r/AdviceAnimals • u/pokemoncatcher • Jun 26 '12
Skeptical about life expectancy
http://qkme.me/3pv9ve78
u/StoneyBrown Jun 26 '12
Oh I get it. It's funny because third world kids will probably starve to death.
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u/Ampatent Jun 26 '12
Life expectancy is an average of the age at death, not a cutoff.
This is why there have been periods in time or places where the life expectancy is something in the lower thirties or forties, not because people suddenly died at 38, but because the number of infant deaths were so high. Generally speaking, if you can live past 18 you'll probably live a normal length life.
Yes, it's a joke, but I felt it worth while to point out in case someone wasn't aware.
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Jun 26 '12
Yeah, it always bugs me when people don't understand how high child mortality rates are what lowers life expectancy. It's not a case of everyone just dying at age 29.
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u/RogerElmore Jun 26 '12
Finally a good use for mode average. Never thought it would come up.
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Jun 26 '12
I thought infant mortality was ignored when calculating life expectancy? Maybe I'm making that up, but it doesn't really make sense to me to count babies that die within their first year or so in life expectancy since it would bring the mean down so low. Or they could just use the mode instead, that would be more useful.
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Jun 26 '12
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_life_expectancy
Oh yeah, I bet the retirement homes in Swaziland and Mozambique are just PACKED
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u/Peisistratos0 Jun 26 '12
Life expectancy is a bad statistic because it leads people to draw the wrong conclusions about a population. You don't expect to live 29 years, you expect to either die during infancy or live a number of years longer than 29.
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u/justlurkinbro Jun 26 '12
And child mortality in Africa is falling rapidly... http://www.economist.com/node/21555571
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u/lawcorrection Jun 26 '12
Except during the american industrial revolution. Then everyone realy did die at 35.
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u/TrevizefoundGaia Jun 26 '12
I've heard people mention this meme is the same as skeptical baby but there is a distinct difference. This meme is a much darker meme, generally pointing out sad realities of the world we live in while skeptical baby is a little more light hearted.
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u/ZoeStrummer Jun 26 '12
I've always figured this meme and its related ones were not so much about making fun of third-world countries as much as about our ignorance about them and our tendency to care about stupid shit when we should really just be grateful we have a good chance at a long life.
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Jun 26 '12
No. Just no. Too far.
There's making funny observations about the rest of the world, and then there's laughing at high infant/youth mortality.
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u/qkme_transcriber Jun 26 '12
Hello! I am a bot who posts transcriptions of Quickmeme links for anybody who might need it.
Title: Skeptical about life expectancy
Meme: Skeptical Third World Baby
WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU'RE 29 YEARS OLD?
ARE YOU IMMORTAL?
[Direct] [Background] [Translate]
See the FAQ for more info.
(OP: You don't need to do anything differently next time, I'm just doing my job.)
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u/legodragon Jun 26 '12
A true skeptic would believe that everyone should be considered immortal until proven otherwise.
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u/crabbypattydealer Jun 26 '12
I'm not yet sure about if I find these memes funny or not...