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Pill mimics exercise

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Peet:
If the chap leading this research says ""honestly, I just don't know how that happens...I think it's a small miracle it happened at all." Then he is either the most honest scientist ever or he knows that his findings are shaky and is genuinely clueless. Mostly these types are pretty keen to hail their findings as the biggest thing since vaccinations. This is going to take years of work in mice before he knows exactly what's going on, then more years to make sure it's safe and actually works before human testing is even suggested.

The report seems to suggest that the effects are a) aerobic and b) muscular in nature. This is a funny combination because one would normally expect either aerobic stuff to happen in the cardiovascular system, whilst things that build muscle mass and strength are largely anaerobic. The increase in endurance suggests to me that the drug acts to decrease the rate at which muscles tire, so that could be a few things. An increase in the number of energy producing elements (mitochondria) in the muscle cells would probably not help much without a similar increase in sugar and oxygen supply, which would mean an improved blood supply to the muscles. A drug that does both of these things without any other effect in the body does not seem likely. The physical movement of a muscle fibre is determined by calcium ions, the lack or depletion of which is what causes cramp and muscle stiffness. A way to increase the recycling of calcium would increase endurance, by holding off fatigue for a while. This would be similar to the gradual effects experienced by, say, someone training for a marathon.

Crucially, though, (bearing in mind that the actual drug is most likely none of these things) the human body, particularly under stress, is horrendously complicated and I am quite skeptical about the ability of one drug to dramatically increase endurance. The act of exercise requires the cooperation of hundreds of different pathways and chain reactions, all controlled by wildly different elements. Even were it able to, the benefits of increased muscular endurance would only be apparent in someone with already developed cardiovascular endurance, muscular mass, physical fitness etc. associated with being generally fit and doing exercise in the first place.

famous:

--- Quote from: KharBevNor on 07 Aug 2008, 01:43 ---People already use anabolic steroids, protein supplements, muscle growth formulas and goodness knows what else as a shortcut to a certain type of physical fitness. Just because this pill promotes aerobic fitness, rather than muscle strength, is no reason to suddenly bring about fucking stupid faux-moralising bitching and moaning about people 'losing the connection between effort and reward'. What utter luddite bullshit. You might as well say washing machines make people unable to appreciate clean clothes, or that fire makes people unable to appreciate raw mammoth. Jesus.

--- End quote ---

My goodness, it appears you feel strongly about this.
Here's my train of thought: I don't think that the comparison between steroids/supplements/etc and this pill is completely fair, because for or the most part the former are used by weight lifters and athletes. They're designed to work for people who are already at the gym and working out.
This pill is being promoted in the article as 'exercise in a pill' for people who don't want to go work out. So there's definitely a difference between getting results faster at the gym and getting results without doing anything.

My issue with this wasn't that I was worried people would lose the connection between effort and reward, but that it could easily further encourage consumerism, over-indulgence, and the fast food lifestyle and that all that shiz, which I can't see being good in any way.

I do agree that not having to exercise and go to the gym frees up a lot more time enabling people to focus on other things, like the washing machine did, and will probably help people be healthier overall and live longer. But if it does more than free up time for people its implications should be looked at closely. A psychological dependency on these things is very easy to imagine.

@Peet
Have you heard of "the glove"? It's a DARPA project (I think), I read an article about it a while ago. They have a container you put your hand in and it cools down your blood as it circulates to your hand and out and enables prolonged physical activity. They were saying that it could be crazy because it suggest that muscle fatigue is brought on by heightened body temperature, not necessarily a depletion in glucose (Glucose? I'm not overly familiar with this stuff). I can try to find the article again if you haven't seen it...

RedLion:

--- Quote from: KharBevNor on 07 Aug 2008, 01:43 ---People already use anabolic steroids, protein supplements, muscle growth formulas and goodness knows what else as a shortcut to a certain type of physical fitness. Just because this pill promotes aerobic fitness, rather than muscle strength, is no reason to suddenly bring about fucking stupid faux-moralising bitching and moaning about people 'losing the connection between effort and reward'. What utter luddite bullshit. You might as well say washing machines make people unable to appreciate clean clothes, or that fire makes people unable to appreciate raw mammoth. Jesus.

--- End quote ---

Instant gratification is the name of the game of modern society. I don't think that's a positive thing. Things like this should be developed and made available for usage. There's no reason for them not to. But so many people, particularly people my age, don't seem to understand the concept of working towards something. I'd say that your examples of other innovations aren't comparable. Those things still require some level of effort for a payout. Taking a pill and getting the benefits of extended aerobic exercise and weight lifting just strikes me as undeserved and kind of sad. You can say it's faux-moralising, but it's a legitimate concern.

Skibas_clavicle:
Why cant people just get off of their lazy asses?

Hairy Joe Bob:
Because it's really quite comfortable down here thank you very much!

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