
The Real Secret of Youth Is Complexity - dnetesn
http://nautil.us/issue/36/aging/the-real-secret-of-youth-is-complexity?utm_source=frontpage&utm_medium=mview&utm_campaign=the-real-secret-of-youth-is-complexity
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reasonattlm
This seems pretty silly at first glance. It is just as easy to argue for
increased complexity due to stochastic mutational damage and proteopathy
followed by a sudden enormous cellular diversity of individual responses to
that damage, and responses to the responses by nearby cells. When you can
easily pull out data points to argue both sides of an overarching vision
that's usually a good sign that the wrong tree is being barked up.

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mafribe
I find it hard to reconcile the general message of the text with this
statement about heartbeats:

    
    
       The simpler the signal, the higher 
       the likelihood of abnormal rhythms,
    

Clearly, abnormal rhythms, almost by definition, mean a more complex signal.

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agumonkey
I haven't read the article yet; but I interpret this quote as youth feels bad
when things are too simple at a low level; which would explain why they seek
wild and chaotic so often and with enjoyment. A calibration toward learning
the environment.

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mafribe
The quote is about heartbeats.

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summarite
It seems the argument holds somewhat - healthy and long life needs lots of
stimuli and eg January learning in old age is known to delay dementia. That
tai chi helps micro movements is interesting, but is this a point about
complexity or just actively training ones sensory neurons and muscles to
react?

But the unnecessary excursion to fractals and their complexity is just odd.

Maybe the author made the article intentionally complex to follow his own
advice?

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agumonkey
To me taichi is more than micro moves. It's about holistic perception of your
body mechanics. You shift your center of gravity and accelerate boundaries
trying not to cancel the internal momentum. The blend of high acceleration on
limbs with reduced energy consumption is very soothing.

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hammock
Seems like complexity would lend itself to greater resiliency, less
opportunity for catastrophic failure.

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ilaksh
Sort of interesting but also sort of pseudoscience. If you are inrerested in
aging or rejuvenation research take a look at
[http://www.sens.org](http://www.sens.org).

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semi-extrinsic
Oh come on, you're calling this pseudoscience and then pulling out SENS?
Aubrey de Grey is in the "not even wrong" category, mainly making broad and
vague claims which cannot really be tested.

There was a paper on SENS in EMBO reports [1], titled "Science fact and the
SENS agenda", which concluded

"none of de Grey's therapies have ever been shown to extend the lifespan of
any organism, let alone humans."

If you want to actually talk about research into aging, stay far away from
SENS, as it's not research.

[1]
[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1371037/](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1371037/)

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ktRolster
When they say "simplicity" what they mean is something more like
"deterministic processes."

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hammock
Deterministic is a side effect/quality of simple processes, but that's not the
point. The point is "a single break in the chain will undermine its entire
function"

To use the brain example. Imagine crossing a forest, daily, every day of your
whole life. At first you're bushwhacking randomly. Eventually you build a
trail. And the brush is allowed to grow thicker around the trail, as it's
untrodden. That trail which aids you now is also a weakness of the system. If
it were to get washed out or obstructed, you wouldn't know/have no where else
to go.

Likewise with neural pathways.

