Glenn: another thought-provoking essay! And timely for me: I have a “5” birthday next week, and though not as mind-grabbing as the “0” ones, it has certainly put my age front and center in my thoughts.
You mentioned reversing the aging process. Here’s one of my favorite bits from the early 1980s (from an anonymous comic though often mis-attributed to George Carlin):
“Life is tough. It takes up all your time, all your weekends, and what do you get at the end of it? Death, a great reward.
“The life cycle is all backwards. You should die first, and get it out of the way. Then you live for twenty years in an old age home, and then get kicked out when you’re too young. You get a gold watch and then you go to work. You work forty years until you’re young enough to enjoy your retirement.
“You go to college and party until you’re ready for high school. Then you go to grade school, you be- come a little kid, you play, you have no responsibilities, you become a little baby, you go back into the womb, you spend your last nine months floating, and you finish off as a gleam in somebody’s eye.”
Despite a tumultuous youth and some some chronic low-level back pain (a skydiving accident left me an inch shorter almost 40 years ago), my worst complaint at age 62 is a touch of arthritis in a few joints and some hearing impairment that's finally caught up with me. An extended fast is improving the arthritis noticeably on a time scale of weeks, and the electronics in my ears are cheap and effective.
If I could roll my physical condition back to 40 or so, I'd happily stay at that level for as long as happenstance allows, give me another century or two to do all the things and see all the places!
Oh, and speaking of staying, um, active in later years, I'm amused to see that my testosterone level is more than 2x that of even the best of the soibois at Buzzfeed. Without HRT. Hah!
Friend of mine from my MBA class is working on this. Bryan Johnson. Google him. It is super extreme what he is doing. Essentially, he is donating his body to science, and paying for it. He has "decreased his age" in various organs by quite a bit.
Subscription process asks "why", but you can't answer without signing up on Twitter. I subscribed to make payments on a debt accumulated over the last twenty years. Never posted anything before. I hope all those who routinely enjoy Instapundit have a conscience which won't allow them to take a free ride. [I refuse to use Paypal and don't like the hassle of checks.] Aye Laddie
Orwell, as so often, has something to say here: "One of the few authentic class-differences, as opposed to class-distinctions, still existing in England is that the working classes age very much earlier. They do not live less long, provided that they survive their childhood, nor do they lose their physical activity earlier, but they do lose very early their youthful appearance. This fact is observable everywhere, but can be most easily verified by watching one of the higher age groups registering for military service: the middle- and upper-class members look, on average, ten years younger than the others. It is usual to attribute this to the harder lives that the working classes have to live, but it is doubtful whether any such difference now exists as would account for it. More probably the truth is that the working classes reach middle age earlier because they accept it earlier. For to look young after, say, thirty is largely a matter of wanting to do so. This generalization is less true of the better-paid workers, especially those who live in council houses and labor-saving flats, but it is true enough even of them to point to a difference in outlook. And in this, as usual, they are more traditional, more in accord with the Christian past than the well-to-do women who try to stay young at forty by means of physical jerks, cosmetics and the avoidance of child-bearing. The impulse to cling to youth at all costs, to attempt to preserve your sexual attraction, to see even in middle age a future for yourself and not merely for your children, is a thing of recent growth and has only precariously established itself. It will probably disappear again when our standard of living drops and our birth-rate rises. 'Youth's a stuff will not endure' expresses the normal, traditional attitude." — The Art of Donald McGill, 1941
Just remember, the elites of our society are not opposed to extending healthy, active lives. Not at all, they are greatly in favor of it. For themselves. But not for the peons and peasants. It's just another example of this is good for me but not for thee.
Value is largely a function of utility and scarcity. My post-80 life is not as useful for me as my life once was, but my awareness of my limited number of future years raises my appreciation, my valuation, of the gift of life I still enjoy.
One issue that will need to be address is the tendency of companies to fire people who work pass 65. A place I worked has a pattern, if not a policy, of everytime someone needs to be cut, it's an older employee. Most of those let go are excellent workers, highly technical, and many find other jobs but the pattern is common according to the staffer I spoke to at the TWC.
Glenn: another thought-provoking essay! And timely for me: I have a “5” birthday next week, and though not as mind-grabbing as the “0” ones, it has certainly put my age front and center in my thoughts.
You mentioned reversing the aging process. Here’s one of my favorite bits from the early 1980s (from an anonymous comic though often mis-attributed to George Carlin):
“Life is tough. It takes up all your time, all your weekends, and what do you get at the end of it? Death, a great reward.
“The life cycle is all backwards. You should die first, and get it out of the way. Then you live for twenty years in an old age home, and then get kicked out when you’re too young. You get a gold watch and then you go to work. You work forty years until you’re young enough to enjoy your retirement.
“You go to college and party until you’re ready for high school. Then you go to grade school, you be- come a little kid, you play, you have no responsibilities, you become a little baby, you go back into the womb, you spend your last nine months floating, and you finish off as a gleam in somebody’s eye.”
Despite a tumultuous youth and some some chronic low-level back pain (a skydiving accident left me an inch shorter almost 40 years ago), my worst complaint at age 62 is a touch of arthritis in a few joints and some hearing impairment that's finally caught up with me. An extended fast is improving the arthritis noticeably on a time scale of weeks, and the electronics in my ears are cheap and effective.
If I could roll my physical condition back to 40 or so, I'd happily stay at that level for as long as happenstance allows, give me another century or two to do all the things and see all the places!
Oh, and speaking of staying, um, active in later years, I'm amused to see that my testosterone level is more than 2x that of even the best of the soibois at Buzzfeed. Without HRT. Hah!
Keto and Carnivore for the win.
Well, Buzzfeed . . . .
Friend of mine from my MBA class is working on this. Bryan Johnson. Google him. It is super extreme what he is doing. Essentially, he is donating his body to science, and paying for it. He has "decreased his age" in various organs by quite a bit.
Subscription process asks "why", but you can't answer without signing up on Twitter. I subscribed to make payments on a debt accumulated over the last twenty years. Never posted anything before. I hope all those who routinely enjoy Instapundit have a conscience which won't allow them to take a free ride. [I refuse to use Paypal and don't like the hassle of checks.] Aye Laddie
Orwell, as so often, has something to say here: "One of the few authentic class-differences, as opposed to class-distinctions, still existing in England is that the working classes age very much earlier. They do not live less long, provided that they survive their childhood, nor do they lose their physical activity earlier, but they do lose very early their youthful appearance. This fact is observable everywhere, but can be most easily verified by watching one of the higher age groups registering for military service: the middle- and upper-class members look, on average, ten years younger than the others. It is usual to attribute this to the harder lives that the working classes have to live, but it is doubtful whether any such difference now exists as would account for it. More probably the truth is that the working classes reach middle age earlier because they accept it earlier. For to look young after, say, thirty is largely a matter of wanting to do so. This generalization is less true of the better-paid workers, especially those who live in council houses and labor-saving flats, but it is true enough even of them to point to a difference in outlook. And in this, as usual, they are more traditional, more in accord with the Christian past than the well-to-do women who try to stay young at forty by means of physical jerks, cosmetics and the avoidance of child-bearing. The impulse to cling to youth at all costs, to attempt to preserve your sexual attraction, to see even in middle age a future for yourself and not merely for your children, is a thing of recent growth and has only precariously established itself. It will probably disappear again when our standard of living drops and our birth-rate rises. 'Youth's a stuff will not endure' expresses the normal, traditional attitude." — The Art of Donald McGill, 1941
Just remember, the elites of our society are not opposed to extending healthy, active lives. Not at all, they are greatly in favor of it. For themselves. But not for the peons and peasants. It's just another example of this is good for me but not for thee.
Value is largely a function of utility and scarcity. My post-80 life is not as useful for me as my life once was, but my awareness of my limited number of future years raises my appreciation, my valuation, of the gift of life I still enjoy.
One issue that will need to be address is the tendency of companies to fire people who work pass 65. A place I worked has a pattern, if not a policy, of everytime someone needs to be cut, it's an older employee. Most of those let go are excellent workers, highly technical, and many find other jobs but the pattern is common according to the staffer I spoke to at the TWC.
“And the joy of hanging out with one’s grown children shouldn’t be understated, and in fact should be extended as long as possible in my opinion.”
Another very well reasoned and loving piece. I, my children, and their grandparents can attest to the truth of your supposition.
Thanks for an interesting article. I like these longer essay posts that don't fit as well on Instapundit with its shorter links and comment format.