Thursday, June 08, 2006

Death Forecast

With a big nod to Tony Karrer, I have learned today, via Death Forecast that I have an estimated 46 years left to live. Wahey! I Haven't reached the halfway point yet!

Of course, I realise that I could get hit by a bus long before then. I believe that the date, time and circumstances of my death have in any case long since been decided, so it was just idle curiosity that made me investigate the site.

What I find interesting is that the tool makes no enquiries about the country in which one currently lives (think about it: Iraq v Australia), nor indeed whether one lives in a city or in a rural location (central Johannesburg v rural Wisconsin). It makes no enquiries about one's occupation (war correspondent v yoga instructor). It doesn't even ask whether or not you are HIV+.

Like Tony, I wish that the site would also give information on how to improve one's chances of longevity. Don't get me wrong, I have no desire to live to such an old age that I become a burden on my (grand?)children or am going to church more often for funerals than for worship. However, I would like to retain good health for as long as possible, and the creators of this forecast tool must presumably be in possession of information regarding optimum lifestyle choices, having employed it in their calculations.

I think it was Tony who recently posted about outcomes on their own not being particularly helpful. Hmm.

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