Q and A with a 100 Year Old Man

a reply to: SentientCentenarian

Hi

I'm Paul I live in Scotland !

I wanted to ask you , in your time here on earth have you ever had a psychedelic experience?
if not then its definitely a worthwhile pursuit

Also what in your own mind would be the single greatest thing you have learned about life , being a human that you can offer as wisdom to the youth?

aww the best

and lang may yer lum reek

originally posted by: CavemanDD
I have a question. This one has to do with the perception of time and life events. I am young man, 30 years old and yet I feel like my first taste of adulthood, the past 10 years have really been a grind and full of a lot of emotional and mental loops. I have nothing of a career aspiration going. I've dabbled in a quite a few ideas. I seem to be good at a lot of things but not good enough, or interested enough to stick to one. I feel like I'm kind of on a hamster wheel of the same ol' and I would change it just for the sake of change but I find myself appreciating things as they were, even though they were far from perfect. I don't really feel like I can trust myself to make big life decisions because I have seen how they sort of fizzle out and i'm okay with it for the most part.

So my question is, what do you take from the simple passage of time? Is the best part of life to just enjoy each day for what it is? I can't imagine living to 100 because at times I have felt very miserable and just want off the ride and i'm a pretty optimistic guy. I think I am just under-stimulated.

Have you gone through stretches of time, a whole decade even where you felt this way, how did you over-come it, and now in your older years what do you find is most important to you to live a good life?

This is a hard one to answer because it seems like there's an underlying mild depression - which I can fully understand because your generation really is taking the brunt of economic pressures not seen since the Depression. I was never 'understimulated' though - every day I or we went out and did something interesting; lots of treks out into the desert to hunt for rocks and fossils, family trips either taken or being planned, work on the car or house to be accomplished... I never did watch much tv, movies or radios, we were too busy, and I'm sure there's a clue there. But I read a lot.

One thing I *have* learned is that happiness only comes in moments - a hearty laugh, a warm hug, a sincere 'thank you' for something given from the heart with no expectations of return. A good homecooked meal (I think restaurants are overrated except for rare occasions).

My advice is to rethink the 'American Dream' and instead consider what would mean the most to you, personally, and pursue that. I'm pretty sure very few people really want a 3 bedroom, 2.5 bathroom, 2 car garage mini-mansion with a 'gourmet' kitchen accompanied by a huge tax burden- they've just been told that and don't realize it means 40 hours a week and 5 hours commuting at a job for 30 years to pay for; hardly a good tradeoff when looked at that way.

What blows your hair back, enthuses you, makes you feel truly rested and refreshed and makes you laugh? Go after that.

If I had to do it again I'd set up a private business like my uncle did with the flying service, become self employed rather than begging for a job. What do you like to do for fun? Make that into a business or income opportunity.

I think old style capitalism has become irretrievably corrupted; we need to do things differently. Maybe Trump's greatest service going forward will be that we'll learn to stop worshipping rich people and instead see them as followers of ever-retreating mirages and low level uninspired criminals.

Read Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs and see where you stand so far, and this - my companion recommends it as the best book out of tens of thousands that they've ever read; it's dated (1970s) but still valid:

How I Found Freedom in an Unfree World pdf

Typist's note: It's my sincere opinion that a LOT of young men are low on testosterone or estrogenized via the water supplies; they're contaminated with birth control pills and hormone replacement drugs along with godknowswhat all else. Men now don't seem to have the drive, deep voices and testosterone supplies that men did when I was younger (1950s); I think we're all being poisoned. Clean up your food supply to real foods and your water intake with reverse osmosis or distillation, and go to the gym and work out with weights - it will up your testosterone levels endogenously and may help give you the drive and oomph to have some more enthusiasm for life. This would be doubly true if you're out of shape as most people are. Force it if you have to, at first. You'll feel the difference almost immediately. And you'll be more attractive to the ladies, which might just get you more of what you want there, too.

originally posted by: sapien82
a reply to: SentientCentenarian

Hi

I'm Paul I live in Scotland !

I wanted to ask you , in your time here on earth have you ever had a psychedelic experience?
if not then its definitely a worthwhile pursuit

Also what in your own mind would be the single greatest thing you have learned about life , being a human that you can offer as wisdom to the youth?

aww the best

and lang may yer lum reek

I hail from the MacLeod clan on my mother's side!

No psychedelic experiences; I think anything now would fry what's left of my brain irretrievably. I'm not of the era where they were anything but demonized so my access would have been limited. I spent the 60s, 70s and 80s wandering the desert, does that count? Thirty years...hmmm.

Single greatest thing: Give back. Help others who are not so fortunate. It's the little things that make a big difference. Oh, and ignore authority as much as you can. They're never the brightest bulbs in the chandelier.

I'm having trouble parsing out 'lum reek' but I got the rest - lol.

Lang may yer lum reek" (a Hogmanay greeting, implying "May you never be without fuel for your fire!", but more literally translates to "Long may your chimney smoke!")

Shoulda looked it up on the magic box!

Is that the same as 'there may be snow on the roof but there's still a fire in the hearth?' or something like that?

Not much fire here, and the snow (hair) is long since gone.

Oh, here's the whole thing! It's wonderful:

Lang may yer lum reek! (Long may your chimney smoke!)
May the best ye hae ivver seen be the warst ye'll ivver see.
May the moose ne'er lea' yer girnal wi a tear-drap in its ee.
May ye aye keep hail an hertie till ye'r auld eneuch tae dee.
May ye aye juist be sae happie as A wuss ye aye tae be.

The above, in translation, reads:
May the best you have ever seen be the worst you will ever see.
May the mouse never leave your grain store with a tear drop in its eye.
May you always stay hale and hearty until you are old enough to die.
May you still be as happy as I always wish you to be.

a reply to: SentientCentenarian

haha fantastic I suppose 30 years in the desert you would expect some kind of psychedelic experience brought on from intense environments , hunger and thirst !

thats impressive I bet you have seen some amazing vistas!

Aye , well I agree , that's probably the best advice anyone can give.

as for the poem , I mean it all , i hope you live another 100 years of great health and prosperity

Oh , one final question , now you are getting to grips with modern technology and given you're biological body is aging
would you consider the possibility if it were available to take the transhumanist leap and replace your biological body with artificial pieces , say for example you could upload your consciousness and memories to a cyborg body and live for another 100 years , would you do it ?

it must be amazing having lived so long and through so many different generations that you can see full circle a few things
including technology , like going from having no computers to almost quantum computing!

check out quantum computing on youtube if you think the internet is magic

Oh visit the homeland if you ever get a chance , Scotland is mighty beautiful
aww the best
Oh and thank you very much for taking the time to respond to everyone its appreciated

originally posted by: SentientCentenarian
People ask me 'what's my secret' and I tell them 'a Coke every day and chocolate with every meal!' Well, sometimes not for breakfast. I had my first Coke when I was about eight years old and it was the most wonderful thing ever. I saved up my pennies and bought one every day since then. I don't think I've ever missed one except in Japan. That's 90 years of Coca-Cola, they should pay me to advertise for them.

And don't tell anyone, but I really don't like vegetables.

Ouch, this is definitely not what those of us who try to eat healthy and avoid processed foods like the plague wanted to hear. Either you have found the secret to longevity or you have VERY good genetics. May God bless you and give you many more years on this earth!

a reply to: SentientCentenarian

Neat thread, I don't usually browse this forum but it sounded interesting from the front page (another section I don't check) so as chance would have it... here I am. I would love your perspective on this as one of my hobbies is to think about how things are now, how they were different in the past, and will be different in the future.

I guess I have two semi related questions for you (I hope others haven't already answered them) and they relate to how the world has changed around you.

First: How has the improvement of communication technology changed your life? When you were born, outside of the telegraph (which as I understand it was expensive and limited) the only real communication were letters which could take weeks to arrive at a destination as they traveled the country by train. First there were shared phones, then individual phones, then long distance carriers, and eventually cell phones. Today you have a little box in your pocket that with the right numbers pressed into it, can instantly communicate with nearly anyone else on earth.

Additionally, the art of writing has vastly changed. Going by minimum wage statistics of the early 1900's (not the most reliable things) it cost about 30 minutes of work to mail a letter. If you had a group of pen pals, this could get expensive. If you wanted to mass distribute you needed books, or atleast print shops for fliers. Today though, anyone who knows how to write can publish whatever they want whenever they want. To a person like me, who learned to read and write at 3 years old in 1985, by using internet BBS's all over the country it's a completely different world. What was life like back when your thoughts weren't available to be published like this?

And for the second, related question.

You've witnessed the technological revolution. My great grandmother witnessed it too (she died in 95 at 102). From outhouses to indoor plumbing, candles to electric lights, electric heating and AC, ice boxes to refrigerators, carriages to cars, biplanes to walking on the moon.

Societal standards have all changed drastically with this tech that makes our lives easier. What has it been like to observe that change?

Actually, one more question.

In your life, the average lifespan has gone up dramatically, more than doubled and you are clearly benefiting. If a miracle treatment came out right now and it would give you another 100+ years, would you take it?

This is something I think about often. I have no fear of death, but I like living simply because I like to see the new things humans can achieve. Somewhere along the line I came to the realization that I have a very good chance of living a long time between all the upcoming medical treatments I'll have access to (upon finding a way to pay).

If that opportunity were available now, would you take it? I've found those who make it to 100 tend to be split on this issue. Some want to see the world continue to change while others are just sick of it all.

originally posted by: DBCowboy
a reply to: SentientCentenarian

Thanks for your reply.

My only other comment is that I can't find anyone under 60 who knows how to play Bridge!

I know (somewhat, I have to read up on the rules). It's a neat game, but I prefer MTG... it's a very similar game with hidden information and such.

At my coffee shop hangout every saturday there's a group of 4 older women who always gather and play Bridge. I watch them play a lot of the time.

originally posted by: SentientCentenarian
I really do feel like I'm 30 still. And 10, and 18 and 25....I have the same interests and the only physical thing is my knees hurt sometimes and my eyes aren't the best anymore. I just wish my wife had lived longer, she died way too young.

I find this interesting because I'm very aware of my own aging. I'm still just a child of course at 34, but I'm much different from the person I was 10 years ago... to the point where I downright hate the mid 20's me (I won't even look at photos of myself from that time period). Yet at the same time I also feel like I'm too old to really still be in college with mid 20's people (the joys of life). My interests are still the same, but my thought process is totally different. And I find that the way I handle information has also changed, as a kid I was very authoritarian, but the older I get, the more I realize just how little almost anything matters and I simply don't get bent out of shape over it.

a reply to: sapien82

Nah, don't think I'd want to upload my personality to a cyber-something. Sounds painful. There would be no chocolate or Cokes there, right?

I've had a good, long life with very few bad things happening to me. I've been blessed and lucky.

I'm ready to go out whenever - and will come back and visit again in 100 years or so to see what's doing.

Here's my favorite album, ever:

a reply to: BlueShaman

See what my caretaker said about Vitamin C - she may be on to something. I know I heal up strangely well; cuts heal completely in mere days and once I cut my thumb badly vertically, right through from the tip to the end of the nail, doing something in the shop. I washed it and wrapped it up and it was right as rain in a week or two.

No reason you can't take supplements.

originally posted by: Aazadan
a reply to: SentientCentenarian

Neat thread, I don't usually browse this forum but it sounded interesting from the front page (another section I don't check) so as chance would have it... here I am. I would love your perspective on this as one of my hobbies is to think about how things are now, how they were different in the past, and will be different in the future.

I guess I have two semi related questions for you (I hope others haven't already answered them) and they relate to how the world has changed around you.

First: How has the improvement of communication technology changed your life? When you were born, outside of the telegraph (which as I understand it was expensive and limited) the only real communication were letters which could take weeks to arrive at a destination as they traveled the country by train. First there were shared phones, then individual phones, then long distance carriers, and eventually cell phones. Today you have a little box in your pocket that with the right numbers pressed into it, can instantly communicate with nearly anyone else on earth.

Additionally, the art of writing has vastly changed. Going by minimum wage statistics of the early 1900's (not the most reliable things) it cost about 30 minutes of work to mail a letter. If you had a group of pen pals, this could get expensive. If you wanted to mass distribute you needed books, or atleast print shops for fliers. Today though, anyone who knows how to write can publish whatever they want whenever they want. To a person like me, who learned to read and write at 3 years old in 1985, by using internet BBS's all over the country it's a completely different world. What was life like back when your thoughts weren't available to be published like this?

And for the second, related question.

You've witnessed the technological revolution. My great grandmother witnessed it too (she died in 95 at 102). From outhouses to indoor plumbing, candles to electric lights, electric heating and AC, ice boxes to refrigerators, carriages to cars, biplanes to walking on the moon.

Societal standards have all changed drastically with this tech that makes our lives easier. What has it been like to observe that change?

Thank you for taking a chance on this very long thread; I know it's a real time sink

First off, I need to correct you a bit on telephones - they were in general use (even in our small town in Iowa!) by the time I can remember, the late 1919 era or so.. it was a two piece affair and you lifted the earpiece and the operator would come on and you would tell her the person or number you wanted. If you didn't know or it was long distance, she would look it up for you. It was a party line and it was common for someone else to be on yakking and you were supposed to hang up immediately if you heard 'Gladys talking about her lumbago' ... or not, and eavesdrop. If it was an emergency and only then, you were allowed to ask them to hang up because of whatever your emergency was.

Fast forward to now and I still have a land line (since 1979 or so!) and the nuisance calls every day to prove it; but no cell phone. I've never used one and can't see to learn, either. How can you see all those tiny buttons?

The 'pen pals' I had back after the war - so 1946 and on - were in Japan and infrequent. One every few months so not too expensive. I didn't do emailing until just last year because that's when I gained access to a computer and a secretary to help me with it. Then I had to find out if my Japanese friends had an email address. They did! Finally we worked all that out via the regular route of air mail and now we can communicate that way. The only one left of the original family I met is a cousin who is in some of my pictures as a young girl. She must be in her 80s by now. Their family name is Matsumoto and the original father or uncle of the family I first met was a vice admiral of some kind. His ship was sunk by us

So communication then was slower but more personal - and it's magic that you can talk to anyone on the planet instantaneously. My caretaker calls it 'electronic telepathy' and it's very near that. Are we the Borg yet?

"What was life like back when your thoughts weren't available to be published like this?" - wow, good question! I guess more private! Slower and calmer. No tv always in the background and rarely radio. No worries about the NSA, either. (Snowden is a hero!) Everything was very patriotic and you meant it when you saluted the flag or sang the anthem. Your grandfather's blood was on that flag in very real terms - in fact I had people on both sides in the Civil War - literally brother fighting brother because some had settled in Virginia and others in Pennsylvania. We lost one in Gettysburg.

My family was quite well off, even during the depression (father was a banker who helped keep other banks open, there was a technical name for what he did that I can't remember, registrar or something) so my take on things may not be representative of others during the Depression, especially. We were sheltered from that.

"From outhouses to indoor plumbing, candles to electric lights, electric heating and AC, ice boxes to refrigerators, carriages to cars, biplanes to walking on the moon." - we always had indoor plumbing (sorry to disappoint you, but we did go camping a lot and that could be quite primitive), and electric lights and a coal furnace. No AC, boy, that was a nice invention! We probably didn't get that in Iowa until the 50s after the war. Big deal, then. So was ice cream, you went out to an ice cream parlor for that; never had it at home unless you had cows and saved the cream. That was a real fancy date if you took a gal out for ice cream!

My gramma relates the story of my grand-uncle taking out his team of prized horses and getting into a race on the way home with another wagon drawn by one horse. His team made a turn into our driveway at a full gallop and made the turn, but one horse went on one side of a large tree, the other on the other side. Cracked the tongue of the wagon and threw my mother out of the wagon with a baby in her arms. I think that was my brother and if it was, that would explain a lot... he was always getting into trouble.

Biplanes were wonderful fun, so open! I may be going on a biplane ride for my 101th birthday, wish me luck. We're having trouble finding one that gives rides.

Walking on the moon - still hard to believe. Why don't we have a base there yet (if we don't?)

Societal standards have all changed drastically with this tech that makes our lives easier. What has it been like to observe that change?

Typist's note:
I wanted to answer this separate - SC really hasn't kept up with most technology, since about the 1970s or so. He never touched a computer until last year but his speed typing gave him a huge boost when he tried using it with a magnifier. Still slow going for him because of his eyesight, though. And get this - he was a speed typist on an old manual machine. He still has it and it's probably a 1930s vintage. Still works, too. This entire house is a museum...

I'm still explaining to him what it can do and of course I have no clue myself for most of what's possible. I use it for research and making a pest of myself here and on other forums.

SC is a very mechanically minded person, rather than electronic. His world is screwdrivers and wrenches and rulers, sheet metal and nails and hammers. He still tinkers quite a lot but it's not electronic at all. That Model A of his is all his doing - you could eat off that engine and even if it's not started for six months, it starts up with a purr and an OOGAH of the horn, as soon as we want to take it for a spin.

That part of progress has pretty much passed him by, enough so he's lost in it, but also amazed by it. I tell him what you can do on line and he just tries to fathom it, without fully understanding, although several times a day now I get asked 'can you look something up for me on your magic box?' and we're off and running on another adventure. Lately he's obsessed with the pyramids and what his pocket watches may be worth.

And every morning it's the same thing, 'how are you doing this morning?' followed by 'well, I woke up!'

I feel like I'm in a Calvin and Hobbs cartoon, and we trade off being the one to get into trouble and the wise one.

originally posted by: Aazadan
Actually, one more question.

In your life, the average lifespan has gone up dramatically, more than doubled and you are clearly benefiting. If a miracle treatment came out right now and it would give you another 100+ years, would you take it?

This is something I think about often. I have no fear of death, but I like living simply because I like to see the new things humans can achieve. Somewhere along the line I came to the realization that I have a very good chance of living a long time between all the upcoming medical treatments I'll have access to (upon finding a way to pay).

If that opportunity were available now, would you take it? I've found those who make it to 100 tend to be split on this issue. Some want to see the world continue to change while others are just sick of it all.

Hmm.. if Trump or Hillary win, I think I want out of here! They're scary but on the other hand, I still want to see what next. Maybe they'll get arrested and I'll have my mental revenge. Schadenfreude? Only German word I know besides swear words and sauerkraut.

My daughter has Alzheimer's and doesn't even know her own name now. Such a shame, why her and not me?

I think I'd stick around if I could be guaranteed a good mind and a painfree body. Otherwise, I'm ducking out and coming back later to see how things are coming along.

This isn't the end, in any event. See my signoff...

a reply to: Aazadan

I don't think we're really adults until we hit 30 or so. May be even worse for your generation, there's so much more to learn.

My fear is, what's going to be left by the wayside because you all don't have time to learn everything?

One more wee correction - "In your life, the average lifespan has gone up dramatically, more than doubled and you are clearly benefiting."

SC has no heart disease as far as we know, takes just a low dose BP medication, no surgeries or serious illnesses of any kind.

He lived through the Spanish Flu in 1918-1919 without a hitch and says he rarely gets colds or the flu. His weight has always been +/- 20 lbs of normal and he's quite lean now. All the men and women back then were, though. 'Only grammas were fat.'

His medical chart reads like he could be 50 or less. His lab tests are perfect.

In other words, I'm not sure he's benefiting from modern medicine. He doesn't seem to need it.

Why? No clue except the Vitamin C possibility. Or maybe it's the Cokes.

DP

I do not want to live said 145 years old a resident of Indonesia fapnews.ru... ( need an interpreter )

a reply to: SentientCentenarian

Well the chocolate and the coke would be simulated flavour I guess since you wouldnt need food like a full biohuman
our tastes buds that trigger when we drank the coke or ate the chocolate would be simulated so youd still get that memory of coke and chocolate and that sugar rush ahhaha!

Im sure my gran was a fan of Steve McDonald, but she loved Daniel O'Donnell more hahah !

I hope that you stick around and find out more about the world through the magic box !

and if you can travel then visit Scotland as its a really great wee country