6 Comments

Another topical suggestion is pollution from PFAS or ‘forever chemicals’. Although if they are really ‘forever’ that must make them very unreactive and so hard to see how they can be very dangerous . Perhaps a chemist can explain.

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I was going to suggest this topic! Look forward to listening to the episode. One possible problem with Blue Zones that occurs to me is that such areas would occur through natural random statistical variation anyway .

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That would indeed be an excellent explanation - but you may find as you listen that it’s not necessary!

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Could the reason that the zones are low income just be that old people make less money? So the older the population the less income?

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A couple weeks ago my coworker talked about the blue zones book as a major influence on her. Then soon thereafter somebody posted about the Ig-nobel prize (it may very well have been Stuart or Tom, I forget who posted it). I found it very amusing, but I definitely can't now share this episode with her. I thought the same thing as other coworkers talked about the importance of a growth mindset a couple weeks before that.

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Enjoyed the episode now I’ve listened to it. It hit me wondering what a ‘limit’ to human lifespan would actually mean . If it is (say) 115 then it means that someone who is 114 must die in the next year of something- something that didnt kill them at 114. In which case this guaranteed fatal cause with a specific time limit should be identified I think the concept of absolute limit does raise a sort of paradox. More likely that as you get older (past some midlife point) the percentage chance of dying in the next year rises , perhaps plateauing at some biggish number once you get very old. Actuaries surely have this sort of data as it’s what late life assurance policies are based on.

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