“Life Not Worth Living: What Happens When We Live To 100” Americans are living longer lives than they used to hundreds of years ago. The average life expectancy of an American increased from 47 years old in 1900 to 79 years old in 2011. There are several explanations for this phenomenon. The life expectancy of the average person is increasing because of the advancements in technology, healthy diets, and the progression of medical science. With these advancements, Americans are now able to live past one hundred years of age. Everyone dreams of living forever. It seems so appealing to be able to live life for a very long time, happily and healthily, and going out and enjoying everything that life has to offer. Although living past one hundred can be a fortune the desire for life extension comes with an abundance of expenses, illnesses and lack of social support. First, while a long life can be a good thing, longevity also brings with it some unique financial challenges on both a micro and macro level. First of all, aged people require care. If they have no one to take care of them at home, they will have to go to a …show more content…
It has some advantages on our youth and society. However, longer life expectancy of human beings creates burdens to society and economically.Some will argue that living longer is beneficial since the senior citizens’ experiences are very precious for the youth. Meanwhile, others disagree with this because they strongly believe that the old will certainly be the burden of the family, even the country. It is the truth longevity is a symbol of evil. “It is better to have a meaningful life and make a difference than to merely have a long life.”(McGill) Since you can not rewind time what happens next? With life expectancy increasing year after year this should be an eye opener for future generations to save money to ensure a quality of life during the golden
old age, is a risk or a benefit, and what is the true purpose of
An aging population is indeed a problem for the society and will possibly cause many social and economic difficulties in the future. According to David Foot (2003), professor of Economics at University of Toronto, an effective birth rate of 2.2% against current 1.75% will be necessary to replace the current work force in the near future and the government’s policy of bringing in more immigrants will eventually fail (Foot, 2003, 2). However some people predict that the increased size of an aging population will drive growth in the home, health care, and many other industries resulting in job creation and economic growth (Marketwire, 2013, 1). Majority of the people are of the opinion that the issue will be mainly in the health care and economic activity. As humans age, they start to develop health problems, leading to more visits to a medical clinic putting extra burden on health care system.
As we can see, the consequences of a longer life are not as positive as it may seem from scratch. Longer lives mean, for women, developing new duties towards the others, such as the duty to take care of grandchildren and husbands. Nevertheless, since men do enjoy a higher quality of life due to higher incomes, to have a higher life expectation would actually have positive consequences.
During the 19th and 20th century, a lot of people lived a really long life, some of them lived for one hundred, two hundred and even three hundred years. However, now in the 21st century, if a person lives for a hundred years, he is considered a living legend during these times. Moreover, the synthesis of new medications have also been researched but none of them work at all to increase a person's life expectancy. Do you want to live your life for a hundred years or even more? Although many new diseases have recently showed up, we can not blame those diseases. The choices we make affect the longevity of our lives.
“The Golden Years? You've got to be kidding...(Nelson)” Ageism is the main influence for how older people view the aging process. Despite stereotypes, today, for the first time in history, most people can expect to live into their sixties and beyond. A longer life represents an important opportunity, not only for older people and their families, but also for societies as a whole. Additional years provide the chance to pursue new activities such as further education or a long-neglected passion, while continuing to make valuable contributions to family and community.
Increased life expectancies have many reconsidering whether the fountain of youth is merely a legend. For many families, longer life spans have allowed them to spend more time with loved ones, time that may not paint the picture imagined.
Many do not like to talk about their age and their aging process, because to some, chronological aging has much more meaning than just the number of years that they have lived (Hooyman et al., 2015). Age really is just a number. There are centenarians and super-centenarians, like Flossie Dickey, who are still going strong at and living their daily lives with minimal restrictions (Hooyman et al., 2015), and people who struggle at the age of 80, it is all about aging successfully (Hooyman et al., 2015). What it means to age in society is a constantly changing concept, and now that the baby-boomers are starting to reach their older adult stages, maximum life spans are continuing to rise (Hooyman et al., 2015), and we see more centenarians and super-centenarians and skipped generation households (Hooyman et al.,
In conclusion, there are several benefits to thinking about ageing as a lifelong process, and not just as something which affects older people. Combating ageism at any age, celebrating the diversity amongst our ageing population, and the importance of having a healthier lifestyle in the present to prepare our bodies for the challenges posed by ageing are all valid strengths to this reasoning. It is also important to be able to relate these benefits in terms to your own experiences as this knowledge gives you a greater empathy with
As American society has evolved in the past 100 years and technology has increased and improved, so has the life expectancy for individuals. Currently, females can expect to live for 81 years on average, while males can expect to live for 75 years, giving an average life expectancy of 78.3 years (Santrock, 2013, p.536). According to Santrock (2013), “since 1900, improvements in medicine, nutrition, exercise, and lifestyle have increased our life expectancy an average of 30 additional years,” but another important factor is the decreasing infant mortality, allowing a larger population of people, including older adults (p.536). Making good choices in diet, regular exercise, avoiding drugs and alcohol, along with getting enough sleep and maintaining a low and healthy stress level can all increase life expectancy. Relationships, emotional well-being, and having purpose all also play an important role in determining how long an individual will live. As people are living longer, more ...
Human life is full of meaning. As humans, we assign value to many things. However, what happens when we assign a specific value to a human life? This is the issue being presented in the article, “What is a Life Worth,” by Amanda Ripley. The government is determining a monetary value to a human life, and it does not appeal to the masses. There are many problems with the cold calculation, and most people cannot see the other side of the numbers. The economic value of a human life is calculated based on the income the person was receiving, but when the check is given to a loved one of a small amount, the compensation is misinterpreted as an overall value of the human life. The true value of a human life should not be combined with the monetary value that is determined by the government, or the value of life would be worth very little.
Death is something that causes fear in many peoples lives. People will typically try to avoid the conversation of death at all cost. The word itself tends to freak people out. The thought of death is far beyond any living person’s grasp. When people that are living think about the concept of death, their minds go to many different places. Death is a thing that causes pain in peoples lives, but can also be a blessing.
Technology in terms of medicine has also increased the life expectancy of the average person. With new technological advancements in surgeries, medicines and treatments the average life expectancy is still on the increase. A recent study shows that the average life span for 2004 of a United States Citizen is 77.4 years old. This has increased significantly from 1900 where the average lifespan for a male was 48.2 and for the female 51.5. Thanks to technology we can now live longer.
What is the meaning of life? What is the point of living if we all eventually die? Philosophers have come up with many different theories regarding this subject. However, there remains a lack of any agreed upon theory for the meaning of life. Thomas Nagel and Harry Frankfurt are two philosophers who have offered their opinions on this issue. In his book called What Does it All Mean?, Nagel distinguishes between meaning within a life and the meaning of life as a whole. The differences between the two create a discrepancy that does not provide a clear conclusion which attributes meaning to our lives. On the other hand, in his book called The Reasons of Love, Frankfurt argues that love is the key to a meaningful life. He describes the idea of self-love, the purest form of love that commits us to finding meaning in our lives. This paper discusses Nagel’s distinction between the two types of meaningfulness, Frankfurt’s analysis of the love-meaning connection, and my argument that Frankfurt’s point of view addresses Nagel’s meaning within a life but not meaning of life as a whole. Then, the paper concludes with my belief that the search for the meaning of life is the meaning of life itself.
Death is one of the hardest things to over come; while others have developed paganism for death it’s ultimately the scariest thing to face in life. Losing a best friend, a family member, or the love of your life. Therefore the death of someone special is definitely the hardest thing to face. Many people believe when someone dies, they’re sleeping, and they wake up when Jesus comes again and brings you to heaven with him, this is called Christianity, however, Buddhism believe when the body dies it disappears, but the mind goes on, which means you have no after life to experience. I personally believe after you die, you will go to a very special place, with past family members who have passed away. I also believe if you don’t think there is a God you will go to
I have always been to asking myself what is meaning of life? or what I supposed to do ? or what I have to achieve? . Meaning of life what 's you have been given? what you have given by different kind of human? Or what I believe or what I do not believe in life .Everybody have Meaning of life it depends between person to person, I found myself when I was young because my parents always talk about experience in their life.Throughout my entire life ,I have wondered about the significance meaning of life that has beneficial for the people, because the life is beginning odds and ending odds .Even though struggle of life, I believe meaning of life are ,regional ,ambition, participate ,achievement ,and happiness .Due to this, I