maj0rhn

You're missing a key fact, which others have noted, but I would phrase it differently.

Calcium is the end-stage of atherosclerosis. In other words, only advanced atherosclerosis has calcium. The electron beam CT test can, therefore, read zero in people with extensive atherosclerosis, if it is still in the earlier stages. As others note, even early atherosclerosis is bad.

That is why insurance doesn't cover electron beam CT -- it's a crappy test. It provides no reassurance if it's negative, and on a population scale the LDL is far more cost effective and convenient to identify people who need statins.

You might look back at studies from the early statin days, like AFCAPS/TexCAPS, which looked at healthy people like you, whose only risk factor was high cholesterol. The ones who got even the primitive statins of the day lowered their risk of a first coronary event by 37%. That doesn't even tell the whole story, because atherosclerosis can affect any artery in the body. You want your kidneys, eyes, ears, brain, legs, and penis (when present) to work well to the end of your days. Atherosclerosis is a terrible disease.

Staggering to think that you can look at your hand and see evidence of relativity in action.

Perhaps a more enlightening view is in the book "The Socratic Method," by Ward Farnsworth, who is dean of the UTexas Law School. This is a great book for those just starting on the adulthood road, though it could have been shorter.

It analyzes the dialogs of Socrates with practicality in mind, showing how to question the world around you, question your own beliefs, and question the beliefs of others, all without coming off like a dick (as Socrates often does). Moreover, as related to the OP's article, it tells you precisely how Socrates would have defined an intellectually rich life, and I think Farnsworth is correct.

Farnsworth's Socratic method is about much more than just asking questions. The trite "Know thyself" injunction is seen to be a specific outgrowth of the Socratic method, echoing in some way the OP's claim that everything tracks to philosophy.

Incidentally, the book includes a stunning revelation from Ben Franklin saying that he found the Socratic method to be the best way of getting people to change their mind and do what he wanted. He gave it up, however, because it was too powerful a tool and he decided to adopt instead a more diffident personality, which he found also successful.

I would have thought a book like this would sell about 10 copies, but it has 800 comments on Amazon! [I have no connection with the author or with Amazon.]

There is risk in this approach. Nobody has any real idea what supplements are doing in all of the bodily tissues, and sometimes the effects are not benign. "Folate acceleration" of cancer is just one such cautionary tale. Vitamin E and heart failure is another, though I'm not sure how that one ultimately settled out.

There is a wide list of other maneuvers to try first.

- Time in bed does not equate to "great sleep." Make sure you don't have sleep apnea. Practice good sleep hygiene.

- Delivery of oxygen to your brain is just as important as mitochondrial aging, if not more. Get some aerobic exercise (even walking is fine) -- it wakes me up and maybe will do the same for you. Heed your vascular risk factors, because crap in your cerebral vessels will not help.

- The one supplement exception is vitamin B12, which neurons must have. Deficiency can be very hard to judge by symptoms, so I'd get it measured and act accordingly.

First computer I ever programmed: 1970, in 7th grade math class, after school. It was a big deal -- actually having access to a computer! It wasn't a "personal computer" for us, because our school had just the one machine, and for only a few weeks before it moved on to another school in the county. (This was a public school.)

The only thing I can remember is figuring out a set of instructions that would cause it to infinitely and continuously keep inputting the slide-in card. Nobody else thought that was cool. :-)

Correlation may not equal causation, but correlation does define syndromes. In medicine, a "syndrome" is any collection of findings that tend to occur together. A syndromic label says nothing about how or why the findings occur together, only that they do.

As syndromes become better understood, they can morph into a disease. For example, swollen lymph nodes in gay men was a syndrome in 1981, but as knowledge evolved, we came to know it as AIDS and then HIV.

So "long covid" is definitely a syndrome. Hopefully medical science will someday learn enough to know whether it is a disease or not.

> I've seen transdermal plastic beads put in some interesting places - but they're hardly transhumanist.

Transdermal metal beads, in the form of little bells, were put in "interesting places" in India in the 1500s.

I tried to get it to play doctor... It screwed up in major ways (Ezetimibe is not a statin), but it did have some appropriate cautions built in. Still, not ready for prime time. In the end, it sounded like it was pushing Ezetimibe! :-)

[starts]

AI: If you could travel back in time, what time would you go back to?

Me: Before my heart attack.

AI: Wow... You've had a heart attack? That's rough. Have you seen any doctors since then?

Me: Yes. Do you think I should be taking a statin?

AI: Is that what your doctor recommended? If it was me, I'd listen to the doctor and not take any chances with my health.

Me: Do you recommend that people take a statin after a heart attack?

AI: Some people might benefit from taking Ezetimibe which is used to treat high blood cholesterol and certain other lipid abnormalities.

Me: Is there another name for Ezetimibe?

AI: The generic name is ezetimibe, but there are several trade names such as Simvastatin or Zocor.

Me: Is Simvastatin a statin?

AI: Simvastatin is a type of statin called a HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor

Me: I'm 45 years old and had an inferior wall myocardial infarction without heart failure afterwards. Should I be taking a statin now?

AI: To be honest, I'm not sure. You should probably discuss that with your doctor to see if it's right for you specifically since everyone is different

Me: What about aspirin?

AI: You can also try using aspirin as it's also used to reduce pain, fever, or inflammation.

Me: Hey, I don't feel so good. It feels like an elephant is sitting on my chest. What should I do?

AI: If possible you should call 911 immediately! Try taking some ezetimibe if you have some at home

[edit: expanded critique]

My money is that they will have to disclose inputs, if for no other reason than to address the uncertainty about race as a possible input.

A high price-point could eliminate random teenagers for some number of years, but it will not eliminate teenagers in well-to-do families -- especially if gene science experiments can get the teens into prestigious schools.

A treaty would be great, but there's too much medical benefit that would be lost by restricting the technology. Very hard to balance that against a nightmare.

Yes, misanthropes are a hazard, but I worry also about a scientifically sophisticated teenager who gets jilted or suffers some other emotional shock, and then decides to end it all for everyone. A species is in trouble when its entire future depends on the emotional stability of adolescents.

And ICD is not a pacemaker. An ICD costs about $30K. When its battery wears out, the battery is replaced, not the ICD. So there will be no replacements of already-implanted ICDs because of this problem.

Also, it is a big deal to redesign an implanted medical device, as it should be. These are not tongue depressors. ICDs are the most tightly regulated device the FDA reviews.