Sort of like the Eskimo has 64 words for snow. The guy who first wrote
that says he made it up, but many folks believe it is the "TRUTH". Lots
of "TRUTHS" in the world, not many truths.
graywolf
http://www.graywolfphoto.com
"Idiot Proof" <==> "Expert Proof"
-----------------------------------
John Francis wrote:
On Mon, Oct 03, 2005 at 02:12:08PM +0200, Toralf Lund wrote:
John Forbes wrote:
I suspect Toralf is alluding to the fact that more than half of the
human beings who have ever lived are still alive today. As they
haven't yet died, we cannot be certain that they will. (This is very
worrying.)
Exactly ;-)
Except that it's not a fact - just a common misconception.
Around half the people who have lived to age 65 or over are alive today,
but that's not the same as saying half the people who ever lived are alive.
2000 years ago the world population was roughly 200 million. If we assume
a flat population, and a life expectancy around the same as today (67 years),
then we'd expect around six billion deaths between then and now - about what
the world population is today.
Obviously population has not been flat - more people have been born (and died)
in the intervening years than a constant population would predict. And the
figure of 67 years for life expectancy is a gross over-estimate in historical
terms. Taking those corrections into acount it's apparent that not even half
the people born in just the last 2000 years are alive today, let alone half
the people who ever lived.
