Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community - View Single Post - is it time to re-think our institutions?

Acetylene · 11-23-2008, 07:12 AM

The statement that average lifespans were only to 30 or so is actually an illusion of math.

When coming up with an aervage, as we all know, you add all the numbers and then divide by the number of entries.

Medieval and ancient lifespans are wildly distorted by the huge rate of infant and child mortality, not to mention the numbers of young (18-25) men who couldn't get married and thus went off to war.

Men who survived childhood and had enough wealth to marry would generally live to at least 60, and usually longer unless something happened to them like an accident or plague.

Thus, marriage is really only about 10 years more commitment than it used to be, and the 10 years in question are happening after retirement, when most marriages will either have succeeded or failed - few people divorce after the age of 60.

The biggest difference that has taken place in the past 200 years is, EVERYONE gets married now. That never used to happen. It's possible that not everyone SHOULD get married; many may be more suited to work, war, monkhood, etc. as used to be the case.

11-23-2008, 07:12 AM	#3 (permalink)
Acetylene Addict Location: under a rock	The statement that average lifespans were only to 30 or so is actually an illusion of math. When coming up with an aervage, as we all know, you add all the numbers and then divide by the number of entries. Medieval and ancient lifespans are wildly distorted by the huge rate of infant and child mortality, not to mention the numbers of young (18-25) men who couldn't get married and thus went off to war. Men who survived childhood and had enough wealth to marry would generally live to at least 60, and usually longer unless something happened to them like an accident or plague. Thus, marriage is really only about 10 years more commitment than it used to be, and the 10 years in question are happening after retirement, when most marriages will either have succeeded or failed - few people divorce after the age of 60. The biggest difference that has taken place in the past 200 years is, EVERYONE gets married now. That never used to happen. It's possible that not everyone SHOULD get married; many may be more suited to work, war, monkhood, etc. as used to be the case. __________________ There's no justice. There's just us.