Everyone on GLP-1s? Is that a future most people actually want?
I believe that these things work. But I for one don't want more years as a wage slave, particularly when coupled with anhedonia. Sure, I'll extract more value for my corporate overlords, but what's in it for me? For some definition a long life without any pleasure is an optimization, but I'd argue the validity of this definition.
> Everyone on GLP-1s? Is that a future most people actually want?
I want a future where people aren't dying of cancer, cardiovascular disease, losing limbs and eyes to diabetes, getting strokes and where they're living long and healthy lives. I don't really care so much about the means. GLP-1s are the only proven non-surgical intervention that allows people to lose a clinically significant (>5%) amount of weight and keep it off long-term (>5 years).
So instead of natural selection making it so that people who live longer aren't affected by these issues - you'll have a populace that is dependent on a drug. Perfect recipe for powerful centralized control I suppose.
The drug is a shim until gene therapy is proven safe and effective. We are patching a bug in the human wrt the peptide hormone mechanism in scope. It is, very broadly speaking, a reward center defect. Morally speaking, we should show the human grace and attempt to assist humans with this buggy reward center at scale via bioengineering.
Declaring broad swaths of people "defective" because they don't subscribe to the same value is you seems quite dystopian to me. You say messiah, I say Nazi.
Having a medical condition isn't a moral failing; observing said medical conditions and advocating for providing help with potentially malfunctioning reward centers leading to lower agency and desired individual outcome doesn't strike me as "being a Nazi.". If a human doesn't want the help, they don't have to take it. If they do, make it widely and affordably available. Strange take. Context below.
> The consistency that I'm hearing from all across patient groups is gain of control, whereas previously, there was a loss of control… All of a sudden they're able to step back and say, 'oh, well I had this shopping phenomenon that was going on, gambling, addiction, or alcoholism, and all of a sudden, it just stopped,' -- Dr. Gitanjali Srivastava, Vanderbilt Medical Center
> 1. GLP-1 drugs appear to dramatically reduce addictive drive across substances. 2. GLP-1 drugs can reach vastly more patients than existing medications and they have positive mental health benefits for anxiety and depression. 3. This is our first ever opportunity to make a big dent in the addiction crisis, which kills 770,000 people a year between opioids, cigarettes, and alcohol.
Prior to Iodized salt, Switzerland was suffering from a rash of people with Goiter, which is disfiguring and decreases your quality of life, and also a large population with cretinism which causes stunted growth and mental retardation.
Then, they introduced iodized salt, and those issues which used to be somewhat prevalent only 100 years ago are practically nonexistent now.
We have destroyed natural selection in humans a long time ago when by creating effective healthcare, so don't worry about it.
There are many companies making different versions of this drug, I don't see why you think its some kind of conspiracy intended to control the masses, literally if the benefit is greater than the costs what is your issue with it?
The "benefit greater than the cost" is very much unproven. It's a psychoactive drug first and foremost, and one that deeply affects the reward mechanisms. What the sibling post calls "defects" I call variety, uniqueness, and not being a robot.
> Everyone on GLP-1s? Is that a future most people actually want?
If it's a net positive to my life what is the problem?
You have a very dismal view of the world, it is possible to enjoy one's work, or at least tolerate it, or work for yourself in the current economic system. Personally I appreciate the improved standard of living I have thanks to the efficiency of our profit driven system.
Exactly. It's like, yeah, lots of things suck about life and this life could easily be better for billions if we mildly reduced the quality of life for the richest 1,000 humans on the planet, but compared to the 1300's this shit is a cakewalk.
I describe it as "appetite calming." Not sure how else to put it. I used to have a low grade constant craving for food. I wasn't obese but the weight had crept up. Losing weight was impossible. I had high blood sugar, blood pressure, and cholesterol. (Now on meds for all those things and they are under control.)
Immediately after going on metformin my appetite calmed. Slowly, over the next year, I lost 25 pounds. I did not try to diet. My BMI is now 23.7.
After a few months I started weight training. I changed my diet to lower carbs. I haven't lowered my HbA1c into a totally comfortable level (it is 5.6 and 5.7 and above is prediabetic). But I am better.
But before any of those changes, just the Metformin alone calmed my appetite.
I can go hours without thinking about food. I am just less concerned. I feel normal.
Just as a data point, the last time I got Covid, it was quite mild. It's at least possible that the better metabolic health and weight loss had an impact.
I can't say what MetFORMin did for me on its own since I also changed my diet and lifestyle significantly when I started it. But since starting it I lost 50 pounds, and got my blood sugar from a diabetic range into a normal range, along with many positive side effects such as increased energy, no more sleep apnea, blood pressure in normal range (was over 170/90). Again MET didn't do these things itself, but I do think it helped to achieve the weight loss and blood sugar control that would have been harder without it. I was on a low dose and never had any negative side effects, and am now off of it after 6 months and maintaining.
Absolutely not unless you are fighting serious obesity. In contrast, I can imagine low dose intermittent mTORC1 inhibition as generally advantageous over a much wider population of individuals 50 years and older.
I believe that these things work. But I for one don't want more years as a wage slave, particularly when coupled with anhedonia. Sure, I'll extract more value for my corporate overlords, but what's in it for me? For some definition a long life without any pleasure is an optimization, but I'd argue the validity of this definition.