Richard V. Rupp

July 9, 2021

Good afternoon, and welcome to Rupp's Notes/FBI Special Agent Hartman Series posts. It's Friday, July 9. I'm author Richard V. Rupp, writing from Burbank, California.

 

I am living proof of the conclusion a study done by Christopher Nave, a doctoral candidate at the University of California at Riverside made. His study will be published in an upcoming issue of the journal SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGICAL AND PERSONALITY SCIENCE.

 

The study concludes that "We remain recognizably the same person."

 

Taking a look back at my life, I have always loved reading, questioning, and researching things since being a child. It's just my nature.

 

An August 5, 2010 article by the staff of LIVE SCIENCE indicates that "Our personalities stay pretty much the same throughout our lives, from our early childhood years to after we're over the hill, according to a new study. The results show personality traits observed in children as young as first graders are a strong predictor of adult behavior."

 

Most of us have learned that a person's character and personality are primarily established when they are very young. Many studies have indicated that the traits that will define an individual throughout their life can be clearly identified when they are as little as 7 or 8 years old.

 

Maybe because of my age, I've recently noticed many comments about the aging process from famous people in my age bracket. For instance, Wolfgang Puck, whose restaurants I have frequented over the years, has turned 71. Apparently, the understanding of life has finally dawned on him. According to an article in NEWS MAGAZINE, he recently asked himself, "Who am I? My passion was the kitchen. But who am I without that?" Recently, he has achieved something approaching a work-life balance. "When you get older, you start asking, how many summers do I have left? It's coming together now, and it seems to work – so far."

 

Yes, Wolfgang, there are a limited number of summers. An international study completed by a collaboration of scientists from 14 countries tested the "invariant rate of aging" hypothesis, which provides a species ages at a relatively fixed rate until it reaches adulthood. In other words, the aging process is, sadly, unstoppable.

 

In a July 7 W MAGAZINE article, actress Julianne Moore now 60, decries the way our culture has turned the physical effects of aging into a taboo, particularly for women, and questions the social implications of elevating youthfulness of an ideal rather than aging as a "fact of life."

 

My age 83 caused me to skip through the Hippy Era, but I certainly remember it. This was when Joni Mitchell, now 77, was popular. Fifty years ago, she released her 'BLUE' songs -

 

"Everybody's saying that hell's the hippest way to go
Well I don't think so
But I'm gonna take a look around it though
Blue I love you"

 

The article indicates that "When she hears songs from 'BLUE' today, she still feels deeply connected to the 27-year-old who wrote them. 'I'm the same person. I mean, I've changed styles and things, but not the core of who I am, ever."

 

A study headed by Fernando Colchero, University of Southern Denmark and Susan Alberts, Duke University, North Carolina, that included researchers from 42 institutions across 14 countries provides new insights into the aging theory "the invariant rate of aging hypothesis," which states that every species has a relatively fixed rate of aging.

 

"Human death is inevitable. No matter how many vitamins we take, how healthy our environment is, or how much we exercise, we will eventually age and die," said Fernando Colchero.

 

"Life expectancy has increased dramatically and still does in many parts of the world. But this is not because we have slowed our rate of aging; the reason is that more and more infants, children, and young people survive, and this brings up the average life expectancy," said Fernando Colchero.

 

While I'm on the subject of age. People often comment when they learn my age, "you don't look that old." I suspect they are just trying to be nice. But, my response is, "It's got to be my genes. Because I know it's not because of my lifestyle."

 

Just like humans, our planet, like all others, has a limited number of summers. Should we try to make the best of them? Yes, we should. But, we should also understand that for humans like us to survive beyond Earth's lifespan, we need to venture into space.

 

A July 6 article by Michael Hiltzik, Business Columnist in the LOS ANGELES TIMES, whose reporters these days seem to like to include their opinions in their articles, chastised The Bezos-Branson-Musk space race as being a huge waste of money and scientifically useless. Quoting from the article, "One underlying theme of space travel enthusiasts like Musk and Bezos is that humans need a Plan B. The assumption is we've screwed up Earth so badly that there's little point in trying to fix what we broke. They have the wrong end of the stick. Answers to global warming and disease are still much more accessible than fleeing Earth for space. The dream of interplanetary travel and colonization is the dream of schoolchildren, and it's time that the billionaires grew up."

 

It is my impression that the LA TIMES Business Columnist should go back to college and get a science degree, or stop making scientific comments.

 

Sorry Mr. Hiltzik, but like everything else, Earth is aging. Yes, the United States, Canada, and the UK may be feeding it vitamins to remain green. Still, countries such as China, India, Mexico, and Brazil are not, making our efforts non-effective. The Earth, like man, has only so many summers, and for the human race to survive over the long haul, we must colonize space.

 

For us humans, here's a final note from NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC -  Humans face dangers inherent in sedentary lifestyles. "It's not physical activity, but inactivity, that makes us frail," says anthropologist Melissa Emery Thompson of the University of New Mexico.

 

Cheers,

 

Richard V. Rupp, Author

Website – www.richardvrupp.com

Email – rupprisk@gmail.com

Copyright©2021 by Richard V. Rupp