I decided to have fun with a spreadsheet and calculate how much I’ve lived of historical times.

I’m surprised to find I’ve lived a meaningful fraction of historical periods—all the more so if I live to 100. See the tables below. First, I’ll share some highlights.

How much of history I’ve lived

For example, I’ve lived 2.3% of the time since Jesus. 2.3% is small, but I wouldn’t have expected even a single digit percentage. To me, it feels odd and oddly satisfying to know that I’ve lived a meaningful part of all of a major religion’s existence.

If I live to 100, I will have lived nearly 1% since humans domesticated the first animals. I don’t know about you, but a percent seems like a significant fraction considering I’m talking about pre-history.

I’ve been alive for nearly 20% of the United States’ existence and may live to pass 1/3—meaning I will have lived for over 1/3 of my nation’s existence.

I’ve lived nearly 2/3 of the atomic age and nearly all of the time since a man first stepped on the moon.

Before I was born
	Event	Event Date	Time since (years)	Fraction I’ve experienced	Fraction I’ll experience if I live to 100
	Agriculture starts		15,000	0.3%	0.7%
	Jesus	01/0001	2,018	2.3%	4.8%
	Copernicus: sun at center	01/1515	503	9%	18%
	Columbus	01/1492	526	9%	17%
	U.S. declares independence	07/1776	241	19%	34%
	World War 2	12/1941	76	61%	77%
	Atomic bomb on Hiroshima	08/1945	72	64%	79%
	First man on moon	07/1969	48	96%	98%

How much recent history has been a part of me

I was also curious how much of my life has overlapped with historical periods.

An early event growing up in Philadelphia was the Phillies winning the World Series. 80% of my life has been post that victory, so I’ve nearly always lived in a world where my hometown baseball team won a championship.

Sorry if it’s too much information, but I’ve lived nearly 2/3 of my life since first having sex.

I’ve lived 60% of my life since the Berlin Wall fell.

I don’t know if people think of me more as a physicist or entrepreneur, but almost half my life has occurred since conceiving of the invention that led to the first company I co-founded, Submedia. I’ve only lived 40% of my life with my doctorate in physics.

Only about 1/3 of my life has occurred since the World Trade Center attacks. It takes me some thought to imagine a purely post-9/11 world from my nieces’ and nephews’ perspective.

I’m surprised to see how much of my life has passed since the Great Recession—nearly 1/5.

I’ve done burpees for 13% of my life—a meaningful amount, over 1/8.

Finally, at 46 years old, I still have 54% of my life to live if I make it to 100.

After I was born
	Event	Event Date	Time since (years)	Percent of my life since	Percent of my life since if I live to 100
	Phillies win World Series	10/1980	37	80%	91%
	First sex	06/1988	29	63%	83%
	Berlin Wall falls	11/1989	28	60%	82%
	Conceived of Submedia technology	06/1996	21	46%	75%
	Medicinal Marijuana legalized	11/1996	21	45%	75%
	Earned PhD	11/1999	18	39%	72%
	9/11 attacks	09/2001	16	35%	70%
	Great recession	01/2009	9	19%	63%
	Started burpees	12/2011	6	13%	60%
	Today	10/2017	0	0%	54%

 

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