From: Enrique (cidle@myrealbox.com)
Date: Tue Jan 28 2003 - 06:57:19 MST
The "extropians?" thread got me thinking about extropian lifestyles and how
knowledge of 'extropian' topics affects our daily living. Myself, I've
become more cautious. I find it quite believeable that I could live
indefinitely, so if I died tomorrow I'd lose a lot more life than your
average joe thinks he'd lose.
So when I'm walking along a road, I find myself wondering if walking on the
outside of the footpath makes me *that little* bit safer than walking on the
roadside. Does holding the handrail when going down the stairs improve my
survival chances, even just a bit? Do these improvements all add up? Silly I
know, but surely the answer is yes?
It's not that simple though: walking to work gives me some good exercise,
improving my health and thus supposedly extending my life, but I have to
walk alongside roads. Might a car hit me? Might the carbon monoxide from the
traffic cancel out the health benefits of walking?
I have no intention of becoming a paranoid shutin so I obviously draw the
line somewhere. I don't smoke or drink, but I do go scuba diving, which is
far more dangerous than walking to work! The reason I think about the
'hazards' of walking on one side of the path rather than the other is the
fact that I can make little adjustments like this to my life with zero
impact. Walking on the 'safe' side doesn't disadvantage me in any way.
What about the things that only disadvantage me a bit? I'm no great fan of
fish, so it wouldn't pain me so much to give it up in exchange for the
safety of not choking on a bone. I do spend too much time working, at the
expense of my health (RSI and posture), but am I willing to switch jobs for
a little health/safety improvement?
And what about the things that majorly increase lifespan at the expense of
lifestyle? I just couldn't do calorie restriction.
Where do others draw the line? Did you buy an LCD monitor to protect you
from the CRT radiation, convincing yourself that you actually bought it
because it looked better? Do you eat fish with bones in it? Do you sniff for
gas before switching on the lights?
Yours,
JA
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