
New insights into mitochondria reveal how life expends energy - WMCRUN
http://aging.nautil.us/feature/173/yes-life-in-the-fast-lane-kills-you
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Retric
This is crap because of how misleading it is. For example yes a correlation
exists between metabolic activity and lifespan across a wide range of life
forms, but humans just like most birds are at the extreme edge.

So, as humans already have rather extreme lifespans relative to most organisms
meaning our bodies are likely already using the low hanging fruit in terms of
extending lifespans. But, without that context it seems like birds have some
advantages we could copy.

This then hidden by first referencing a U shaped curve and ‘our place’ on it
without clarifying it’s a metabolic curve not a lifespan curve.

Finally “In a 2007 analysis it was shown that, when modern statistical methods
for correcting for the effects of body size and phylogeny are employed,
metabolic rate does not correlate with longevity in mammals or birds.”

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nonbel
>“In a 2007 analysis it was shown that, when modern statistical methods for
correcting for the effects of body size and phylogeny are employed, metabolic
rate does not correlate with longevity in mammals or birds.”

I'm not finding this quote.

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Retric
Ops forgot to post a link: [https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rate-of-
living_theory](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rate-of-living_theory)

It’s relating to this study:
[https://academic.oup.com/biomedgerontology/article/62/2/149/...](https://academic.oup.com/biomedgerontology/article/62/2/149/574559)

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PavlikPaja
Mitochondrial dysfuction comes primarily from manganese being replaced by
iron, from the wrong Fe/Mn ratio (which the body has no way of correcting, as
both are absorbed by the same mechanism and iron cannot be excreted.) or a
deficiency in general, which results in mismetallation.

E-coli has a similar problem with iron/manganese/zinc:
[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4192467/](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4192467/)

The general problem with iron is that while it is faster, it's also reactive
in its free form, unlike manganese, which only works in proteins.

The majority of the world population is supposedly iron deficient, but the
numbers are likely based on populations that already suffered from iron
overload; it is possible that animal lifespans were substantially shortened as
the result of human activity which disrupted the mineral balance to the degree
no animal evloved to deal with.

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qwerty456127
IMHO longevity is overrated. I would put importance of fighting age-related
diseases (including tissue aging, immune and hormonal decline in particular)
well above extending longevity in importance. I certainly don't want to live
200 years looking and feeling what is considered adequate to being this old
but looking and feeling like a 25-35-years-old until I reach something near
the age of 60 (of course longer is kind of better perhaps but if I had to -
this is what I'd trade) and die quickly and easily without going through even
slightest form of disability (defined by comparison to healthy young adults)
and physical struggle seems like something I'd totally buy into.

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landryraccoon
I'm curious how old you are. I don't think your opinion is at all uncommon,
but it always seems to come from people that are young.

Life is really not that bad when you're old. Like, even when you're 60 there's
a lot to live for. If I had to choose between living 40 years as a 40 year old
or 25 years as a 25 year old it's not even close - I'd take being longevity at
40 in a heartbeat. Judging from how active my parents seem to be, I'd be happy
to spend 100 years at retirement age too.

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marcusjt
Given living standards in the West and thus the way we currently consume the
Earth's resources, this planet cannot support everyone living to 80, let alone
longer. Therefore surely better (in terms of the greater good) for us to live
shorter lives, but full ones, free from disease/ageing/degeneration.

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masonic

      this planet cannot support everyone living to 80
    

It likewise can't support couples producing 4+ children.

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Haga
I want everyone else to be reasonable so I can game theoretically outsmart
every one. If only there was a bigger player forcing us all to behave
reasonable-like a state.

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est31
Lifespans depend on far more than just one thing, but multiple. Telomere
shortening is a contributor, mitochondria may be, senescent cells, stem cell
death, mechanical issues like joint or tooth wear down (partly coped in humans
for now but very much an issue in other animals especially mammals which for
some odd reason, in general don't have constantly regrowing teeth), etc etc.

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peter303
But count we are really mitochondrians- a hundred times as many of them inside
us as human cells. So human cells are really just vessels for mitochondria to
make nore mitochondria with a bit of embelishment on the side.

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landryraccoon
My laptop has more screws than CPUs. Does that mean my laptop is more of a
screw holder than a computer?

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gbaygon
wouldn't it be a fairer comparison screws to transistors?

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landryraccoon
Analogies are pretty imperfect, but maybe lithium battery cells would be a
better analogy to mitochondria.

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fromthestart
>But if the conditions are unfavorable, if we’re starving, there’s a kind of
switch from gearing up for sex and protein synthesis and bulking up to gearing
up for survival: battening down the hatches and waiting out the bad times.
This genetic switch has been the focus of most work on aging over the last
decade or so.

Pure speculation, but based on its pervasiveness, I've wondered if depression
could have been selected for through a mechanism such as this.

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shaki-dora
In my experience, reduced sex drive isn’t a terribly prominent symptom of
depression.

Personally, I have always liked the idea of depression being a sort of strike.
A social signal “baked into” genetics.

(Not that that interpretation has any more direct evidence. Maybe depression
is just one of those bugs inevitable in billions of lines of self-modifying
spaghetti code.)

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peter303
Thats what I call the Devils bargain: sex and death invented together a
billion years ago. But it seems to worked in evolving complex life.

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cmrdporcupine
It works to ensure diversity, which in turns works to ensure survival of
species through viruses, plagues, and parasites.

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peterburkimsher
Mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell.

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samstave
> __ _So if I focus all my resources on having sex, then effectively I take
> resources away from longevity. I take them away from surviving for longer,
> and so I shorten my lifespan almost deliberately in evolutionary terms._ __

This is a very interesting statement - in some of the Esoteric Teachings I
have read throughout my life - they specifically say that masturbation for
simple pleasure (ejaculation in males) -- drains you of your life essence and
is seen spiritually as a selfish-wasteful use of your life - and this shortens
your lifespan and reduces your spiritual power. (additionally, doing very
deliberate things with sexual energy is a basis in sex magick)...

The idea being that you're pulling life-force from yourself and then
'projecting' intentionally toward what you're doing with that sexual energy --
which would be interesting if you were draining energy from mitochondria in
general.

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visarga
I think this line of thinking goes into an extreme. Preserving bodily fluids
is not as useful as the Esoteric Teachings claim, and can lead to accumulation
of frustration. They just keep people horny and try to reuse that energy, with
more or less success.

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samstave
Not vouching for it per se... I just get triggered by something that I read
and then it brings up all the seemingly related content I have ingested in the
past...

I find this protein folding talk to be relevant:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zm-3kovWpNQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zm-3kovWpNQ)

