Rain Man
03-30-2011, 07:25 PM
So here's the usual drill. Assuming a normal life span, we're born, we go through childhood, become a teenager, become a young adult, become an adult, get middle-aged, become senior, get frail, and then die.
What if there was a different model? Beginning at Year 1, we become some random age in our lifespan, in Year 2, we become another age, and so on. We live every chronological year of our life, but we do it in a random order. Both physical, social, and mental attributes would be attuned to the age we draw that year. However, you would go through life like normal, being taken care of by your parents in Year 1 through 6, going to school from the 6th calendar year to the 18th, getting married somewhere around the 30th, etc.
So for example, a person who lives to age 77 might age like this:
Calendar Year Age
1 59
2 54
3 68
4 12
5 16
6 34
7 23
8 58
9 22
10 37
11 60
12 70
13 26
14 73
15 20
16 19
17 2
18 27
19 39
20 61
21 51
22 67
23 49
24 33
25 77
26 38
27 63
28 32
29 66
30 5
31 8
32 45
33 65
34 25
35 10
36 36
37 46
38 62
39 7
40 41
41 42
42 15
43 53
44 72
45 35
46 13
47 50
48 43
49 1
50 76
51 44
52 74
53 48
54 47
55 9
56 56
57 31
58 21
59 55
60 3
61 52
62 71
63 30
64 11
65 40
66 57
67 29
68 64
69 4
70 6
71 18
72 14
73 69
74 75
75 28
76 17
77 24
So for this person, he/she would have some rough early teen years being a septuagenarian for part of them, and junior year would be tough when you're all crying and wearing diapers. But the last ten years of your life would be pretty darn good as you're young and energetic during most of them.
The advantages I'd see would be looking forward to the possibility of recapturing your youth as you get older, even if it's just for a year at a time. If your spouse also age-randomized, there'd be times as a 50 year old that you might be making out with her as a 19 year old, which would be pretty cool. And I also think it would be good to not view aging as a long downhill process.
The disadvantages would probably be having trouble keeping your job if you have a year as a three year old, and you might blow your retirement funds on Hot Wheels cars if you're a 7 year-old near the end of your career.
Overall, though, I think it'd be a good new system that we should consider trying out. What do you think?
And finally, would you feel different if it was only physical and not mental, or only mental and not physical? Or what if they were both random, but drawn separately, so for example you could have a year where you're a mental 2 year-old in a 75 year-old body, or a 41 year-old mind in a 19 year-old body?
What if there was a different model? Beginning at Year 1, we become some random age in our lifespan, in Year 2, we become another age, and so on. We live every chronological year of our life, but we do it in a random order. Both physical, social, and mental attributes would be attuned to the age we draw that year. However, you would go through life like normal, being taken care of by your parents in Year 1 through 6, going to school from the 6th calendar year to the 18th, getting married somewhere around the 30th, etc.
So for example, a person who lives to age 77 might age like this:
Calendar Year Age
1 59
2 54
3 68
4 12
5 16
6 34
7 23
8 58
9 22
10 37
11 60
12 70
13 26
14 73
15 20
16 19
17 2
18 27
19 39
20 61
21 51
22 67
23 49
24 33
25 77
26 38
27 63
28 32
29 66
30 5
31 8
32 45
33 65
34 25
35 10
36 36
37 46
38 62
39 7
40 41
41 42
42 15
43 53
44 72
45 35
46 13
47 50
48 43
49 1
50 76
51 44
52 74
53 48
54 47
55 9
56 56
57 31
58 21
59 55
60 3
61 52
62 71
63 30
64 11
65 40
66 57
67 29
68 64
69 4
70 6
71 18
72 14
73 69
74 75
75 28
76 17
77 24
So for this person, he/she would have some rough early teen years being a septuagenarian for part of them, and junior year would be tough when you're all crying and wearing diapers. But the last ten years of your life would be pretty darn good as you're young and energetic during most of them.
The advantages I'd see would be looking forward to the possibility of recapturing your youth as you get older, even if it's just for a year at a time. If your spouse also age-randomized, there'd be times as a 50 year old that you might be making out with her as a 19 year old, which would be pretty cool. And I also think it would be good to not view aging as a long downhill process.
The disadvantages would probably be having trouble keeping your job if you have a year as a three year old, and you might blow your retirement funds on Hot Wheels cars if you're a 7 year-old near the end of your career.
Overall, though, I think it'd be a good new system that we should consider trying out. What do you think?
And finally, would you feel different if it was only physical and not mental, or only mental and not physical? Or what if they were both random, but drawn separately, so for example you could have a year where you're a mental 2 year-old in a 75 year-old body, or a 41 year-old mind in a 19 year-old body?