Generational Dynamics Forum - New Site

"Surprisingly, heart disease and stroke aren't necessarily inevitable with age," said Michael Gurven, Ph.D., study author and anthropology professor and chairman of the University of California-Santa Barbara's Integrative Anthropological Sciences Unit.

Gurven's team followed 2,296 indigenous adults in 82 Tsimane villages, an area in the tropical lowlands of Bolivia's Amazon basin. Tsimane are lowland forager-horticulturalists (pop. ~11,000) subsisting on plantains, rice, corn, manioc, fish and hunted game.

"The Tsimane living conditions are similar to those of our ancestors, with greater exposure to pathogens, active lifestyle, high fertility and traditional diet. Studying chronic diseases in these populations can be very insightful," Gurven said.

Researchers found:

Per decade, Tsimane women had a systolic blood pressure increase of 2.86 millimeter of mercury (mm Hg) and a diastolic blood pressure increase of 0.95 mm Hg.
Per decade, Tsimane men had a systolic blood pressure increase of 0.91 mm Hg and a diastolic blood pressure decrease of 0.02 mm Hg.
About 3 percent of Tsimane adults have high blood pressure, compared to 33.5 percent of U.S. adults.

Among Americans over age 40, systolic pressure increases by about 7 mm Hg per decade.

Higgenbotham wrote: Sun Aug 30, 2026 11:59 pm It's a badge of honor in America to persevere as the shit gets kicked out of you.

Is it a badge of honor in America to persevere as the shit gets kicked out of you?

AI Overview

Persevering through extreme adversity is deeply ingrained in American culture, often celebrated as a badge of honor, but it is also increasingly viewed with skepticism. This dual perspective stems from a tension between traditional national myths and modern shifts regarding mental health and labor.

The Case for "The Badge of Honor"

For generations, American society has idealized the individual who thrives under intense pressure. This sentiment is rooted in several core cultural narratives:

The Grit Mythos: Rooted in the concept of "pulling yourself up by your bootstraps," American identity heavily rewards resilience, stamina, and outworking the competition.
The Underdog Narrative: From sports movies to corporate folklore, the standard American hero arc requires taking immense punishment before achieving a triumphant comeback.
The Overwork Ethic: In professional settings, enduring toxic conditions, long hours, or demanding environments is frequently worn as a status symbol, signaling loyalty and superior capability.

The Case Against "The Badge of Honor"

In recent years, a significant cultural counter-movement has challenged this mindset. Critics argue that celebrating suffering can be counterproductive:

Glorification of Burnout: Younger generations of workers and mental health advocates increasingly view "hustle culture" not as honorable, but as a path to severe burnout and exploitation.
The Boundaries Movement: The rise of concepts like "quiet quitting" and a heightened focus on mental well-being reflect a growing belief that walking away from toxic environments is healthier than enduring them.
Systemic Critique: There is a growing awareness that "grit" is sometimes used by institutions to shift the blame onto individuals, rather than fixing systemic problems or abusive structures.

Higgenbotham wrote: Thu Jul 16, 2026 12:54 pm

Higgenbotham wrote: Wed Jul 15, 2026 11:15 pm Unlike Stacking in all its ugly forms that proliferate today like multiple gig jobs, side hustles, growing children compromising their health by getting 5 hours of sleep a night, empty refrigerators in homes that can afford food but don't have time to buy it, etc., Stacking at first seemed to follow a somewhat logical trajectory.

The fundamental idea being this behavior and others are not based on information. They are based on late Industrial Age sociological herding as a result of Stacking.

sociological herding

AI Overview

Sociological herding, or herd mentality, is the phenomenon where individuals adopt the behaviors, beliefs, or actions of a group, often overriding their own independent judgment. Driven by a desire for social acceptance and the fear of missing out, it heavily influences everything from viral trends and mob violence to financial bubbles.

Higgenbotham wrote: Sun Dec 11, 2022 3:23 pm If the large and highly centralized governments in this industrial civilization were to collapse, followed by important decision-making being made at the town level, I believe there would be improvement in the quality of decisions being made. Probably not uniformly, but at a minimum in isolated pockets, and those pockets of good decision-making will be the areas that will prosper and become models for other places to follow as they try to regain their footing.

Higgenbotham wrote: Sun Aug 30, 2026 11:59 pm

In 2023,...By life stage,...93.0% (representing 55.7 million) of older adults had 1 or more chronic conditions...

Why do people accept that employers have a right to work people to death and that poor health is inevitable?

AI Overview

People accept extreme work conditions and poor health because of deep economic pressure, cultural myths about merit, and a lack of collective power to change the system.

Economic Survival

Tied survival: Basic needs like healthcare, housing, and food depend directly on having a job.
Scarcity mindset: Workers fear losing their income more than they fear gradual physical decline.
Debt pressure: High living costs and personal debt trap people in demanding jobs.

Cultural Myths and Ideology

Meritocracy myth: Society teaches that hard work always leads to wealth and status.
Moralizing labor: Suffering at work is often framed as a virtue or proof of good character.
Individual blame: Systemic exhaustion is blamed on a person's poor time management rather than unfair workloads.

Normalization of Overwork

Hustle culture: Media and corporate messaging glamorize sleep deprivation and round-the-clock availability.
Gradual shift: Standards get worse slowly over time, making abnormal stress feel normal.
Peer pressure: Seeing coworkers sacrifice their health creates an unspoken rule to do the same.

Power Imbalances

Weakened unions: Labor unions have less power to protect workers than in past decades.
Legal frameworks: Employment laws often protect corporate interests and profit margins over human well-being.
Learned helplessness: People feel powerless against massive global corporations and accept mistreatment as unchangeable reality.

Higgenbotham wrote: Mon Dec 19, 2011 2:42 am I became close with the 52 year old guy in later years. One day, I asked him why he had those serial affairs with the young women in the office (there were several, one right after the other, all Xers). He said it was because of the stress he had been placed under and when he transferred out the affairs and the drinking completely stopped cold turkey. I asked him who instigated the affairs and he said the Xer women did and told me the details. The details sounded believable based on what I knew about these women (they were bad news). His wife was aware of all of it and stood by him. She was a very nice woman. The stress from the job gave him acid reflux and caused his esophagus to deform (Barrett's disease) but he's retired now and his life is completely normal.

Results

In 2023, 76.4% (representing more than 194 million) of US adults had at least 1 of the 12 selected chronic conditions, and 51.4% (representing 131 million) of US adults reported MCC (Table 1). By life stage, 59.5% (representing 43.7 million) of young adults, 78.4% (representing 94.8 million) of midlife adults, and 93.0% (representing 55.7 million) of older adults had 1 or more chronic conditions and one-quarter (27.1%; representing 19.9 million) of young adults, 52.7% (representing 63.8 million) of midlife adults, and 78.8% (representing 47.2 million) of older adults had MCC in 2023 (Table 2, Table 3, Table 4, and Figure 1).

Trends in chronic conditions

During 2013–2023, the prevalence of 1 or more chronic conditions increased among young adults (52.5% to 59.5%) and remained stable (no meaningful significant trends) among midlife and older adults (Table 2, Table 3, Table 4, and Figure 1). The percentage of BRFSS respondents with MCC followed similar patterns: we found an increasing trend among young adults (21.8% to 27.1%) and stable trends for other groups. We calculated that 5.2 million more young adults had any chronic disease in 2023 than in 2013 and 3.8 million more young adults had MCC.

This meaningful increase in 1 or more or MCC among young adults no longer remained when the 2 most common conditions (obesity and depression) were excluded, based on sensitivity analysis using data in Table 2.

Trump is about the only powerful guy out there lifting a finger for the common man at the expense of powerful interests and that's why they hate him

He’s the King of Endless, Nonsensical Wars, wasting Lives and Trillions of Dollars, just like Comrade Kamala Harris. I am the Peace President, and only I will stop World War III!,” Trump wrote on Sept. 6.
https://time.com/7018941/dick-cheney-re ... ald-trump/

You can see what a total joke Dick Cheney was, a total joke except for the fact that he helped architect the destruction of America long before Trump ever entered politics, which set the stage for Trump based politics. Trump's characterization of Cheney is 100% correct

US Disabilities Hit an All-Time High of 37 Million In July: UP 23% Since Feb 2021

The Signal No One Wants to See

The latest Bureau of Labor Statistics data is out, and the number of Americans ages 16 and over reporting a disability has hit a new all-time high of roughly 37 million. As of July 2026, the Current Population Survey series sits at 37,029,000. That’s not a rounding error or a seasonal blip. It’s the continuation of a trend that broke higher more than five years ago and has refused to mean-revert.

February 2021 marks the clear inflection. The rate of increase shifted to a new, steeper trajectory, a 3-to-4 sigma departure from the prior trend. In the years since, the survey has added seven million people. Growth of that magnitude in a mature population is not normal aging, not “long COVID” in isolation, and not some gradual sociological shift. It was sudden. It has persisted. And it continues to be treated as background noise by the same public health authorities who spent years obsessed with every other metric.

Let this sink in: twenty-three participants receiving mFLUSIVA died without a specified cause, significantly more than in the comparison group. FDA itself identified the absence of autopsies as limiting its ability to determine causation. Yet autopsies were not required in the protocol, when the imbalance appeared, or before licensure. The agency identified the evidence it lacked, knew this was a major weakness in the data, and then approved the vaccine without obtaining any answers.

What made these results particularly important was that they offered a rare opportunity to separate the effects of the mRNA platform from the effects of the COVID spike protein. The COVID shots produce spike, and much of the concern about their side effects centered on that protein. Moderna’s flu candidate produced a different protein entirely, an influenza surface protein called hemagglutinin. Same delivery system, different cargo. If the side effects remained high after swapping out the cargo, then spike could not be the whole story. I attributed the remainder to the modified mRNA itself and to the synthetic fat particle that carries it into cells.

Higgenbotham wrote: Sat Aug 22, 2026 2:21 pm "They already knew the numbers on the transfer costs."

Paul O'Neill was sacked by Bush circa 2002 because he told the truth while Dick "The Smartest Person in the Room" Cheney said, "The debt doesn't matter."

The history on this has already been rewritten.

President Donald Trump has what one analyst described as a "mysterious obsession" with vaccines that could wreak havoc on the American people long after he leaves office.

Trump, along with Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has embarked on one of the most flagrant anti-vaccine campaigns in modern history, culminating with revising the childhood vaccine schedule to reduce the total number of vaccines required. Russ Baker, a Democratic analyst, speculated in a new Substack essay on Sunday that the reason why Trump has embarked on such a crusade is that Trump believes vaccines are responsible for the "atypical" nature of his youngest son.

"I can’t read his mind, of course (nor would I want to), but there’s a curious temporal coincidence that might explain Trump’s fixation on the 'harm' caused by vaccination: On March 20, 2006, his son Barron was born," Baker argued. "By the next year, Trump was fulminating about vaccines causing babies to be born with various problems — including autism."