[HPforGrownups] Life expectancy in the Potterverse

[manawydan]

No: HPFGUIDX 81385

Jim wrote:
> Yeah! I think you have answered your own question. The fact that
> Wizards live much longer is that they have better medical system than
> Muggles

Possibly so, though even in our own world, medical care does seem to have
its limits, and there's a lot of evidence that increases in longevity in our
world have nothing at all to do with medical advances!

WW medical magic also seems to have limits - it can deal with a lot of the
more gross physical injuries, diseases, and the like, but (apart from the
Philosopher's Stone) it doesn't seem to have anything to treat old age.

I'd still go with the theory that WW longevity is genetic rather than due to
better health care, though there are some interesting social observations to
be made.

The first is that until physical maturity, wizen (can't remember who
originated that term, but thanks for doing so) seem to develop at the same
rate as muggles. WW people leave education at the same age, marry in their
early 20s, and are fully participant in the hurly-burly of life at that age
(WW people come of age at 17 - compare hobbits, who live on average to 100
but don't come of age until they are 33...).

So there appears to be a greater length of _adulthood_ rather than
childhood - with all sorts of implications for the length of one's working
life. Percy, going into the MoM, might well expect a career of 100 years
rather than 40 years (perhaps a good reason for his falling into line with
what's expected of him!)

But the WW is certainly not a gerontocracy. Dumbledore is on the elderly
side, but he is respected on the grounds of ability rather than age. Fudge
doesn't appear to have got the Minister's job on seniority - he was a
_junior_ minister not so long before - but because he was considered the
most appropriate person for the job.

> Do you think it's right for the WW to keep medical break throughs to
> themselves? I for one don't, brings back the whole lack of respect in
> the WW for muggles.
>
> Someone should really remind them that they WENT into Hiding from the
> Muggle world.

I think that the WW began to separate itself from the muggle world a long
time before the official concealment in the 17th century, perhaps many
centuries before. To re-engage would be a very tortuous and lengthy
process - I'm not sure whether it would even be feasible...

Cheers

Ffred

O Benryn wleth hyd Luch Reon
Cymru yn unfryd gerhyd Wrion
Gwret dy Cymry yghymeiri