100,000 Miles to Age 100

1. Just the Beginning?

Last month, the Chinese government announced the first change in the national retirement age since the 1950s. The move will gradually raise the retirement age for men from 60 to 63, for women in white-collar jobs from 55 to 58, and women in blue-collar jobs from 50 to 55.?It is a large increase, but even when it is fully implemented in 2040, the retirement age in China will remain well below that of many other countries, including the United States.?

The change has proven “broadly unpopular” with Chinese workers, who suspect that there may be more to come. BBC quoted one Chinese internet user as predicting that this is only the beginning, and that, “there will be another bill that will delay retirement until we are 80”. As internet conspiracy theories go, that’s a pretty mild one, and a good guess in any event. China is in the middle of an enormous demographic shift. The birth rate in China has plunged, at least partly due to the disastrous one child policy orchestrated by the government, and the working age population has fallen every year since 2012. Life expectancy has also increased dramatically, all the way to 78.2 years, only slightly below the United States. According to the World Health Organization, almost a third of China's population - about 402 million people - will be aged over 60 by 2040, up from 254 million in 2019. The math of retirement in China is likely to grow increasingly difficult, and it may mean further changes will come, as many Chinese workers already suspect.?

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2. 100,000 Miles to Age 100

Last week, we reported on the important research from Jay Olshansky and his colleagues about the likely limits on life expectancy and the human life span.?The research has received significant positive feedback, even from those who believe that human life expectancy will continue to rise. But don’t tell that to?“Bicycle Bob” Mettauer, a Santa Maria, California resident who celebrated his 100th?birthday last month, and apparently plans on celebrating many more.?We’re a little envious since no has given us an outrageously good nickname like “Bicycle Bob,” but then again we haven’t done what Bob has.?Beginning on his 67th?birthday, Bob began cycling every day (keeping detailed logs of his mileage), and hasn’t stopped since, not by bad weather or the pandemic. He passed 100,000 miles a few years ago and has kept on going ever since.

Averaging nine miles a day, as Bob does,?it would take him approximately 8 months to reach the University of Illinois where Olshansky teaches.?We don’t really expect him to make the journey, but we are certain that if he did, the two would have an interesting conversation about health, life expectancy, and the role of behavior in successful aging.

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3. We Watch So You Don't Have To, Week 4

Sure, we cover the usual things: various dates between Joan and the bachelors, the celebrity appearances that ABC seems addicted to, and all the hijinks of the bachelor mansion, but four episodes in, it’s beginning to feel a little repetitive. Joan went on two dates and told us that she could definitely see a future with both Jordan and Guy, REO Speedwagon made a cameo appearance for some unknown reason, and the group date involved Chippendale dancers. The producers are trying hard. We’ve got to give them that.?

But the thing we liked this week was the evolving relationships among the men in the bachelor house. All manner of things can go wrong when you dump 24 men who live alone into one house, but instead the group appears to be building a set of relationships that seems even more durable than the competition for Joan’s affections. Older men, especially single older men, face their own loneliness crisis, and in the words of one study, often feel “excluded, overlooked and cut-off”, especially as work ties diminish in retirement. We’ve enjoyed seeing the men forge friendships in the house, and it is hard not to notice the fact that the departing bachelors mostly talk wistfully of the other men, not Joan. Dan talked about “a group of brothers”, and Gary mentioned a “different form of love.” We don’t know how long the relationship between Joan and the eventual winner will be, but we suspect that the friendships in the house will last longer – and that feels like a real thing in an otherwise very make believe environment.?

Oh, nine of the guys performed a strip tease in front of a live audience. Jordan can’t skate, Guy can’t cook, and Gary, Gil, Charles L. and Dan got sent home. And the internet wept over Charles L.’s departure.??