- The same thing has happened to this thing as happened to UFOs, cryptids, and religious miracles. The arrival of documentary techniques of the things led to a massive decline. People often bemoan the effect of the smartphone on attention. But have they considered the deleterious effect of 5G on magic?
by claytongulick
3 subcomments
- I can't find it, but I read an article somewhere that many "blue zones" also had grossly skewed metrics due to public benefits fraud - relatives weren't reporting the family member's death so that they could continue to collect benefits checks.
The author claimed that once you corrected for this, the blue zones pretty much all disappeared.
Edit: found it [1]
[1] https://fortune.com/europe/2024/12/14/are-blue-zones-myth-ex...
by capitainenemo
3 subcomments
- I'm sure that's the case that there's a lot of poor record keeping, but just as an anecdote here, a family member who lived mostly independently and lucidly until the age of 102 was a regular wine drinker. When we celebrated his birthday it was with shots and multiple glasses. And there was definitely no error. His elderly children can attest to that, and he was born in a modern area with good record keeping.
He was no athlete but was tanned, slim and healthy, walked regularly. I do wonder if excessive athleticism can be a problem, maybe increasing the number of total heartbeats through constant strain, wearing out the heart early and overwhelming the benefits of exercise to the heart. Perhaps moderation is the key (that and getting lucky with the genes ofc ;) ).
- Blue zones are bullshit.
Pension fraud in Italy, records destroyed in Okinawa, basically every place with abnormal longevity has some other explanation.
https://allthatsinteresting.com/blue-zones-supercentenarians
by joe_the_user
4 subcomments
- I think the wikipedia page on Jeanne Calment actually does a good job of debunking "revisionist" doubting of the record.
After consulting several experts, The Washington Post wrote that "statistically improbable is not the same thing as statistically impossible", that Novoselov and Zak's claims have been dismissed by the overwhelming majority of experts, and that those claims are "lacking, if not outright deficient". (the entire section is worth reading) [1]
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeanne_Calment#Controversy_reg...
- [dead]
Hacker News