(August 17, 2015 at 7:05 am)Aractus Wrote: That's not how this type of longitudinal study works. It would be unethical to tell a group of people not to participate in any forms of social activity for the next 20 years until the final results of the study are compiled.
Who said anything about "no social activity"? Social activity is inevitable for almost every human being. Having a control group of agoraphobic shut-ins would be useless - if somewhat morbidly entertaining.
I'm talking about regular, fun social activities - not utterly lame ones, like the ones seemingly arbitrarily chosen by the authors of the study. I mean if you compare religion with a urinary tract infection - chances are the sufferers of the former will usually be less distressed, than those of the latter.
How about drinking Whiskey and chasing p***y, hmm? Because that's what my father has done throughout his 40's and 50's. He's an atheist, not an academic, nor an artist, never been involved with a charity (in fact - he can be a bit of a cold fashist p**ck), political organization, or nothing else of the sort.
He seems pretty f-ing happy to me... And in better physical condition than most people my age I know. Go figure.
Sure - it's anecdotal, but my point is - there are other things to do, for people over 50, besides getting ready for death in a church, dealing with brain-dead politicians, begging, or learning Microsoft Excel.
"The fact that a believer is happier than a skeptic is no more to the point than the fact that a drunken man is happier than a sober one." - George Bernard Shaw
