Sitting at lunch with a couple colleagues, we got onto lifespan and how men die earlier. In Finland, the life expectancy for those born in 2020 is 79 for boys and 84.6 for women. While there are plenty of joke reasons as to why this is the case, and there are also genetic factors too, for the most part, it is largely behavioral, often driven by cultural and social norms. Men partake in riskier work activities, leisure activities, and healthcare activities.
Men die first across all age groups.
It isn't just that at 79 years of age men die and the women live on, it is that a significant percentage of the male population is taken out of circulation on the journey, and never make it to old age. The average is an average for a reason, and the average age of women is increasing at a faster rate than that of men, which is likely due to more focus being put on women's health than it was in the past, better natal care, and more control over their health in general.
But this got me thinking a bit about the "future" of our species, as there could be some very large changes coming to the way we organize ourselves. For the most part, I believe we are heading into quite a dystopic period of humanity, but it might also be interesting. For instance, whilst I have written extensively about how artificial intelligence is going to replace many of the areas where we are able to add value and most of us will be left without any way to earn, that is only part of the issue. Because if we can't earn, how do we consume?
An economy is driven by supply and demand of goods and services, but at the global level, it comes down to money (of some kind) as the medium of exchange. But, what perhaps is going to be the biggest change to the global economy in the future, isn't the revolution of money, but the evolution of energy supply. Because at some point, that dream of clean, endless energy, will be achieved. Where the power it takes to produce fission energy, is less than the output.
Limitless clean doesn't just make paying an electricity bill redundant, it unleashes our creative power to innovate without the constraints of conserving energy. This means that we are able to design in fundamentally different ways, meaning that a production machine can produce at much faster rates. This also means that robotics and automation driven by artificial intelligence is unconstrained also.
We can't compete.
As I see it, at this point the majority of us will have nothing to do that adds any economic value to the world, which means we will be free to add value in other ways. Of course, this is completely dependent on whether we maintain course on what we value now which will lead to oppression, starvation, and disaster; or completely change how we value humans, which I see as unlikely at this point.
Yet, going back to the start of this article with how men's behavior is probably the leading cause of dying earlier than women, even if we are free to do as we please, will our behaviors facilitate quality lives and wellbeing? If we consider that we have innovated in ways that mean that most of us no longer have to fight to eat a meal daily, rather than it making us better, we have just got fatter on average. An easier life doesn't seem to lead to the best version of ourselves, does it?
Living longer shouldn't be our goal in life, living better should be. If what we are doing isn't leading to us leading a better life on average as a species, we are probably doing it wrong. Of course innovation is needed and will bring all kinds of unexpected and unintended drawback, as well as a few positive surprises. But ultimately, if all the innovations are directed toward producing more, faster, so that we can consume more, faster, we are unlikely going to be the picture of health as a society.
Man, woman, and however else one currently identifies - all will suffer on average.
Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]