What sorts of activities are equivalent to death?

by philg

My friend getting a master’s in public health said that he wanted to do a presentation showing how many tsunamis worth of human life were being lost on a continuous basis because of poor public health in countries such as Mali where the life expectancy at birth is 45 years.  My response was that he should add in a calculation of the equivalent lives lost doing personal computer system administration.  For example, if I wanted to upgrade my desktop PC (vintage 2002) it would cost me a week of time re-installing applications such as Adobe Photoshop and my flight planning tool.  A week lost to sysadmin is actually worse than a week lost at the end of one’s life when one would be less vigorous.


The question then arose “What sorts of activities in a Western society are so boring that they should count as a reduction in our life expectancy?”  Friends at dinner immediately offered “doing taxes” and “sitting in a traffic jam”.  Are there others?  And do we have so many that our useful life expectancy is substantially reduced?  And could it be reduced to the point that some African men might have more hours of actual life available to them than American men?  (Women in Africa are saddled with lots of chores that are as tedious as Windows sysadmin, e.g., carrying water.)

15 thoughts on “What sorts of activities are equivalent to death?”

  2. This blog item is ridiculous in the extreme. The underlying assumption that life not ‘enjoyed’ is not lived, is facile, hedonistic and (dare I say it) downright American. What you need, Philip, is an entourage of servants to rid you of all that tedium (sysadmin, fetching yourself a drink of water).

    You get nothing in this life for free. Thats the problem with the rich, priviledged classes. Unable to see the value of work and effort, you expect everything to be laid on for you.

    This may be a frivolous topic, but the underlying sentiment is disturbing, and a little disgusting, to be frank.

  3. Activities that add to your wealth, such as the traffic jams while commuting to work, probably shouldn’t count as “dead” time. It is inefficient (perhaps: find a more efficient solution, including the costs to construct and maintain it, and I am sure there are people who will build it) but it is generating economic wealth.

    Unlike the tsunami victims, you have a choice as to how you spend your time. Assuming you are moderately rational, then none of your activities are equivalent to death any more than you would voluntarily choose death.

    Comparing freely chosen activities with the deaths from natural disasters is insensitive. Comparing it with deaths from poor medical standards may be more justified — at least somebody is making a choice. But I would still suggest that there are important differences of control over the victims of poor nutrition and medical care in third world countries and you deciding to upgrade your computer in the first world.

  5. je ne comprend pas
    ich verstehe nicht
    no comprendo

    Learning to say “I don’t undertand” is what I do in a traffic jam. Otherwise, I agree with Phil that it’s wasted useless boring life.

  6. I have a ‘friend’ with a long drive
    to work who has been known to masturbate
    whilst driving. To measure his ‘dead time’
    properly would I subtract his time
    inflagrante delicto, since presumably
    he enjoys it? Additonally, should I add
    a component for the afterglow?

  7. Tellingly, I suppose, I actually enjoy maintaining my Windows computers, though I prefer the Macs.

    But then again I enjoy reading Phil’s blog and most of his other work in teaching, photography, and travel.

    Of course I do live in Vero Beach, FL, at least part time.

    Do I detect a pattern?

  8. Would you make a deal with the devil to cut your life expectancy in exchange for hassle free gadgets & gizmos? Say, 5-10 years of life in exchange for improved battery life?

    The fact that this offer may be somewhat tempting is a strong argument to reconsider some Luddism! I say that loaded down with rechargers, extra batteries, phones, cameras, pda, laptop, mp3 player… “Necessities” all.

  9. Exercise.
    We’re told that If we run x hours a week, we’ll be likely extend our lifespans by z hours.
    But you’re trading time when you’re young and vigorous – – and could be doing something pleasurable, self-destructive, and FUN – –
    for an increased amount of time spent in a nursing home waiting for the release of death. I’ve never been convinced that it’s an entire net gain.

  11. This subject is a common one among some office workers: “Well, this job is bad, but it is better than picking cotton (grapes, berries, etc.)” The comparisons are endless. But one day, the Wall Street Journal changed the situation because of an article on their front page, dealing with the study of fleas. Apparently, there are hundreds of varieties of the buggers; there is even a publication dealing with this specific subject. The process of distinguishing one kind from another is accomplished by studying their genetalia. So this put a whole new face on the system of job comparisons:”Well, this job is bad, but it beats the hell out of being a Pecker-Checker for a bunch of fleas !”

  12. I disagree with the comments that the question is in some way insensitive. Life (both as in “Life” and “living”) is given value when we produce or create something of value – something that helps the creator or the consumer of the creation grow. Time spent not creating value is time wasted, and may just as well have not been spent at all. While true, upon reflection I see that that’s uselessly philosophical. To make amends I’ll add to the list of death-equivalent activities: any and all time spent reformatting text in an input field because the programmer was too lazy to do the work ahead of time to deal with the parentheses and hyphens in my telephone number.

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