Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!mailrus!ncar!boulder!bobk
From: bobk@boulder.Colorado.EDU (Robert Kinne)
Newsgroups: comp.society.futures
Subject: Re: Future Work
Message-ID: <19599@boulder.Colorado.EDU>
Date: 12 Apr 90 16:32:54 GMT
References: <9004121351.AA08723@lti2.lti.uucp>
Sender: news@boulder.Colorado.EDU
Reply-To: bobk@boulder.Colorado.EDU (Robert Kinne)
Organization: University of Colorado, Boulder
Lines: 32

In article <9004121351.AA08723@lti2.lti.uucp> reg@lti2.UUCP (Rick Genter x18) writes:
>
>The average life expectency during the time of the Roman Emperors was ~40 yrs.
>Today it's ~75 yrs.  Yet our lifestyle is distinctly unhealthy.  Go figure.
>
Our modern sedentary lifestyle, coupled with high animal fat diet,
probably isn't too different from the lifestyle of the prosperous
few throughout history.  One difference is the conquering and great
reduction of premature deaths due to disease and poor hygiene.  The
mother who died following child-birth, and the teenager who died
from measles, and the family wiped out by smallpox, or cholera, or
bubonic plague never had a chance to develop heart disease or cancers.
The soldier or worker who died of loss of blood or infection following
an injury didn't have to worry about their cholesterol levels.

We all die of something.  When a large fraction of the population
die before age 30, the causes are different than when most survive
to 70+ years of age.  Deaths from heart disease due to stress, lack
of activity, smoking, or clogged arteries are *extremely* rare in
the population before age 40, and become the dominant cause of
death after about age 60.  Our longer lifespan is primarily due to
better sanitation, better medical treatment, and conquering of the
fatal infectious diseases common in other eras.  Further cleaning
of air, water, and food, combined with sensible diet and exercise,
and not smoking, is the main reason that lifespan has been steadily
increasing through the last 15 or so years, and this trend will
probably continue for another 20 years.  It seems to be the case
that the human organism has a design life of about 85 years, plus
or minus about 15.  Deaths before this time are usually due to
outside causes, which can be reduced or mitigated.

"Being a king isn't as easy as it looks, Peachey."