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Does the human lifespan have a limit?

nature.com

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Re: Does the human lifespan have a limit?

#21

Post by swayvil »

acchow wrote: post #11
FL33TW00D wrote: post #3

Whenever this topic comes up, I’m always reminded of the fact that the bible knew of this long before any statistician. 'My spirit shall not abide in man for ever, for he is flesh; his days shall be a hundred and twenty years' (Gen. 6:3). As a non Christian this always baffles me.

How many numbers are in the Bible, and how many of them are wrong (which we conveniently gloss over). The world was made in 6 days?

Maybe that 6 days is a metaphor.

Metaphors taken literally. Literality taken metaphorically. Esoterica interpreted conventionally. Guiding the hand of the translator. Mistranslation compounding over the iterations.

Any useful knowledge must get lost like dust in the wind.

Re: Does the human lifespan have a limit?

#22

Post by School-Cotton »

okl wrote: post #7
FL33TW00D wrote: post #3

Whenever this topic comes up, I’m always reminded of the fact that the bible knew of this long before any statistician. 'My spirit shall not abide in man for ever, for he is flesh; his days shall be a hundred and twenty years' (Gen. 6:3). As a non Christian this always baffles me.

Funny, because there are many bible characters older than 120 years. One of many contradictions, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RB3g6mXLEKk

The Bible is a loose collection of different books written by different authors over a period of thousands of years. We shouldn’t be surprised that some of them say different things.

Re: Does the human lifespan have a limit?

#24

Post by okl »

swayvil wrote: post #21
acchow wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How many numbers are in the Bible, and how many of them are wrong (which we conveniently gloss over). The world was made in 6 days?

Maybe that 6 days is a metaphor. Metaphors taken literally. Literality taken metaphorically. Esoterica interpreted conventionally. Guiding the hand of the translator. Mistranslation compounding over the iterations. Any useful knowledge must get lost like dust in the wind.

> Maybe that 6 days is a metaphor.

If it is up to the reader to decide which is and which isn't a metaphor that should not be taken literally, than the text is no better than the reader's capability to distinguish metaphors from facts to be taken literally, is it?

Re: Does the human lifespan have a limit?

#25

Post by swayvil »

okl wrote: post #24
swayvil wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe that 6 days is a metaphor. Metaphors taken literally. Literality taken metaphorically. Esoterica interpreted conventionally. Guiding the hand of the translator. Mistranslation compounding over the iterations. Any useful knowledge must get lost like dust in the wind.

> Maybe that 6 days is a metaphor. If it is up to the reader to decide which is and which isn't a metaphor that should not be taken literally, than the text is no better than the reader's capability to distinguish metaphors from facts to be taken literally, is it?

Well, yes.

It's a failure of the medium. It requires an expert to interpret properly.

And most of us aren't that. And some of those in charge of translation and interpretation aren't that either.

Re: Does the human lifespan have a limit?

#26

Post by bsedlm »

acchow wrote: post #11
FL33TW00D wrote: post #3

Whenever this topic comes up, I’m always reminded of the fact that the bible knew of this long before any statistician. 'My spirit shall not abide in man for ever, for he is flesh; his days shall be a hundred and twenty years' (Gen. 6:3). As a non Christian this always baffles me.

How many numbers are in the Bible, and how many of them are wrong (which we conveniently gloss over). The world was made in 6 days?

why assume that they meant earth days?

if they're creating earth, then how could it be that they're using earth days? (allegedely, earth is just getting created)

also, what if a day is a rotation around a body's axis, then what about a solar day (the sun spins around itself once)? what about a galactic day?

Re: Does the human lifespan have a limit?

#27

Post by Animats »

And hundreds of people reached the rarefied ranks of the supercentenarians — aged 110 or older — although demographers have validated the records of only a fraction of them.

Um, yes. A few years ago, the city government of Tokyo sent people to visit everyone who reported an age over 100, to see what they were doing right. What they found was a lot of pension fraud. "To date, the authorities have been unable to find more than 281 Japanese who had been listed in records as 100 years old or older."[1]

[1] https://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/15/world/asia/15japan.html

Re: Does the human lifespan have a limit?

#28

Post by blangkz »

14 wrote: post #5
FL33TW00D wrote: post #3

Whenever this topic comes up, I’m always reminded of the fact that the bible knew of this long before any statistician. 'My spirit shall not abide in man for ever, for he is flesh; his days shall be a hundred and twenty years' (Gen. 6:3). As a non Christian this always baffles me.

So if we get a single human who, without dispute as the oldest woman has some controversy as to the validity of her age, lives past the age of 120 will that be proof the bible is untrue and all it’s writings are false? Because I have a funny feeling now that people are much more documented we will pass the 120 year mark any time.

Perhaps it will just mean we are drifting further from god.

Re: Does the human lifespan have a limit?

#29

Post by teluride5 »

okl wrote: post #7
FL33TW00D wrote: post #3

Whenever this topic comes up, I’m always reminded of the fact that the bible knew of this long before any statistician. 'My spirit shall not abide in man for ever, for he is flesh; his days shall be a hundred and twenty years' (Gen. 6:3). As a non Christian this always baffles me.

Funny, because there are many bible characters older than 120 years. One of many contradictions, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RB3g6mXLEKk

Check out the book of Genesis. There is a specific point at which God changes the maximum human lifespan to 120 years, after which this does not occur.

Re: Does the human lifespan have a limit?

#30

Post by vorejdajo »

acchow wrote: post #11
FL33TW00D wrote: post #3

Whenever this topic comes up, I’m always reminded of the fact that the bible knew of this long before any statistician. 'My spirit shall not abide in man for ever, for he is flesh; his days shall be a hundred and twenty years' (Gen. 6:3). As a non Christian this always baffles me.

How many numbers are in the Bible, and how many of them are wrong (which we conveniently gloss over). The world was made in 6 days?

Current scientific models lack a robust cause of origin of life. We don't know the beginning. If we do know the origin, how likely would it change our estimations of age of things? You have to realize that these numbers are linear extrapolations(educated guesses) and more importantly, they are not tested like vaccines or medicines(neither can be tested).
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