3 ms·

Life expectancy for men in the US is about 74 to 76 years.[1] In Massachusetts, it's about 76 to 78. So this does not seem unusual at all. [1] https://en.wikip

by nequo 2y ago

Life expectancy for men in the US is about 74 to 76 years.[1] In Massachusetts, it's about 76 to 78. So this does not seem unusual at all. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_and_territories_by_life_expectancy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_and_territ...

hedgehog 2y ago
That's a misleading number, knowing that he was a lauded prof at MIT we can expect that he was significantly wealthier than the median Mass. resident and with that significantly higher life expectancy.
colechristensen 2y ago
It is a little young, the impression is right. Statistics is hard. "Life expectancy" being an average includes all of the reasons to die when you're young, and young deaths have a large effect on the average. The most frequent age at death is in your mid to late 80s. I'd like to post the statistic on the 25th and 75th percentile of age at death or maybe 40th, 60th, but I can't readily find the data with the amount of effort I'm willing to put in. Here's a histogram though https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Histogram-of-estimated-number-of-deaths-per-one-year-age-intervals-Probability-density_fig2_281513046 https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Histogram-of-estimated-n...
- madcaptenor 2y ago
  A rare example of a naturally occurring left-skewed distribution.
  - sophacles 2y ago
    Not that naturally - until fairly recently it was bimodal. Fortunately we've dramatically reduced the number of infant and childhood deaths in the last ~100 years.
fsckboy 2y ago
>Life expectancy for men in the US is about 74 to 76 years that's life expectancy at birth. The life expectancy of a man who is 70 yo today, having already not died of all the causes that harvest young men, is 13+ years more (without accounting for other aspects of their demographic) https://www.ssa.gov/oact/STATS/table4c6.html https://www.ssa.gov/oact/STATS/table4c6.html

by nequo 2y ago

hedgehog 2y ago

That's a misleading number, knowing that he was a lauded prof at MIT we can expect that he was significantly wealthier than the median Mass. resident and with that significantly higher life expectancy.

colechristensen 2y ago

It is a little young, the impression is right. Statistics is hard. "Life expectancy" being an average includes all of the reasons to die when you're young, and young deaths have a large effect on the average. The most frequent age at death is in your mid to late 80s. I'd like to post the statistic on the 25th and 75th percentile of age at death or maybe 40th, 60th, but I can't readily find the data with the amount of effort I'm willing to put in. Here's a histogram though https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Histogram-of-estimated-number-of-deaths-per-one-year-age-intervals-Probability-density_fig2_281513046 https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Histogram-of-estimated-n...

madcaptenor 2y ago
A rare example of a naturally occurring left-skewed distribution.
- sophacles 2y ago
  Not that naturally - until fairly recently it was bimodal. Fortunately we've dramatically reduced the number of infant and childhood deaths in the last ~100 years.

fsckboy 2y ago

>Life expectancy for men in the US is about 74 to 76 years that's life expectancy at birth. The life expectancy of a man who is 70 yo today, having already not died of all the causes that harvest young men, is 13+ years more (without accounting for other aspects of their demographic) https://www.ssa.gov/oact/STATS/table4c6.html https://www.ssa.gov/oact/STATS/table4c6.html