<p>I think that very elderly seniors are often pushed into seeking aggressive medical treatment by well-meaning family members and a healthcare system that, after all, exists to provide healthcare. People who came of age before the 1960s often see MDs as all-knowing figures with the final responsibility for their patients’ health, and so are likely to do whatever the doctor says comes next. We’ve all been to the doctor - there’s no time for detailed conversations about the cost of care vs. the likely benefits/drawbacks. Families don’t often say, “Mom, you’re 93, in a lot of pain - what are you going to gain from another painful procedure with a high risk of stroke or heart attack?” People want their loved ones to get better. And, when the senior becomes seriously ill, few family members are willing to decide for the senior that antibiotics or a ventilator should be withheld. Sometimes the senior can recover and enjoy a few more months of good health. Often, they can’t. </p>
<p>I am loving the anecdotes about seniors who are blessed with health and independence long into their 9th decades and beyond. Here’s mine - my grandmother will be 100 years old on April 12th. No dementia, no pain. She sleeps 18 hours a day and is little trouble to anyone, including the 77 y/o daughter she lives with (who is actually in far worse health). Gram was diagnosed with breast cancer 3 years ago and refused treatment because, she said, “I’ve lived long enough.” She has just learned that her long-awaited first great-great-grandchild is due this spring. She has now decided to “go for 103,” but still doesn’t want treatment for what, thankfully, must be a very slow-growing disease.</p>
<p>parent1986, I don’t think you get on the best seller list if lay people aren’t reading your books. As far as I can tell he’s functioning just fine among non-Ivy leaguers, the guys who interview him on WNYC aren’t Ivy Leaguers. You think a book about violence shouldn’t describe what violence is? </p>
<p>As for the article by the Yale prof who claimed he couldn’t talk to his plumber, I think that was totally over the top. I’m an architect and believe me, I’ve had plenty of perfectly pleasant conversations with plumbers and other construction guys, sometimes about business, but often about other things (politics, sports, cars, movies…)</p>
<p>parent1986: you said this about Pinker: “He is the perfect example of the product of the elite school, who is incapable of functioning in the real world.” </p>
<p>While I understand your opinion that parts of the book were disgusting, I’m curious what he said/did on The Colbert Report that made you think he’s incapable of functioning in the real world. Everything I’ve ever read by/about Pinker (and I’ve gone pretty deep into his neuroscience stuff) indicates to me that he thinks quite deeply about the human brain and how it works. I’ve never seen anything from him that gives me the feeling that he doesn’t truly understand people, in all their variations.</p>
<p>So what did you see, that I didn’t? Thank you.</p>
<p>(And why is it a problem that he wore cowboy boots? Maybe he just wanted to seem taller.)</p>
<p>Frazzled1: I think very few people are willing to say: “under what circumstances would you rather die than live a few more days/weeks/months”? And yet, IMHO, I think it’s a crucial question to ask and answer. My older sister asked me about two years ago (when she got divorced) to be her medical power-of-attorney of record, and it resulted in some very interesting conversations. Among other things, she said to me “you’re the only person I know well enough to ask that would understand when to pull the plug.”</p>
<p>In the last few weeks, another older sister fell and broke her C1 and C2 vertebrae, which offers results in quadriplegia. Astonishingly, she not only made to the hospital alive, she has full function and needed no surgery. But it was very clear that the doctors were not giving her the full truth at any point; she’d really been told very little about her condition and its implications. While she’s now on the road to full recovery, she’s furious with her doctors for treating her “as if I were too stupid to understand what was really going on.”</p>
<p>Parent1986: I guess I still don’t get what’s funny about cowboy boots? Are they inappropriate? Inherently funny? (Of course, I’m notorious in my family for showing up in all kinds of situations wearing the wrong shoes. Clearly I don’t get the messages sent by shoes.)</p>
<p>I also am still unclear, after reading your posts, why you think Pinker wouldn’t fit in among non-Ivy League types. (Are you aware he’s actually Canadian, educated at McGill?)</p>
<p>Rent a car in drive in SF? A big annoyance (even if you are not in your 80s).</p>
<p>Better hope the flight does not arrive during the evening commute. Driving from SFO to Berkeley would be awful then; BART would probably be faster and less stressful, but could be crowded (though they would get on the train before the stations with the biggest crowds boarding, so they could get seats).</p>
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<p>Perhaps both the exercise and the continued brain use helped with longevity.</p>
<p>I have left it to my dad & cousin to figure out the logistics. I believe my folks will figure things out pretty well, as they do travel a considerable amount. Both golf regularly and walk extensively–mom at least an hour every day & dad probably the same. They are both in excellent health and likely to remain so for decades, given their genetics. </p>
<p>My aunt is also healthy and very spry–she outlived my uncle and her young boyfriend following that. She has loves fishing and crabbing in her own boat with her own captain. </p>
<p>My uncle & is wife both died in their home, which they lived in with a housekeeper; she was 104 or so when she died, shortly after him.</p>
<p>One thing about longevity, we sure have to save A LOT of $$$, expecting that we will live A VERY LONG time–hopefully in good to excellent health like my folks & grandparents (they were in great health up until about the last weeks to month of their lives).</p>
<p>Frazzled I loved you story about your grandmother.</p>
<p>One of our family friends, I think she started out as a friend of one of my Aunts?, has been celebrating holidays and whatnot with our family for my whole life, and she was diagnosed five years ago with cancer. They treated it and the chemo worked, to some extent, but it made her really sick. She just said, “I don’t want anymore treatment.”</p>
<p>They gave her 3 to 6 months to live.</p>
<p>Will see her for thanksgiving at my sister’s this year. </p>
The taxation the founders referred to was the monopoly that the crown allowed the east india tea company on providing tea to the colonies. They considered rightly that it was the wealthy (Who coincidentally ran the british parliament), that decided to bypass the government, and levy a tax using the east india tea company as a vehicle to do so.
Thus, the money went straight to their pockets, with no say so from the colonies (which they otherwise would have had, if it had been done through the crown).
Thus, no services were provided for that money. They were jipped so to speak.
Read Adam Smith’s, “The Wealth of Nations” about Mercantilism (ie: Corporatism).