Interesting News On Aging

[Maximius]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060315/hl_nm/old_age_dc

 

This kind of goes along with the article a few weeks back about the woman getting a face transplant. Comments?

[OrbWeaver]

No thanks.

 

Isn't 80 years of pointless daily routine and endless busywork enough for these people?

[Dram]

hehehe...i can just imagine...wars would most definately be more common, unless you can keep everyone happy and loving to each other

 

Though it is interesting, i must say. Thanks for popping it up here

[sparhawk]

The article says it. The goal is healthy prolonged life, because whats the point of living 200 years if 120 of them is like a vegetable. I know I wouldn't like that. I guess in such a case there would be need of a review the morale of suicide as well.

[Dram]

Hell, if i lived to 120 today i think i'd buy a jet and aim for a mountain - i don't want to be a useless lump of bone and skin just uselessly sitting there all day doing shit all. At 120 you would be lying in bed all day - fun. At least in the jet it's unsure what'll kill you first - the heart attack or the mountain.

 

Hitting another planet with a shuttle is always another option, but you'd probably die on take-off

[Domarius]

Hey, they said the focus was on quality of life - spar just repeated it. Older people are now doing more active things than in times gone by.

[Dram]

...if i lived to 120 today

 

notice the today

 

But yeah, it would be nice to live up to 1000 and feel fine. Just I don't think it's gonna happen is all.

[OrbWeaver]

Society should concentrate on improving the quality of the years we have, not trying to endlessly extend them.

 

When you spend 5 days out of 7 in an office just to make enough money to stay alive, what the hell do you have to gain from a longer life?

[Napalm]

Well yea butt hats the key, everyone always complains that they wouldn't want to live past 80-90 because they'de be gross and old, but the whole idea is to live to 100 and not feel past 50-60<-(a pretty good feet in the grand scheme)

[Maximius]

Society should concentrate on improving the quality of the years we have, not trying to endlessly extend them.

 

When you spend 5 days out of 7 in an office just to make enough money to stay alive, what the hell do you have to gain from a longer life?

 

I agree. I remember this great sci-fi novel, On My Way to Paradise, the hero is a doctor who makes his money selling rejeuvenation treatments to the wealthy. The irony was that many of them committed suicide a few days after receiving the treatment, unable to bear the thought of fifty more years of ennui. I think there is some truth to that idea.

 

On the flip side though, I would love to live to see people living on Mars, the beginnings of extrasolar space travel, who knows what else? Course, I could live long enough to see WW III, or the collapse of human friendly ecosystems, or some other horrors.

[sparhawk]

When you spend 5 days out of 7 in an office just to make enough money to stay alive, what the hell do you have to gain from a longer life?

 

You gain more repetitions of that cycle.

[Renzatic]

When you spend 5 days out of 7 in an office just to make enough money to stay alive, what the hell do you have to gain from a longer life?

 

Alot of people obviously don't have their priorities straight, and equate sucess with happiness. If you were to actually spend that extra time enjoying life instead of going to the office and doing the same drudgework day after day, you'd easily find a reason to live another 40-50 years. I know I would.

[SneaksieDave]

Holy negativity batman, I must not be as pessimistic as I've been lead to believe.

 

More time, more life, more chances to do all the things you like and love to do - that alone is reason to try to stay healthy and alive longer.

[New Horizon]

Holy negativity batman, I must not be as pessimistic as I've been lead to believe.

 

More time, more life, more chances to do all the things you like and love to do - that alone is reason to try to stay healthy and alive longer.

 

I had set a goal of reaching 100, but when I was out walking one evening last summer...I decided that only seventy more summers just wasn't enough time. I've upped my goal to 120.

[sparhawk]

More time, more life, more chances to do all the things you like and love to do - that alone is reason to try to stay healthy and alive longer.

 

There is a catch 22. All things that are fun, usually require money. Since the state has already problems with pensions, I don't want to know what will be when my time comes, to get my share. I'm not holding my breath though.

[OrbWeaver]

If you were to actually spend that extra time enjoying life instead of going to the office and doing the same drudgework day after day, you'd easily find a reason to live another 40-50 years.

 

If I were a multimillionaire I would do just that. Unfortunately most of us are not multimillionaires, and have to indulge in the aformentioned drudgework in order to feed and clothe ourselves.

[Macsen]

The answer is to get a really good job you enjoy. Sounds obvious but there you go, if you don't enjoy your job then change it. You spend far too much time at work to hate your job.

[Dram]

imagine how shit it'd be if you just took a 50 year life extenshion pill and you got hit by a car walking from the facility...

[Domarius]

Um, like you would be alive to care?

[Dram]

no, but it'd still piss you off as that car was coming...

[sparhawk]

The answer is to get a really good job you enjoy. Sounds obvious but there you go, if you don't enjoy your job then change it. You spend far too much time at work to hate your job.

 

There is a slight problem with this approach. Of course it is cool to have the job that you like. Fortunately I am in such a position, but interest changes over time. So I became a programmer which is also a hobby, but nowadays I wouldn't mind working on games or trying to be a modeller, but I would never find a job as a modeller for obvious reasons.

Also, what about jobs that are less liked? I can't imagine that there are a lot of people who would do the more mundane work like selling shoes, collecting the garbage and mounting wheels in a factory, etc..

[OrbWeaver]

There is a slight problem with this approach. Of course it is cool to have the job that you like. Fortunately I am in such a position, but interest changes over time. So I became a programmer which is also a hobby, but nowadays I wouldn't mind working on games or trying to be a modeller, but I would never find a job as a modeller for obvious reasons.

 

Not only that, but

 

1) You can't just walk out and change jobs because you don't really like what you are doing, if you have bills to pay and you don't know how easy it will be to find another job (which might end up being just as bad if not worse).

2) Most people can't do the things they enjoy doing professionally, due to lack of demand or just lack of skill. I would enjoy doing level design all day but there aren't enough jobs that require this, too many people who want to do it and most of them are better than me.

3) Many of the enjoyable things that CAN be done professionally either don't pay very much or are unstable and have no job security or guaranteed income (such as being a musician).

[SneaksieDave]

The notion of 'no one wants crappy jobs' is only true to some extent. Imagine the guy you know down at that shoe store next to the supermarket. He's about 62 years old, always calm and pleasant, and leaves you with the same smile he greeted you with. There must be some reason. Perhaps he owns the place, or perhaps it's just a job and he doesn't let it get to him, and affect his life in any bad way - in fact, maybe he enjoys the interaction with people, because it is his nature.

 

It's about the attitude, what you're seeking, and what you get from and put into a career. One simple example - most people would say "look at that poor migrant worker; he's probably on a temporary visa (if not illegal), he's making a crap wage of a handful of dollars an hour, he's sweating out in the heat, and doing bending and lifting all day long. At the same time, this executive over here is doing almost nothing, pushing a pencil, checking his stock quotes, and he's making $300k a year. The world is not fair."

 

But there is another perspective. While it seems great that the executive is in a silk suit, air conditioning, gets great pay, owns a large home as a result, etc., the migrant worker has riches of his own. He is out in nature - perhaps he likes the sun, and the warmth. He takes pleasure at tending the grounds he is responsible for, and in fact he's actually lucky to do so - while mister executive is worried about the rumored cutbacks, and that stupid board meeting he has to present at, and oh shit, the business trip to Japan in July!... the groundsman is kneading the soil with his hands, and planting a bush, with a cool breeze stirring his hair, and a family of deer within sight. While the executive is feeling pressures at work, the groundsman is deciding if that spot over there would look better with lilacs, or roses. The executive is on call 24/7, and usually does 55 hour weeks, sometimes getting home at 11pm, after a train ride from the city. The groundsman is paid hourly, and maintains a steady 40 hours a week so he can get home and take his wife and kids to the park on Wednesday and Friday evenings. And he can do so, because from the nature of his labor, he is fit, strong, and healthy. Screw the money; I think the groundsman is more lucky in several ways.

 

I also think there's some luck involved, and you may just have to fall into the right thing for you. I started college in music, moved to sciences, got a degree and then did a year of grad school before deciding I didn't want that anymore, then sought out software, and by chance fell into a related field which is pretty much perfect for me. I'm not saying it's the only field I'll ever have a career in, but it sure works for me today.

 

I need more hours in the day because there's so much I want to do and I currently get to only about 10% of it. But I'm working on that. I'll take 1000 extra years any day.

[Dram]

lol, i would too if i could go to another damned planet

[sparhawk]

The notion of 'no one wants crappy jobs' is only true to some extent. Imagine the guy you know down at that shoe store next to the supermarket. He's about 62 years old, always calm and pleasant, and leaves you with the same smile he greeted you with. There must be some reason. Perhaps he owns the place, or perhaps it's just a job and he doesn't let it get to him, and affect his life in any bad way - in fact, maybe he enjoys the interaction with people, because it is his nature.

 

But the major question is - Would he have selected this jobn if he had completely free choice without any restricitions? And even if he would have, how many would do this?

 

He is out in nature - perhaps he likes the sun, and the warmth. He takes pleasure at tending the grounds he is responsible for, and in fact he's actually lucky to do so - while mister executive is worried about the rumored cutbacks, and that stupid board meeting he has to present at, and oh shit, the business trip to Japan in July!...

 

Yeah, that's the simple "poor but happy" theory, which sounds great in a story but is mostly crap.

 

The executive is on call 24/7, and usually does 55 hour weeks, sometimes getting home at 11pm, after a train ride from the city.

 

That happens usually if you let it happen. I'm in a similar position and my comanpy alos would like to pressure me in 60 hours or more, if I let them. But I maintain the position that we have a contract. My company doesn't pay me more for extra hours and the contract doesn't require it, but at the same time I don't work extra time for free and the contract doesn't require it. There is a reason why we have a contract. If my job requires me to work 60 hours a week, then there is something wrong with the workload and the company should try to resolve it, instead of pressuring people into staying extra time.

If I would go to my boss and tell him I would expect more salary but I don't want to work more, he would think I'm crazy. But at the same time employers seem to be allowed to ask that of their workers as a matter of course.