More people than ever are living long, healthy lives. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the average life expectancy is 78.6 years for men and 81.1 for women. More relevant, however, is that as people grow older, their total life expectancy increases. So for those who are now 65, the average life expectancy is 83 for men and over 85 for women. And because I’m 83, I’m expected to live past 90 (but I’m aiming a lot higher than that). And these are averages, which means that perhaps half of us will live even longer.
As people grow older, their total life expectancy increases. That’s something we don’t spend time thinking about enough. It has giant implications!
He says he’s 83, he was born in 1936. He’s not only still alive today in 2019, but still writing articles and being an active person in this world. It used to be that at that age, you were mostly doing nothing in a chair.
My grandmother is in a chair, mostly doing nothing. She’s 94. That’s a decade more than before.
Which means that my parents, born in the 50s and today in excellent shape, will live for even longer. And I will even more. I believe I’ll be able to still ollie a skateboard past sixty. I had a 73-year-old grandpa banking shots and running around with me two weeks ago.
LIFE IS LONG AND IT’S NOT EVEN CLOSE.
Which triggers questions:
– if life’s that long, why do we focus so much on the 20s and 30s? They used to be important because we’d die early. They were important because we used to get house/kids/ at that time but it’s shifted to the next decade now. Those twenty years are about learning and figuring shit out. A lot to process in this global world.
– if life’s that long, why do we want to change things so much? Computer interfaces for instance. It’s unnecessary, we need consistency more than novelty. We need to make enjoyable moves, not re-learn all the time. At first you think it’s fun to re-learn or that it’s no big deal. After twenty iterations of that shit, you’ll be annoyed too. Trust me.
– if life’s that long and that resources on earth are finite, why don’t we slow down? There are so many things to learn or try through decades of life that don’t require full destruction and reconstruction of a part of the economy, like the tech-economy is doing. No need for growth. We need to sustain, now.
It’s one if the biggest shift we’ve ever had to adapt to.