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This is also a pet peeve of mine, but I think an even more compelling argument is simply to look at how long people lived in the past. For instance, just among

This is also a pet peeve of mine, but I think an even more compelling argument is simply to look at how long people lived in the past. For instance, just among the Founding Fathers - John Adams lived to 90, Sam Adams to 81, Ben Franklin to 84, John Jay to 83, Thomas Jefferson to 83, James Madison to 85. The only person that didn't make it to their 50s, Alexander Hamilton, was killed in a duel (by the current vice president, at the time, no less). Most people know about low life expectancies in the past, but then extrapolate that to your expected age of age of death, but that's completely wrong. Low life expectancies were owing almost entirely to extremely high rates of infant mortality. If one guy lives to 80, and another dies shortly after birth - you now have a life expectancy of 40 years. The peaks of human longevity don't seem to have changed much, if at all, for millennia. More people are able to hit those peaks, but that's generally owing to pretty simple advancements like antibiotics, as well as doing away with what were probably overtly harmful treatments. For instance George Washington died relatively young at 67. And while there is some debate on the exact cause, there's reason to believe that his treatment contributed to it. He was being leeched, which was supposed to balance out the 4 humors of the body by drawing out 'bad blood.' And people were reaching the same heights of longevity in the context of that being the bleeding edge of medicine.

otabdeveloper4 3y ago
When mankind had become corrupted in the period preceding the flood, God said: 'My spirit shall not abide in man for ever, for he is flesh; his days shall be a hundred and twenty years' (Gen. 6:3). This probably dates back to the early bronze age or even the neolithic. For all the hype it seems human biology hasn't changed since the appearance of humans.
- dtho 3y ago
  Another biblical example is Psalm 90:10: "Our days may come to seventy years, or eighty, if our strength endures; yet the best of them are but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away."
retrac 3y ago
That sounds about right. Though George Washington was probably about average age for his time. I did some back of envelope math once which came to about 10 years. That is to say, absent wars and famines, through most of human history, if you made it to the age of ten, you had about equal odds to making it to 70. Today it's about 80. Among the very long-lived in my own family, until the end and final decline, they have often never been seriously sick and have never had any major medical care in their adult lives. Such good luck seems to have also been known to happen to the ancients, if perhaps slightly less often.
ck2 3y ago
People were decrepit at age in the previous century. Long-life wasn't something enjoyable. But today everything is toxic, there is still leaded gas being sprayed in the air everywhere by propeller craft. Fracking fumes poison the water and air up to 50 miles downwind. All the freshwater fishing is toxic in the USA, there are industrial zones pollution like crazy right over where people live in density. All the food and milk (even breast milk) has forever chemicals in them now. None of that toxicity existed previous century. Making it to 50 or 60 without getting some kind of cancer or other fatal diseases in another generation will be impossible. And even if it's not a fatal disease there are plenty to make life miserable every day.

otabdeveloper4 3y ago

When mankind had become corrupted in the period preceding the flood, God said: 'My spirit shall not abide in man for ever, for he is flesh; his days shall be a hundred and twenty years' (Gen. 6:3). This probably dates back to the early bronze age or even the neolithic. For all the hype it seems human biology hasn't changed since the appearance of humans.

dtho 3y ago
Another biblical example is Psalm 90:10: "Our days may come to seventy years, or eighty, if our strength endures; yet the best of them are but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away."

retrac 3y ago

That sounds about right. Though George Washington was probably about average age for his time. I did some back of envelope math once which came to about 10 years. That is to say, absent wars and famines, through most of human history, if you made it to the age of ten, you had about equal odds to making it to 70. Today it's about 80. Among the very long-lived in my own family, until the end and final decline, they have often never been seriously sick and have never had any major medical care in their adult lives. Such good luck seems to have also been known to happen to the ancients, if perhaps slightly less often.

ck2 3y ago

People were decrepit at age in the previous century. Long-life wasn't something enjoyable. But today everything is toxic, there is still leaded gas being sprayed in the air everywhere by propeller craft. Fracking fumes poison the water and air up to 50 miles downwind. All the freshwater fishing is toxic in the USA, there are industrial zones pollution like crazy right over where people live in density. All the food and milk (even breast milk) has forever chemicals in them now. None of that toxicity existed previous century. Making it to 50 or 60 without getting some kind of cancer or other fatal diseases in another generation will be impossible. And even if it's not a fatal disease there are plenty to make life miserable every day.