Amigos, deixem-me mostrar o que é provavelmente o visual mais horrível do mundo. Embora existam dúvidas sobre a origem dos dados e das curvas, a principal conclusão permanece consistente em diferentes conjuntos de dados. Torna-se dolorosamente óbvio que muitas características que associamos à inteligência começam a declinar muito antes de as doenças crónicas se manifestarem com a idade.

Este declínio progressivo ao longo da vida é especialmente pronunciado no que é chamado de “inteligência fluida”. Refere-se à nossa capacidade de aprender novas informações, adaptar-nos a novas situações e resolver problemas que nunca enfrentamos antes.

Em contraste, aspectos da nossa inteligência “cristalizada” – como as nossas capacidades verbais e aritméticas, que são aperfeiçoadas ao longo da vida – uma vez dominadas no início da vida, permanecem em grande parte intocadas pela idade.

Aqui estão meus insights a partir desta observação:

A inteligência não é linear. Se mapeássemos essas características, identificaríamos pelo menos duas categorias distintas. A primeira estaria ligada à inteligência cristalizada, abrangendo o domínio da linguagem e as habilidades numéricas. A segunda estaria alinhada com a inteligência fluida, representando o que muitos de nós tradicionalmente reconhecemos como inteligência, muitas vezes medida através de ferramentas como a escala de QI ou o fator g.

A natureza dual da inteligência sugere que, pelo menos nos humanos, as capacidades linguísticas e aritméticas básicas, em comparação com as funções cognitivas mais cruciais, são governadas por sistemas separados.

Nossas habilidades de comunicação com clareza e elegância decorrem de diferentes funções cognitivas. À medida que a idade avança e perdemos neurónios, a capacidade de comunicar com elegância persiste por muito mais tempo do que a capacidade de expressão clara e precisa. Tenha cuidado com oradores eloquentes, pois às vezes a eloquência mascara a falta de substância.

É concebível que grandes modelos de linguagem (LLMs) como o ChatGPT emulem apenas um desses sistemas, muito provavelmente a inteligência cristalizada. No entanto, a inteligência fluida, que considero a essência do intelecto humano, provavelmente funciona de forma independente. Apoiando esta noção, apesar de suas proezas linguísticas, as pontuações de QI dos LLMs modernos permanecem surpreendentemente modestas, variando de 83 a 150. Aqueles como eu, que tentaram fazer a lição de casa dos filhos e algum trabalho real com ChatGPT, não acreditariam em 150.

Isso não significa que eles não tenham potencial. Uma das estratégias mais inovadoras da OpenAI tem sido treinar modelos de linguagem através da interação humana, permitindo que os modelos aprendam e evoluam. Dado que os humanos possuem inteligência cristalizada e fluida, há potencial para as máquinas se desenvolverem em conjunto através de interações connosco.

O que isto sugere é que o melhor ainda está por vir para estas máquinas. Para nós, porém, o quadro é mais preocupante. À medida que envelhecemos, nosso perfil cognitivo começa a se assemelhar ao de um LLM. Num sentido metafórico, o LLM é o que resta do nosso intelecto quando a devastação do tempo cobra o seu preço.

Carthāgō dēlenda est, Cartago deve ser destruída, e também o envelhecimento deve ser interrompido, meninos e meninas

Como sempre, se você gosta do que vê aqui - siga-me, curta e compartilhe - preciso dos seus amigos. Obrigado.

Pedro Fedichev,
Fonte: https://twitter.com/fedichev/status/1694980930501222549?s=20
A empresa de Peter é “Gero”, mais informações: Sobre Gero

Leitura Relacionada:

Uma estrutura de biomarcadores para o envelhecimento cerebral: uma declaração de consenso do Aging Biomarker Consortium

Artigo de acesso aberto: estrutura de biomarcadores para o envelhecimento cerebral: uma declaração de consenso do Aging Biomarker Consortium | Medicina da Vida | Acadêmico de Oxford

lnad017.pdf (380.9 KB)

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I doubt this is true for people in particular professions. I know of people in my department in their 80s who are still publishing original (and valuable) works. They tend to be beanpoles who eat their vegetables, though.

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“In contrast, aspects of our “crystallized” intelligence – such as our verbal and arithmetic abilities, which are honed over our lifetime – once mastered early in life, remain largely untouched by age.”

I don’t necessarily agree with this. I now have to use a calculator for problems I could once do in my head.

I like the chart at the top. I think it is fairly accurate. My perceptual speed, which I define as being able to find things among the clutter, has suffered, and spatial orientation, which I define as something like waking up suddenly and wondering where I am. It takes me longer to orient myself if I leave a building through a different door than when I entered.

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What we need is a well-funded clinical trial program (think Impetus Grants or Hevolution Foundation) to create a testing program similar to the “million molecule challenge” for aging, but for brain aging.

And perhaps a phone app for testing fluid intelligence, while tracking supplements and drugs you are taking - so we can gather real world experience faster from all the biohackers and health enthusiasts out there - to see what is working today at mitigating this issue.

I suspect rapamycin helps mitigate these issues Peter cites, but we need data.

Get your Impetus Grant applications in by September 15!

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Personally, I have a stronger inclination towards addressing the markers of brain aging as opposed to those of body aging. After all Stephen Hawking never seemed particularly distressed in his ravaged body.

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I agree - and while slowing aging of the brain, and the body, are not mutually exclusive, I also would put a much higher priority on my brain than my body.

I’ve not done a ton of research on the topic - but it seems like there should be an ITP like organization that is focused exclusively on slowing brain aging.

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And related to this topic more broadly… this news came out today:

I had never heard of the “Townsend deprivation index”, so I looked it up… its a measure of poverty.

Full Paper (open access/download) Here: Development and validation of a dementia risk score in the UK Biobank and Whitehall II cohorts | BMJ Mental Health

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Inoculation against viral and bacterial infections could be one of the most important aspects to protect against brain aging. I was a bit cavalier about catching colds/flu when working at a college and its contagious students. But catching even a common cold may have a very defined impact on brain health - particularly at middle age. Recent research
The Impact of Routine Vaccinations on Alzheimer’s Disease Risk in Persons 65 Years and Older: A Claims-Based Cohort Study using Propensity Score Matching - IOS Press looks at common vaccines and puts forth even the type of most effective ones - “We also hypothesize that recombinant (when compared with live attenuated) and conjugated (when compared with unconjugated) vaccinations are associated with a greater decrease in AD risk due to the greater protection against infectious disease from Shingrix (compared to Zostavax) and the more robust adaptive immune response induced by conjugatedvaccines.”

I would guess given the pace of new research, an inoculate could be targeted towards brain aging soon. This is a shift from what drug companies have tried spending billions on ineffective prevention or cures.

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I would argue that brain health and body health are the same thing. I am not an expert, but the more I learn about metabolic health, the more I see the impact it has on the brain. Attia was saying “type 3 diabetes” for a long time. And, now I see that Advanced Glycation End-products (which come from metabolic ill health & diet) are believed to damage the brain in addition to the many negative effects on the other parts of the body (eyes, skin, tendons, blood vessels, kidneys, etc.). Of course we should address symptoms with targeted interventions when necessary, but solving root causes provides broad relief (or at least slowing the rate of damage) to brain and body. And just as we need to be physically active to have a “healthy” body, our brain “skills” need to be exercised as well. Conscious brain skills (thinking, remembering, etc.) and unconscious brain skills (coordination, balance, etc.) are subject to the “use it or lose it” rule just like everything else. I just recorded an interview with the author of Physical Intelligence, Dr. Scott Grafton, so I full of brain talk right now.

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I agree with that, but also it is interesting how the drop in blood pressure with sleep causes CSF with a high concentration of melatonin to wash the brain cells. Ideally we older people would improve pineal function to do this. However, chugging melatonin to do this via both serum and CSF i think works although i cannot confirm the route, both may work.

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I hope so. I am now “chugging” 100 mg+ per night. As I previously said: I am surprised that it doesn’t cause me any daytime sleepiness.

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Sadly i have no measurements on cognitive function. I did think monacolin K caused memory problems so i stopped it and i believe things improved.

There are things i know melatonin does, if you suck it then it reduces gingivitis. I think it also reduces body odour. ( a ros effect)

The general reduction in oxidative stress is good.

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Well this sucks.

I’ve seen this in my parents as they’ve hit the far right section of that chart. They’re not experiencing dementia, but things that require any amount of “figuring out” are just instantly too frustrating now and they become irritated and give up.

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Take care of your vision…

and

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Would be great to see a similar chart following the different types of cognition when treated with PF4 which is, at least by some definition, de-aging brains by decades (in human terms). Probably very difficult to measure different aspects of congnition in mice when they might not even really have all of these types to begin with?

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Related to the topic, the following showed up in my inbox this morning…

How long has you been doing this and what made your decided on the dose? what are the net impact on your sleep and brain health?

100 mg of melatonin per night? How many hours do you usually sleep? 3 mg make me very sleepy. I remember reading somewhere (don’t remember where :blush:) that too much of melatonin has the opposite reaction and would contribute to sleepless nights. Do you sleep well?

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Put “melatonin” in the search bar at the top of this thread and read John Hemmings’s comments.

Surprisingly mega-doses of melatonin have not had any effect on my sleep and cause me no daytime sleepiness. Subjectively I have felt zero effects.

I am mainly taking melatonin for its anti-cancer properties, though it has a host of other geroprotective properties. The anti-cancer property is dose-dependent. I am still looking in the literature to find the optimal dose, but the anti-cancer properties seem to start at >20mg/day.

I have been taking a dose up to 20mg nightly since the 1980s.

After reading John Hemming’s posts about taking ~100mg+ nightly, I decided to up my dose.

So far, John Hemming is still ticking and so am I.

I will report if I have any ill effects from taking very high doses.

Among the leading causes of death in the elderly are heart disease, cancer, cerebrovascular diseases, and Alzheimer’s disease.

“It was reported that melatonin may regulate the activation of T/B cells in pinealectomy mice in a dose-dependent manner [40]. Besides, it shows immunomodulation and neuroprotective potential in a pharmacological Alzheimer’s disease mouse model”

“The role of melatonin in cancer treatment and prevention have been widely studied and numerous experimental studies proved the anticancer effect of melatonin against many cancers, including colorectal, breast, gastric, prostate. ovarian, lung, and oral. The anticancer effect of melatonin is mediated by integrated mechanisms, such as apoptosis induction, immune system modulation, targeting cancer altered mechanism, angiogenesis inhibition, and antimetastatic effect.”

A good general purpose about the properties of melatonin:

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A few weeks after I started taking rapamycin my sleep greatly improved and I was able to reduce my nightly sleep stack.

Oddly, only because others report otherwise, I have noticed no correlation between melatonin dose and daytime sleepiness. The regimen I am on; diets, rapamycin, supplements, etc. causes me no daytime sleepiness. I did notice that I was no longer sleepy in the afternoons after I started rapamycin.

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