wasn’t life expectency in past times dragged down by higher infant mortality rates? i.e. if you made it out of early childhood you’d probably make it to your 70s? Dante’s Inferno starts with Dante having a midlife crisis at 35 and that was written in like the year 1300
You’re correct about this. Infant mortality was just so incredibly high that it drags down the average. Most people who survived infancy were not dropping dead at 30
this is a myth that comes out of misunderstanding life expectancy data. people coming at you with the 70s-80s ‘expectancy after childhood’ are people making the observation that people have been observed to reach such ages in the historical record, proving nothing biological has changed for human longevity in recorded history. the ancient man was not genetically pre-disposed to die sooner.
but they were socially disposed to live and die brief lives because of class disparities, violence, and diseases they had no recourse against. it’s all well and good to make a list of old patrician romans and their long lives, but 93% of the roman empire was under the age of 25. these numbers didn’t pop out of thin air, they’re made from records, gravestones, and bodies, of which children are the least represented demographic.
Dante btw said it was the middle of life but croaked before he crossed that finish line lol
As an aside, this whole 80s/90s idea of a “midlife crisis” is so strange. Like I’m 41, my friends are all around that age. Not a single one of us is experiencing what was called a “midlife crisis”. We’re all just basically doing our normal thing that we’ve always done. I’m mean, I’m kinda doomer because of climate change and all but that’s just a rational response to an existential crisis for humanity. Neither I nor my friends are unreasonably stressed about getting older so we’re buying sports cars (not that we could afford them ofc) or cheating on spouses or whatever. I watch a movie like “City Slickers” and it seems like such a social relic.
(And an aside from my aside… what is so bizarre about being my precise age is you watch a movie like “City Slickers” and it’s about these old dudes coming to grips with the fact that they’re now old as shit, then you look up the actors and see that they were younger than you are now when the movie was filmed. What really blew my mind is when I got older than Robin Williams was when he was in “Hook”, since when I was a kid that was my quintessential “dad” movie).
My dad, a boomer, told me that 25 was a lot rougher on him than “midlife”. I had a rough time with 25 too, so so far that tracks. But I’m getting closer to 40 and I’m not liking it lol.
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weeeeell i’m 44, so this hits kinda close to home.
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i should’ve gotten suspicious when my play partner told me her problematic kink is calling me mommy
wasn’t life expectency in past times dragged down by higher infant mortality rates? i.e. if you made it out of early childhood you’d probably make it to your 70s? Dante’s Inferno starts with Dante having a midlife crisis at 35 and that was written in like the year 1300
You’re correct about this. Infant mortality was just so incredibly high that it drags down the average. Most people who survived infancy were not dropping dead at 30
this is a myth that comes out of misunderstanding life expectancy data. people coming at you with the 70s-80s ‘expectancy after childhood’ are people making the observation that people have been observed to reach such ages in the historical record, proving nothing biological has changed for human longevity in recorded history. the ancient man was not genetically pre-disposed to die sooner.
but they were socially disposed to live and die brief lives because of class disparities, violence, and diseases they had no recourse against. it’s all well and good to make a list of old patrician romans and their long lives, but 93% of the roman empire was under the age of 25. these numbers didn’t pop out of thin air, they’re made from records, gravestones, and bodies, of which children are the least represented demographic.
Dante btw said it was the middle of life but croaked before he crossed that finish line lol
you make good points, here. I’ll try to internalize them and remember them when discussing this in the future. Thanks!
As an aside, this whole 80s/90s idea of a “midlife crisis” is so strange. Like I’m 41, my friends are all around that age. Not a single one of us is experiencing what was called a “midlife crisis”. We’re all just basically doing our normal thing that we’ve always done. I’m mean, I’m kinda doomer because of climate change and all but that’s just a rational response to an existential crisis for humanity. Neither I nor my friends are unreasonably stressed about getting older so we’re buying sports cars (not that we could afford them ofc) or cheating on spouses or whatever. I watch a movie like “City Slickers” and it seems like such a social relic.
(And an aside from my aside… what is so bizarre about being my precise age is you watch a movie like “City Slickers” and it’s about these old dudes coming to grips with the fact that they’re now old as shit, then you look up the actors and see that they were younger than you are now when the movie was filmed. What really blew my mind is when I got older than Robin Williams was when he was in “Hook”, since when I was a kid that was my quintessential “dad” movie).
My dad, a boomer, told me that 25 was a lot rougher on him than “midlife”. I had a rough time with 25 too, so so far that tracks. But I’m getting closer to 40 and I’m not liking it lol.