A Date with Destiny
I finished a book recently (A Mind of its Own by Cordelia Fine) which outlined in great detail exactly how the brain deceives its ‘owner’ in a number of ways. One of those ways, so well-known to all teenagers and especially young men in their 20’s, is the belief that you’re essentially going to live forever – right up till the moment you don’t. How does the Rush song go: “You’re only immortal for a limited time”... So, as part of the discussion, the author referenced a website charmingly called ‘The Death Clock’ (www.deathclock.com) which I couldn’t help but check out. When I Googled the address, I was a bit surprised that a number of sites offered this ‘service’ so, naturally, I tried two of them including the Death Clock. Each site asked a variation of pretty standard questions:
Age
Gender
Smoking & Drinking habits
If you were an Optimist or Pessimist (I answered Neutral on both)
One site asked for a BMI (Body Mass Index) reading which I worked out even if BMI is a VERY questionable proxy for general health.
The results were interesting and broadly similar in longevity. One site proposed my estimate death day to be Tuesday 16th July 2041 and the other (the actual Death Clock site) suggested Thursday 17th December 2043. So, not TOO shabby. Of course, being a Gamer what I see isn’t an expected last day but rather a score to beat. I guess only time will tell. In other interesting news a few days after I had this information the Universe (or The Matrix?) decided to totally troll me by showing me an article which predicted the collapse of Western civilisation (whatever THAT means) in 2040. So, not only can I watch the world slowly collapse I can actually be around for the FALL. Thanks Universe!! [LOL]
In an aside, about 5 years ago in work we had a new ‘intern’ (we pay ours the standard salary for the position rather than make them work for free) in his early 20’s. For some reason the BBC website I visited each lunchtime was offering a quick and dirty Life Expectancy widget, so I tried it out. The intern did too and was a bit annoyed that it suggested that my life expectancy was greater than his – despite me being in my late 50’s and him being young, fit and around 30 years my junior. I suggested that it was because he was still in his stupid 20’s when people his age were skateboarding off mountains and that I had also passed through my late 40’s/early 50’s when there’s a significant spike in male suicides. He still had to make it through those filters... So, the good news is that I’ve (hopefully) got another 20 years of reading ahead of me. That MIGHT just be enough to work through the unread books I’ve already got. Possibly...
4 comments:
I am not sure I would want to put my info in, even just for fun. I would be too hyper-focused on that date then for the rest of my life.
I doubt if its all that accurate. More accurate than Horoscopes (but what isn't) but not as accurate as weather forecasting. I'm guessing they use something like Life Insurance algorithms/data which will give you averages for a particular 'type' of person. So, will I make it to 83? Possibly, but there's zero way to actually *know* that.
The death clock told me I’m going to live to 98 despite my BMI. I have quite a few relatives on both sides of my family who are 100+ or who have lived to 98-100, so I’ve assumed I had a reasonable shot to make it close to 100 if I didn’t do something stupid or have an accident.
COOL! You'll be quite the matriarch by then... [lol]
My ancestry investigations brought up a lot of ancestors who lived into their 80's and beyond so... You never can tell. I think if you're in reasonable health & moderately lucky most people (in the West anyway) should make it into their mid 70's and beyond - barring stupidity or accidents.
Post a Comment