Almost all of the obvious interventions (excercise, at least basic medical and dental care, non-pathological eating, and reasonable limits on nootropic and recreational drugs or alcohol) have massive short- and medium-term benefits. One doesn’t need to do much long-term math or have anywhere near calibrated estimates to understand the EV of these things.
Fully optimizing toward longevity and away from enjoyment and ease in the short-term may be correct, for some estimates, but it’s not as clear. And irrelevant for the vast majority of daily behaviors.
I think that there are still very real trade-offs. Examples:
Should you wear sunscreen?
Should you smoke?
Should you decrease sodium intake so that you don’t develop hypertension?
And for many things wealth there is some short-term cost and some long-term longevity cost the long-term cost might be large enough to change the calculus.
Fully optimizing toward longevity and away from enjoyment and ease in the short-term may be correct, for some estimates, but it’s not as clear. And irrelevant for the vast majority of daily behaviors.
Running with this concept, this means postponing “living” (in the non-biological sense of having fulfilling experiences) now for the hope of being able to start “living” after life-extending technology and quality of geriatric life have increased to a point of effective immortality.
That could take decades or longer. Unsurprisingly, very, very few people—even us on LW—are likely to fully optimize if “living” is the cost today and not guaranteed later.
Almost all of the obvious interventions (excercise, at least basic medical and dental care, non-pathological eating, and reasonable limits on nootropic and recreational drugs or alcohol) have massive short- and medium-term benefits. One doesn’t need to do much long-term math or have anywhere near calibrated estimates to understand the EV of these things.
Fully optimizing toward longevity and away from enjoyment and ease in the short-term may be correct, for some estimates, but it’s not as clear. And irrelevant for the vast majority of daily behaviors.
I think that there are still very real trade-offs. Examples:
Should you wear sunscreen?
Should you smoke?
Should you decrease sodium intake so that you don’t develop hypertension?
And for many things wealth there is some short-term cost and some long-term longevity cost the long-term cost might be large enough to change the calculus.
Running with this concept, this means postponing “living” (in the non-biological sense of having fulfilling experiences) now for the hope of being able to start “living” after life-extending technology and quality of geriatric life have increased to a point of effective immortality.
That could take decades or longer. Unsurprisingly, very, very few people—even us on LW—are likely to fully optimize if “living” is the cost today and not guaranteed later.