Show Notes
The Blue Zones built an empire on one promise: copy how the world's oldest people live, and you can join them past 100. Saul Newman, a demographer at the University of Oxford, went looking for those long-lived people in the records. Most of them were not there.
Michael sits down with Newman, author of Morbid: Debunking Modern Longevity Science, to walk through what he found. When Japan audited its citizens listed as over 100, 82 percent were already dead: more than 230,000 people alive only on paper, including Tokyo's oldest man, dead in his room for 30 years while the family collected his pension. Greece's audit caught centenarians drawing pensions from the graveyard. And America's Blue Zone, Loma Linda, was picked after a magazine editor asked its founder to find one; by his own admission, it came from a freeway turnoff on the drive to Las Vegas.
Newman explains why age records break down exactly where longevity legends grow, how bad centenarian data quietly sets your pension and insurance rates, why Silicon Valley keeps buying immortality pitches as old as the first emperor of China, and what actually works if you want a longer, healthier life.
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Two Percent is hosted by Michael Easter. Today's episode was produced by Joey Fischground, Robbie Hiser, Dana Brawer and Julia Nutter. From Kaleidoscope, our executive producers are Mangesh Hattikudur and Kate Osborn and Julia Nutter. From iHeart, our executive producers are Katrina Norvell and Nikki Ettore. Our Head of Video is Maria Paz Mendez Hodes. Our editor is Ryan Mulhern. Our theme music is by the Heater Manager.
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00:00 Cold open01:24 Where the Blue Zones began03:00 A magazine article becomes an empire04:22 The nine behaviors07:59 Two bad papers drag Saul in10:04 Why errors explode with age11:28 Japan audits its centenarians12:39 Dead 30 years, still on the pension15:44 Greece checks the graveyard17:03 Loma Linda, found on a freeway exit19:02 Costa Rica's paid discovery20:59 The uncomfortable longevity answer23:34 Hate mail and the Kremlin26:46 The Blue Zones founder pushes back28:17 What bad data costs your pension30:39 The UN's garbage numbers32:42 The world's oldest man problem35:34 Silicon Valley's longevity grift39:28 The odds double every eight years42:22 What actually works45:30 Kick the charlatans out48:21 Making peace with 80 years50:22 Outro Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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