door. Forgetting to take
your supplements is different from being obsessive-compulsive. Either
there is something important that you didn't list, or it's better to
negotiate with your partner about the behaviors of yours she wants to
control without using the "obsessive compulsive" label. There are
good drugs for real obsessive-compulsive disorder, BTW.
I find that I feel better when I have stable sleeping habits. Strange
hours aren't bad, AFAIK, so long as it's the same strange hours from
one day to the next. People who do shift work with regularly changing
shifts have an increased risk of heart disease. Sudden cardiac death
usually leads to poor suspensions.
I watch an occasional videotape, but not any network TV. I used to
watch Star Trek but it doesn't do it for me any more; after reading
enough Vinge and Egan the Star Trek plots seem pointless. My dad does
not own a TV because he knows he's vulnerable to TV addiction. People
who have TIVO's seem to like them. I don't know what you should do
about TV viewing interfering with your sleep, but be aware there are
alternatives.
Time for lunch. I'm hungry. Gotta go. :-).
--
Tim Freeman
GPG public key fingerprint ECDF 46F8 3B80 BB9E 575D 7180 76DF FE00 34B1 5C78
Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=20960