sholomar

My last addiction is still video games and screens, LOL. Habit change can be gradual. Set aside an hour each day to be mindful, to practice purposed relaxation. Sit in an empty room, do nothing, and observe the cravings that arise as your body is addicted to it's habitual state of arousal. I now have 2 videos to remind myself what I need to be doing that open when my web browser opens... despite the clickbait nature of the titles and screenshots they are actually good videos. Key takeaway from second video... just because something is "relaxing" doesn't mean it clears your "allostatic load" ... think hours binge watching TV series... you actually release cortisol and stress hormones engaged in stimuli like screens.

Seems like it's a combination of factors... large numbers of old baby boomers taking from social programs, still living in their homes, low birth rates, underbuilding of real estate, allowing people to "invest" in residential real estate, foreign investment, turning homes into rentals and AirBNBs. Housing is the real problem as far as costs go. I see lots of people spend money recklessly and they always have. A lot of items people don't have to overpay for, they choose to pay what is being asked.. that's on them. If people had impulse control and said "no" when something is being overcharged, the price would come down. If you own the latest $1200 iphone and then converse with me about how tight finances and living costs are... likewise if you have heated steering wheels on your $50K+ vehicle. You did that to yourself. I think there's too much emphasis on supporting the top and bottom and no political party anymore represents the middle. What really hurts morale where I work are the 5% of employees who abuse paid FMLA to get months per year off, and they never get fired for it, or the work from home types who hardly have any actual work to do. The average person who actually shows up for work is busting their butt for crap wages. If they are talking about lacking productivity why don't they start with the FMLA/disability users and work from home types, and maybe cut CEO and upper management pay and give more of it back to the employees. It may also be because much of the boomer's world was built on foreign low wage labor, and many of those nations are trying to improve their living standards, so we can't live like kings in our western nations as other nations try to modernize and strengthen their middle classes.

There has to be something in our genetic makeup that craves adventure and excitement especially women's genetic makeup, because it makes no sense to have everything provided for you, have a loving husband and family, and yet still want to die. It seems like our genetics are wired to want what we don't have, seek novelty, variety, adventure, and have "grass is always greener" syndrome along with a sense of purpose. If we do the same thing long enough or don't feel like we are "contributing to the tribe" we get depressed. I know many here don't subscribe to genetic reasonings behind behavior but to me genetics are everything, and if we could learn to distill every piece of DNA down to it's constituent function, eventually we could reverse engineer every behavior pattern and drive our species have and the reason behind it from an evolutionary perspective, and then do genetic engineering to make the perfect human being, free from our evolutionary shackles. Our brains are habit forming machines too and if a person gets stuck in the same pattern of thinking unable to escape thought thought/habit and emotion/reaction loops... I do think it's a bit silly to obsess over other people wanting to take their own lives. If you're not willing to fix them, let them take their lives. There's 8 billion people on this planet... the planet won't miss one. As others have mentioned, there is a component where people are "too comfortable" in life and you present them a life wrapped in bubble wrap with no challenge... or they are like my sister and spend their entire lives on government disability which enables them to never leave it, to never push themselves.... one of the areas I believe leftists go wrong, thinking that all "discomfort" should be eliminated from life, and that you can save everyone... that simply goes against the laws of nature. Trying to coddle and spoil people makes them hypersensitive and more prone to psychological conditions in some cases. Sometimes you just need to be thrown to the wolves and learn how to fend for yourself... in the long run that makes for a healthier species.

I like Lizi's stuff. Zeitgeist. A few standalone videos as well... also diddly. ASMR must be done with headphones, if you are not familiar with it... the higher quality the better, such as a pair of Sennheiser open back or equivalent. Here is one of the older ASMR videos that really started it all...

Could be anything really... microplastics, pesticides, drug use, smoking, eating lots of charred and burnt meat, pollutants in our food supply, stress. Personally I believe the main driver is obesity. They should measure the BMI of everyone getting these diseases. Our level of bodyfat is unprecedented compared to any time in evolutionary history. Also, many more people used to smoke in the past than they do now. My grandmother lived until 85 smoking 2 packs a day and she was never a person I would call "playful" either though she craved drama and worked hard. She was thin and stayed generally active despite her smoking. Genetics has a role, letting people breed who have sub-optimal genetics because we want to be compassionate, the society of coddling people, but mostly it's people are fat and don't move. It's really that simple. Anyone who chews tobacco is at enhanced risk of cancer of the mouth and throat as chewing tobacco is FAR worse than smoking it. Every single person I've known who is a long time chewer develops precancerous growths in their mouth... so if you are reading this, don't be a fucking idiot... stop chewing tobacco. Smoke it if you must. The synthetic polymer problem is not really anything anyone has really thought about yet... it's not just microplastics in food, but on clothing and fabrics that doesn't just end up as dryer lint, but often ends up in the air. There's no easy solution to this. Where I work I breathe in a cellulose based fiber called "lenzing" as part of my job... I often wonder if it's bad for me long term and I should find a different machine to work on. "Lenzing™ fibres are man-made from natural wood cellulose molecules derived from renewable sources and are eco-consciously manufactured with innovative and sustainable processes. At the end of their lifecycle, Lenzing™ fibres are fully biodegradable."

It's largely genetic. My father would deny this but it's true. When I lived off chinese food (americanized chinese with lots of sugar and fat) I had a cholesterol of 150 with an HDL in the 50's to 60's... when I started to eat paleo/meditarranean the HDL did rise a bit but nothing super significant... my latest reading was 157 total cholesterol with HDL of 65. I do zone 2 cardio, some weight training, eat meat, vegetables, eggs, and high fiber carbs. Maybe reduce refined carbs to improve cholesterol readings. I believe refined carbs are the true villain to many people's diets who are prone to metabolic syndrome, just based on the way we evolved as a species. I use a Polar H10 chest heart monitor and their app to maintain a zone 2 pace during my cardio. Maybe try that.. and less dietary carbohydrates, especially fructose. When evolving humans did not have access to the high fructose ultra sweet genetically modified fruits of today.. they were seasonal and much more tart and smaller. Whether people want to admit it or not, our diet was paleo.... tubers, berries, meats, until around 10,000 years ago, which is when health started to decline... Most of this guy's content is rather hit or miss, but this video is absolute gold... Another good book I stumbled across on reddit is called "the thin prediabetic" .. written by someone of asian descent as they often have thin prediabetics in their culture.... the solution he mentions involves building type 2 muscle fibers to reduce insulin resistance, reducing carbs, and eating bitter foods like "bitter melon" along with a few other topics https://www.amazon.com/dp/1095483773

If people want to be really self honest there's actually quite a bit of fundamentalism in this forum, you just don't see it because you believe your leftist philosophy is the right and best way for everyone to live... you consider yourselves tolerant but are you? I see conservative bashing and this sort of moral/intellectual elitism every time I visit. It's not truly wanting individuals and cultures to develop at their own pace when you want to force feed stage green values on them and insist they embrace them. Truth is, a lot of leftism causes a lot of depression and mental problems in a lot of people, especially boys/men, because a lot of it is counter to the way we evolved and are optimally designed to operate as the species homo sapiens. Perhaps that utopia you seek is simply out of reach for our species without genetic engineering. I do understand why these stage blue/red/orange cultures think they are right. When you are conditioned to think a certain way from birth it has a profound and strong programming into one's emotional/subconscious brain. Throw in a million year old genetic drives to behave certain ways... It's nothing personal... in fact human behavior should be taken very impersonally.. like a bear pooping in the woods. You change behavior through positive and negative reinforcement of what is considered "good" and "bad" and you have a culture. Humans in general like to fit in with the herd, or a herd, and so you sustain that culture through these cultural mores. Change takes time. It can't be forced. Religion is just another tool of control, a way to make a person fit into something, to make them feel like they belong. Having a "God" to worship also satisfies the human craving to have an alpha male to guide them. Truth be told society would be much better if everyone followed the ten commandments, regardless of what the rest of the religion is about. I see wokeness as a sort of religion of it's own, to be honest... just another belief system for people to fit into. Religion was the woke movement of Roman times...

Love this video... wasn't sure where it would fit best. Regardless of whether there's free will or not there seems to be 4 things that make for successful outcomes... The best performing strategies shared 4 qualities: - They are all nice (not the first to defect) - Forgiving (retaliates but doesn't hold a grudge) .. this conclusion actually came as a shock to the researchers - Being retaliatory (when your opponent attacks, strike back immediately, don't be a pushover) - Being clear (can't establish a pattern of trust with a program that has seemingly no rules/reason behind their behavior) It's best to assume you have free will, even if you don't, because defeatism can lead down a rather black pilled path that spirals downward. That said, I don't believe there is a whole lot of free will as a species... we are products of our DNA, enviornment, and upbringing. Even my knowing all this intellectual stuff about all these topics is because I had the internet. If the internet didn't exist, I'd be totally different. Unfortunately the more knowledge one gains the more black pilled the world seems... ignorance (taking the blue pill) truly is bliss. Even if you make a perfect human paradise, you can't change the basic laws of nature that drive evolution. The Lion will continue to eat the baby gazelle... this is why the solution is not more knowledge, analysis paralysis, but getting off social media and living, being, with a proper mindset.. the subsconscious mind can be reprogrammed. Leo's 65 principles for a good life video... screens are the poison, social media is the poison, hours on the internet are the poison, should statements about how reality "should" be are the poison. I have this video on my homepage to remind me. Most of this guy's content is hit or miss, but this video is golden.

Socially constructed narratives.... the fantasy we live to take away from the brutal fact that nature is savage. You'll get the gist of the video in the first 5 minutes. Either you'll enjoy what he's saying or not. He's right in that there's a level of pessimism when you see the truth of what this reality is really like, unlike the socially constructed fantasies in which most people live to one degree or another. Then you need to find your inner peace...

We used to have anylabs around here where we could order tests on demand but they closed down. Unfortunate. A quick google search for your area shows this. https://www.albertaprecisionlabs.ca/ The types of things to get tested for have already been covered by other posters here. All the ones Leo posted are among the most important. I would add getting a fasting glucose test and A1C test. Ferratin levels check for iron... high iron means you should donate blood.

Recent studies on hormesis suggest the maximum lifespan can be extended, quality of life issues aside, is 30-60%. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1568163723003409?via%3Dihub Regardless, I don't believe in the "relativity" theories promoted by the stage greens, that there is no "ultimate truth" that and that reality is simply what you perceive. There are very specific rules to incarnating in this physical reality that if violated come with consequences. Just try jumping from a plane without a parachute or drinking gasoline claiming you can do anything, because facts don't exist and everything is perception. Have that peanut allergy? Doesn't matter, munch away... all you have to do is believe that you are invincible. I'm not inclined to judge those who don't exercise, even if I do. Both my grandparents lived into their 80's without being exercisers. They were frail, but I guess exercise is a habit you either grow to love or you don't , like any other habit, and not everyone wants to live forever or want to spend half their week walking around. One of my grandmothers literally smoked 2 packs a day her entire adult life, for 50 years, because she had a near death experience in her early 20's and didn't fear dying (despite being an atheist at the time) Regardless, the two things that extend lifespan and quality of life the most tend to be exercise and caloric restriction, specifically lower intensity zone 2 exercise such as slow jogging, which is probably the most beneficial activity any person could really make a habit. I must jog to keep my sciatica in check. It's not an option. It took 60 days for the pain to go away, but it stays away as long as I do my 10-20 miles a week. Road biking on the other hand makes it worse or at best has no effect, which is unfortunate because I enjoy doing it, but if you really think about it, sitting on a hard stationary seat and rotating your legs in a hunched over position is not really natural from an evolutionary standpoint. For nutrients I've narrowed it down to just a couple the average person could use to help with longevity and just because we tend to be deficient in them: Vitamin D, K2, and Magnesium.. if you get a lot of sunlight you can skip the D and K2. Humans evolved in sunlight, and now we get almost none. This is a problem as far as production of Vitamin D goes. Glycine or Collagen in the diet, along with the related compounds choline and betaine (egg yolks and whole wheat) .. we evolved eating the organs, skin, and bones of animals, and now we only eat muscle meat, lacking collagen. We ate a ton of eggs, a top choline source, and are now scared away by government propaganda on eggs. A diet rich in polyphenols. Think berries and cocoa. They actually work because they provide low dose stressors to the body.. the hormesis effect, as do all plant foods. The majority of evolution we ate paleolithic... meat, eggs, fish, berries, nuts, and tubers. https://nautil.us/fruits-and-vegetables-are-trying-to-kill-you-234982/ Regardless there is a lot of analysis paralysis in modern society today. Most people would be better off getting off social media and using common sense over falling into some echo chamber when it comes to anything, not just diet and longevity. Yes, I'm guilty of this. Sigh.

The more checks and balances against the concentration of power and wealth the better. I'd implement lifetime term limits for all politicians, to prevent people from having "career political" positions. I'd place strict limits on being able to donate money to politicians and corporate influence in politics. I'd imagine each side goes back and forth on this issue depending on who's in power at the time, because any "side" ultimately wants unchecked power. Thankfully they don't get it. Personally I'd abolish "executive order" power in the United States also. Everything that is implemented should have to be through a vote in house and senate. It's probably human nature that dictates that every great nation has it's "secret service" type institutions where information is compartmentalized to maintain plausible deniability and even presidents aren't aware of everything that goes on. Really, human nature itself is the issue. We must keep evolving. Whether we genetically engineer the species or simply allow time to pass, our species will change and grow and so will our values. I get that many here believe it's not occurring fast enough for them, but if you look at the entirety of the 5 million years of evolution from apes, the rate of growth the last 100-500 years has been quite frankly insane, especially since the advent of the computer chip, but we are still stuck with primitive hardware/DNA. It's among the reason things like anxiety disorders are so rampant, and people do things that seem to be "evil" by the definition of some. It's also why I don't trust autocratic types of government... you are left in a position to trust the person in control at any given time isn't going to be a psychopath, given psychopaths have a drive for power and seek it, by diving power you lesson that risk.

I love AI because it does such a good job at removing bias. It's no secret when I pop by here that I'm critical of much of the ideology, and it mostly comes down to a single paragraph of text in Leo's document: "The fundamental problem and damage with leftism is that it adopts utopian ideals without appreciating the stark and brutal survival conditions and the realities of human nature. When leftists underestimate the harsh realities of human nature, they come up with fantastical political ideas which are far too advanced for their time and lead to a clusterfuck if implemented." My big critic of the left more than anything is their sense of moral superiority they tend to have about their attitude that almost reminds of me of a religion or cult, that vibe that comes off them... that those conservatives are so much beneath us, that we are superior... it's a very off-putting vibe, from someone who tries to be totally without bias and doesn't identify as either "conservative" or "liberal" ... that said I'd acknowledge the conservatives would do the exact same thing if they had the power, and they have. There is a definite bias here in the forum... yall just think you are right and they are wrong. Ultimately I would say it's more of a relative truth than an absolute one. That said, I respect Leo, and all of you, and your position, and hope that humanity can some day reach your level of ideals, despite the evolutionary wiring of our DNA which resists it. Personally I think genetic engineering is needed to tweak the animal instincts within us, particularly the fear response.... to selectively reprogram parts of our genetic software.

I will always be the science/math geek. I'm all for humans figuring out how this "reality" works right down to the mathematical equations that govern every action, so that we can hijack the system, play God and remake it into a utopia through things like genetic engineering, rather than some esoteric philosophy that reality is what you perceive it to be, which is half truth. I mean, when you change someone's gender, that's basically what you are doing. Nowhere in nature can any animal do surgical procedures and take pharmaceutical drugs to do these alterations. In essence, the political left are doing the same thing I propose... altering nature to suit their own needs. That said, you can use logic to justify anything... that's it's power, and it's flaw. It should be used appropriately.