I'm glad to hear we're motivated to move in that direction. (01)
The first "A" paper I ever wrote in Philosophy, I did it
by putting all the quotations in order for the point I
wanted to make. I added a little bit of connecting verbage
to link the quotes together and, presto, one "A". (02)
It's still the best way to write material on nutrition and
exercise, for the both the appearance and substance that
references give. (03)
Ideally, I'd like a little database of these things. I can't
wait for the day that the books I read are available online,
so that when I mark my handheld copy, the quotations are
automatically extracted when I'm in the vicinity of my
computer (via BlueTooth), stored locally, and linked to the
publication date and other info on the volume. (04)
Then I'll be able to look through my database for stuff, insert
the quote, and have the link to the book automatically
included in the article. Life will indeed be good. (05)
When that database gets taken a step further, I'll have the
necessary tools to begin nutritional modeling. (06)
For example: Some study shows Vitamin E helps prevent cancer.
Another study shows Vitamin C helps prevent cancer. (Both
studies exist, although I would be hard pressed to find them.) (07)
But how can this be, one asks, since one is fat-soluble and
one is water-soluble. How can both be effective against
cancer? Answer: It appears that Vitamin E has a direct impact,
by protecting the fatty acids that perform cellular functions.
Vitamin C, on the other hand, reconstitutes Vitamin E after
it breaks down while performing its job. (08)
In other words, Vitamin C is a Vitamin E potentiator,
because it lets Vitamin E work longer and harder. So one
would explect selenium and glutathione, which together go
into glutathione peroxidase, to be "cancer preventative" as
well, since gluathione peroxidase puts Vitamin C back
together after *it* breaks down doing it's job. (09)
I'm certain that the studies will show or have shown that
selenium and glutathione are "cancer preventative", as well
-- a correlation which is easily deduced from the mechanism
of action. Yet studies of this kind keep being done, and
the results annouced as though it comes as some kind of
surprise... (010)
But there are multiple layers of cause and effect going on
here:
Systemic: Nutritional inputs, health/disease outputs (011)
Physiological: Effects on heart, lungs, liver, etc. (012)
Chemical: Vitamin C does this, Vitamin E does that
where "this or that" is one of:
* is part of X
* acts in conjunction with X
* spares X by acting in its stead
* allows the creation of X
* prevents the siphoning off of X
* is a catalyst that precipitates X (013)
Quantum: The really intriguing level in which free
electons from unsaturated fatty acids do their
thing as chemical messengers, docking bays, and
immune system phasers (014)
The literature at my disposal provides information in bits
and pieces, at multiple levels of the causal hierarchy. It
would be *grand* to tie them together so as to answer
questions like:
* Does a deficiency of X cause symptom Y?
If so, how? (015)
* What other nutritional ingredients are implicated,
either before or after, in the causal chain? (016)
* For each such ingredient, what deficiency symptoms
are manifested?
--so if A -> B --> C are ingredients in a causal chain
that leads to Y, and a B deficiency leads to X as well,
while an A deficiency leads to Z, X, and Y, then we
should be able to determine, from any given set of
symptoms, which nutrional ingredients are missing. (017)
* For visible bodily conditions including the condition
of the skin, scalp, nails, hair, urine and feces, what
nutrional deficiencies can be inferred? (018)
* Given available analytical tools, what other information
can be deduced by analyzing these systemic outputs to
determine which deficiencies are causing some set of
symptoms? (Ex: My doctor uses hair analysis to look for
mineral deficienies and overages.) (019)
* What environmental factors affect nutrition levels?
--ex: stress consumes B vitamins
--ex: sunlight, X-Rays, and flourescents consume
Vitamin C and, hence, glutathione peroxidase
--ex: selenium and chromium are deficient in most
U.S. soils
--ex: soil microbes bind minerals in a way that makes
it possible for a plant's uptake -- so in a
non-organic, plowed soil, they stay in the soil
and don't make it into the food. (020)
This sort of information is the next step up from a searchable,
quotable database of nutritional information. It requires
concept modeling, so that notions of "supports", "contracticts",
"evidence for", "derived from", and so on can be added to the
model. (021)
But at that point, *really* interesting things begin to happen
with respect to preventing serious health problems nutritionally,
by correctly identifying monor problems early on, before they
get serious. (022)
A "quotable database" is the first step in that direction, so
I applaud any effort that is motivated to move in that direction. (023)
Eugene Eric Kim wrote: (024)
> Here's a concrete example of why forcing yourself to play outside
> your normal sphere is vital to coevolution.
>
> We've mentioned on many occasions the desire to have transclusions in
> threaded discussions, but also the constraint of existing e-mail
> clients. There's been some previous discussion of integrating the
> PurpleWiki parser with the mail archiver in order to have the best of
> both worlds.
>
> http://collab.blueoxen.net/forums/tools-yak/2003-01/msg00000.html#nid031
>
> But, we never experimented with this.
>
> Recently, Chris added transclusion support to PurpleWiki. This is not
> yet publically accessible, but Chris has been using it in his personal
> Wiki/blog setup, and it's super cool. I've started to get into the
> act myself.
>
> Here's the thing. I always figured transclusions would be useful.
> Now I find myself wanting them all the time, including in e-mail.
> Thinking about things in theory is one thing; having real experience
> with something, however, can be tremendously motivating.
>
> -Eugene
> (025)
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