4 ms·

"..skin covered in soot and pus..", "..diet.. ..rotten meat and unsanitary water..", "..fond of smoking..". "..dies at 94". I don't even know what to say. Tho

"..skin covered in soot and pus..", "..diet.. ..rotten meat and unsanitary water..", "..fond of smoking..". "..dies at 94". I don't even know what to say. Those two snippets can't be in the same sentence right? I'll think twice before telling my kids to "eat healthy and don't smoke"!

edm0nd 4y ago
"hey kids, stop playing outside and come eat this rotten meat we cooked! After dinner we'll have some cigarettes"
- amelius 4y ago
  * we didn't cook
ffhhj 4y ago
He probably didn't ingest sugar and fats, also had a life without anxiety.
- mr_mitm 4y ago
  And a lot of luck. These are all statistical correlations, there are bound to be outliers.
  - gwn7 4y ago
    Those correlations might imply causations as well. Just because we can't (yet) tell for sure, we cannot reliably attribute the phenomenon to luck either.
- paulpauper 4y ago
  hmm Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger have famously horrible diets yet sill fully active at 91. I think a lot of it comes down to genes. Some people simply do not suffer from the ravages of age compared to others even when they seemingly break the rules.
- thenewthotness 4y ago
  Fasted by default, heat and cold exposure every day, carnivore diet if he only ate rotten meat.
  - mc32 4y ago
    But porcupine was best. I mean, say what you will, he still had a discerning palate.
ansible 4y ago
Yeah, well, if he had really good genes (with few genetic defects), maybe he would have lived another 15 years or so if he had a clean diet and good living conditions. Show me a guy that lived in the same conditions and lived 5 years or more past the current world record (116 years) and then I'll take more notice. Meanwhile, I'll drink my clean water or enjoy my clean and clear skin for what time I do have left.
ChuckNorris89 4y ago
Survivorship bias my friend. Literally.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
sva_ 4y ago
Hate to say it since it seems so cliché, but survivorship bias.
RajT88 4y ago
(In Ladies Man voice): Mm. Yeah. Well that is disthgustin'.
somenameforme 4y ago
One of the most interesting things in all of history to me is the longevity in Ancient Greece. Look up nearly any Ancient Greek one is aware of and you'll find life lengths not especially different than modern times. A study of 'Ancient Greeks of Note' [1] found an average life expectance of a bit more than 71 years. The obvious explanation for this is a survivorship bias, but the vast majority of these Greeks made their way into the history books many decades before their deaths. I don't find the class issue relevant (beyond of course agreeing that poor Greeks would have had shorter lifespans) since all the money in the world couldn't buy one a single dose of penicillin. [1] - https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18359748/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18359748/
- nly 4y ago
  Isn't the idea that the average life expectancy in antiquity is 40 ish years more to do with the high infant mortality rate than anything else?
  - ALittleLight 4y ago
    Doesn't this mean that modern medicine is pretty horrible though, apart from infant care? With all our know-how, theories, experience, tools, drugs, scanners, etc - we still basically aren't much better than ancient Greece?
    - xboxnolifes 4y ago
      Alternatively, it could mean our way of life is terrible and our medical knowledge is the only thing keeping us ahead.
      - ALittleLight 4y ago
        Maybe, but if I didn't know we have similar life spans I would've guessed that modern life is far safer and healthier than ancient life. Some examples - better nutrition as evidenced by height and diet diversity, not drinking dirty water or eating dirty food, temperature controls, modern policing, not regularly exposed to dangerous animals or conditions, etc.
jollyllama 4y ago
For what it's worth, we can assume he practiced sexual abstinence for about as long as he didn't bathe.
rowanG077 4y ago
If anything this shows how bad our food has become in the west. It's literally better to eat unprocessed rotten meat, drink unsanitary water and smoke then to eat the modern western diet.

edm0nd 4y ago

"hey kids, stop playing outside and come eat this rotten meat we cooked! After dinner we'll have some cigarettes"

amelius 4y ago
* we didn't cook

ffhhj 4y ago

He probably didn't ingest sugar and fats, also had a life without anxiety.

mr_mitm 4y ago
And a lot of luck. These are all statistical correlations, there are bound to be outliers.
- gwn7 4y ago
  Those correlations might imply causations as well. Just because we can't (yet) tell for sure, we cannot reliably attribute the phenomenon to luck either.
paulpauper 4y ago
hmm Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger have famously horrible diets yet sill fully active at 91. I think a lot of it comes down to genes. Some people simply do not suffer from the ravages of age compared to others even when they seemingly break the rules.
thenewthotness 4y ago
Fasted by default, heat and cold exposure every day, carnivore diet if he only ate rotten meat.
- mc32 4y ago
  But porcupine was best. I mean, say what you will, he still had a discerning palate.

ansible 4y ago

Yeah, well, if he had really good genes (with few genetic defects), maybe he would have lived another 15 years or so if he had a clean diet and good living conditions. Show me a guy that lived in the same conditions and lived 5 years or more past the current world record (116 years) and then I'll take more notice. Meanwhile, I'll drink my clean water or enjoy my clean and clear skin for what time I do have left.

ChuckNorris89 4y ago

Survivorship bias my friend. Literally.

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

sva_ 4y ago

Hate to say it since it seems so cliché, but survivorship bias.

RajT88 4y ago

(In Ladies Man voice): Mm. Yeah. Well that is disthgustin'.

somenameforme 4y ago

One of the most interesting things in all of history to me is the longevity in Ancient Greece. Look up nearly any Ancient Greek one is aware of and you'll find life lengths not especially different than modern times. A study of 'Ancient Greeks of Note' [1] found an average life expectance of a bit more than 71 years. The obvious explanation for this is a survivorship bias, but the vast majority of these Greeks made their way into the history books many decades before their deaths. I don't find the class issue relevant (beyond of course agreeing that poor Greeks would have had shorter lifespans) since all the money in the world couldn't buy one a single dose of penicillin. [1] - https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18359748/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18359748/

nly 4y ago
Isn't the idea that the average life expectancy in antiquity is 40 ish years more to do with the high infant mortality rate than anything else?
- ALittleLight 4y ago
  Doesn't this mean that modern medicine is pretty horrible though, apart from infant care? With all our know-how, theories, experience, tools, drugs, scanners, etc - we still basically aren't much better than ancient Greece?
  - xboxnolifes 4y ago
    Alternatively, it could mean our way of life is terrible and our medical knowledge is the only thing keeping us ahead.
    - ALittleLight 4y ago
      Maybe, but if I didn't know we have similar life spans I would've guessed that modern life is far safer and healthier than ancient life. Some examples - better nutrition as evidenced by height and diet diversity, not drinking dirty water or eating dirty food, temperature controls, modern policing, not regularly exposed to dangerous animals or conditions, etc.

jollyllama 4y ago

For what it's worth, we can assume he practiced sexual abstinence for about as long as he didn't bathe.

rowanG077 4y ago

If anything this shows how bad our food has become in the west. It's literally better to eat unprocessed rotten meat, drink unsanitary water and smoke then to eat the modern western diet.