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General discussion

I've become interested in life-expectancy statistics over

Jan 15, 2015 10:26AM PST

the last 20 years or so.
http://www.worldlifeexpectancy.com/history-of-life-expectancy

The first one displayed is for people who were born in 1960, but you can change the birth year right up to 2011. by decades.

Canada comes 8th behind all those socialist countries, but then we have health care so I guess we're one of them. The US comes top of the non-socialist countries since it didn't enter the "socialist" category until 2010, just behind those economic powerhouses Latvia and Lithuania. It comes 16th.

Canada peaked in the Life Expectancy stakes for the class of 1990 at 3rd in the world (this is obviously a statistical conjecture) though average life expectancy has risen by 5 years to 77.4 years. The US is expected to have slipped to 21st in the World league tables though its life expectancy has increased by roughly 5 years as well

Fast forward though to the class of 2011, and things have changed. Canada falls to 15th in the world, with a lousy average life expectancy of 81.5 years. The US though has fallen to 37th, though it is now just two and a half years behind Canada, in 1960 you were only 2 years behind. It does beat Cuba though (38th), by 3/10ths of a year which isn't good news. (Please note that these statistics were compiled before the new detente with Cuba. Therefore all bets are off.)

The big gainer is Japan, In the 1960 cohort Life Expectancy is listed at 67.7 years. For the 2011 group, it springs from 35th to First with an expected expectancy ;-P of 82.7 years. a 15 year change.

This set of statistical projections were compiled by LeDuc Marketing so who knows what they're trying to prove but it is a US based organization.

You won't believe the countries doing better than we are supposed to do. Not just Japan and Switzerland but places like Italy, and Singapore and Spain. Beating the US is Cyprus, Norway, Holland, Slovenia, Chile and Costa Rica. Chile?? Jesus !

Is this where I'm supposed to say "So what?" ?

Ted

Discussion is locked

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I'd be just as, if not more interested, in knowing something
Jan 15, 2015 5:54PM PST

that's likely impossible to quantify...that is, quality of life versus longevity. One thing that will make it difficult is that happiness in a person is relative. We look at some cultures and wonder how anyone could be content living as they do but find out that they are happy as clams. We already know that we can greatly extend the life of wild animals by keeping them captive. We do this by controlling every facet of their lives. An owl with a 3-5 year life expectancy in the wild will live several times longer if captive and properly maintained by humans. It gets food, shelter away from predators, medical care and so forth. It's kept on a short leash and monitored regularly to make certain it's bodily functions are normal. But is that owl really happy? We can't tell. A captive of this type has it undergone a process that removes it's spirit and replaces it with one of acceptance of its fate.

The more I think of it, this isn't that much different from how some folks want to humans to accept. There may be one difference in how that owl is treated and what we do with human life. If the owl doesn't keel over and die on its own, humans decide when it is time for it to depart. Stay tuned....

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I agree with your question, but I would point out that those
Jan 16, 2015 3:43AM PST

countries with the greatest longevity are also generally the most advanced economically, and the ones with the greatest individual disposable income (insofar as that can be determined). Mind you the average North Amerrican would feel greatly discomfited in Japan for example, at least until they assimilated. That doesn't mean that Japan is a dreadful place to live, just very different from the life generally available in North America. Lots of people do make that transition, and lots of people emigrate away from North American societies too, Don't be fooled by the greater amount of Immigration into NA. There are billions of people outside NA wanting in, and only Hundreds of Millions of NA citizens who even might possibly want out. It's a cherries versus mega-pumpkins comparison. The scale is all out of whack.

In the matter of your example. The owl is protected from the "wear and tear" of living in the wild. It is also kept exercised and stimulated because they tend to die if they are restricted and bored, and are treated for injuries and disease. You might say that captive animals have Universal Health Care and Old Age Security.

The past 50 years of zoo design has been to stimulate the animals and make their environments more interactive for them because among the dreadful consequences of the old tiny zoo cages was a shortened lifespan and really unhappy and more dangerous animals.

Ted

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I'm not trying to take anything away from where you seem
Jan 16, 2015 6:38PM PST

to be going...just adding another dimension. That dimension is that, often in suggested solutions to problems, there may be outcomes that we fail to consider. We do the same when we look back in history and try to analyze the outcomes the implemented policies of those who came before us. Statistical data from the past may be interesting but it's void of certain human qualities. Consider the image of early Christian missionaries going into the darkest of jungles and finding people living, what they considered to be, primitive and unhappy lives. They didn't just go there to bring Jesus but to attempt to bring their own culture as well. Can we truly say that they were made happier by adopting the more modern ways? We can't interview them to know that. I used the analogy of caged animals purposefully as I think that's about as close as we can get to separating statistical outcomes from the unknowns I'm introducing here. We can't offer a young owl a chance to chose which life it would prefer nor is it valid to offer the same choice to a human. We wouldn't be able to answer unless we were able to live both.

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The Law of Unintended Consequences. I agree completely.
Jan 16, 2015 7:27PM PST

Missionary efforts, while less murderous than conquest, were the most arrogant and damaging efforts, upsetting stable societies and messing with a structure which had been worked out over millennia leaving the people disoriented and often less happy. That's a very good point.

I saw an episode of Time Team the British Archaeology show where they went to an obscure corner of the Isle of Mull to excavate what might have been a very early Christian Church, possibly 7th Century. What they found was a very early monastic community, a satellite for the Monastery on Iona, a very near by much smaller island where St. Columba was based introducing Christianity to the British Isles, meaning both England-Scotland-Wales, and Ireland. If the map is turned the right way, one can see that Iona and Mull are perfectly positioned between Ireland and Scotland to serve both, and were on the trade routes from everywhere and therefore connected to the Mediterranean very well, even though it seems to us the most peculiar location on the north western edge of everything.

Ted

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Anti agiing techniques
Jan 25, 2015 4:45AM PST

Anyone thinking of anti-agiing techniques for longivity of life expectancy ?
Any ideas to any tips please all try to help - any help appreciated?
Thanks

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RE: Any ideas to any tips please
Jan 25, 2015 5:59AM PST

Keep breathing.....Deep breaths....Repeat as necessary.

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Aging you can't control
Jan 25, 2015 6:07AM PST

unless you can freeze time in its place. Physical deterioration you have some control over. What you might try is to hook yourself up to a life support system now and give over total control of every facet of your life to someone else...sort of like the government is trying to do so you won't injure yourself while trying to have fun. Of course you may want to commit suicide out of shear boredom but lying on your back with tubes inserted everywhere has its benefits.