Up until about 1840, half of all humans died by the time they turned 30. Over the next 60 years, we managed to add about 5 years to that, thanks to people like Pasteur and Lister.
So, in 40,000 years of human "civilization", average lifespans increased by about 17%.
In the last 125 years, that average has doubled. And it's mostly because infant mortality has fallen off a cliff (it's the vaccines, stupid), and better diagnostics, and miracle drugs, and a higher overall health consciousness, and and and.
But while we don't enjoy the longevity of many countries around the world, we're only a few years behind.
We're still behind though, and that doesn't make sense.
We used to be told it was because we're such high-achievers we put a lot of extra stress on ourselves, and that gives us ulcers and hypertensive problems, etc. But other places haven't exactly slouched in the go-getter department. So maybe it's because (eg) the French have a glass of red wine with dinner, even though French cuisine is generally loaded with butter and sugar and heavy cream and fat. And the Japanese were outliving us because they ate lots of fish and plain rice and seaweed. And everybody walked more than we did.
Nope. It's healthcare.
Pretty simply, when people have somebody looking after them - regular checkups, and proper meds, and preventive visits to the dentist, and all the stuff they're not stupid enough to put into the hands of the bean-counters and gatekeepers, THEY LIVE LONGER.
Gee - whooda thunk it, huh?
So, of course, let's turn it all over to Bobby Brainworm. What's the worst that could happen?
John Denver, from his album Poems Prayers & Promises, released in April 1971.
A very long time ago, a young woman asked me to learn to play this one for her. I didn't do it. I mocked the song and John Denver, and it's come to be something I regret.
Never trust anyone who claims they regret nothing. It means they have an incredibly bad memory, or they've lived a life totally unaware of their own imperfections, or that they're just an over-privileged arrogant asshole who thinks they shit ice cream.
It's no secret that we're more than likely heading into some pretty bad times. Here's a look at a moment from 80 years ago - from what we were taught was among the worst times ever - with a slightly corrected perspective.
It does not mean things weren't as bad as they seemed. Look at it for fuck's sake - those folks are not having a party. They're barely scraping by. The point is that they did scrape by. They made it. They hung together, they worked their asses off, and they helped make it better.
“If we adopt a platform that's way out to the left, they’re going to say we're socialists. If we adopt a more moderate or conservative platform, they're going to say we're socialists. So we might as well just do what we think is right...”
A little poem for my own bad self on my own special day, cuz living can seem like it's all about loss. You're not a kid who gets to spend hours throwing dirt clods at a stick in the irrigation ditch That's lost. You're not a bullet-proof teenager with 4 bucks and a badly rolled blunt in his pocket, looking to score some Coors That's lost. You're not gonna be a football star You're not gonna be among the legends of rock-n-roll You're not gonna be the greatest cocksman who ever strolled thru a singles joint That's lost. You're not gonna be a boy-genius jillionaire You're not in the Sweet Spot Demographic anymore You're not your sisters' brother You're not your mom's baby boy You're not the loving husband You're not the pride on your dad's face when you played well All gone. Lost. Living has a nasty tendency to pare you down To carve away everything that's not you Til there's nothing left but you It isn't amazing that you managed to survive all that It's a little amazing how stridently you've resisted becoming who you need to be
If you want to get anything done - in business or in politics or in your daily existence or whatever - the first thing you do is jam as many smart guys as you can fit into any given space, and then shut up and listen.
Benjamin Franklin knew how to deal with haters, and in this episode we learn how he turned his haters into fans with what is now called The Benjamin Franklin Effect (read more about the effect here).
Listen as David McRaney reads an excerpt from his book, “You Are Now Less Dumb,” explaining the psychology behind the effect and how the act of spreading harm forms the attitude of hate, and the act of spreading kindness generates the attitude of camaraderie.
At the lowest level, behavior-into-attitude conversion begins with impression management theory which says you present to your peers the person you wish to be. You engage in something economists call signaling by buying and displaying to your peers the sorts of things which give you social capital. If you live in the Deep South you might buy a high-rise pickup and a set of truck nuts. If you live in San Francisco you might buy a Prius and a bike rack. Whatever are the easiest to obtain, loudest forms of the ideals you aspire to portray become the things you own, like bumper stickers signaling to the world you are in one group and not another. Those things then influence you to become the sort of person who owns them.
The Misconception: You do nice things for the people you like and bad things to the people you hate.
The Truth: You grow to like people for whom you do nice things and hate people you harm.
Why do I love my kids? Aside from humans having evolved a genetic predisposition to love their children, it's at least partly because I do good things for them (I try anyway).
Why does it seem so many "conservatives" hate poor people?
I'm going to stop a little short, and not try to shoehorn everything into this one concept, but damn - this makes a lotta shit clearer for me.
