The Birthday Paradox

TheMadFool December 03, 2020 at 18:28 1275 views 6 comments

3 December was my sister's birthday. We had a get together at my other sister's house for a small celebration on that occasion.

My sister whose birthday it was is now 55 years of age.

I recall somoeone once telling me that it didn't make sense to celebrate birthdays because each birthday means you're getting closer and closer to the appointment we all have with the Grim Reaper.

Today I mulled over this oddity about birthdays with the intention of finding a good reason to celebrate them and I found one. The reason why birthdays are to be celebrated is that it commemorates having, in a way, cheated death and survived for so long, however long.

You survived (birthdays should be celebrated) but...not for long (birthdays shouldn't be celebrated). The Birthday Paradox!

Comments (6)

GrandMinnow December 03, 2020 at 20:00 #476639 0 likes

It seems to me that birthdays celebrate the fact that the person was born. The person is closer to death every day, not just on their birthday. I see no paradox in celebrating that a person was born, even though the person will die.

Philosophim December 03, 2020 at 20:40 #476652 0 likes

Fully agreed TheMadFool. We celebrate each year a person has avoided death. We show our appreciation, and well wishes that they have, "Many more". It is celebration and encouragement into the next year!

Jack Cummins December 03, 2020 at 20:49 #476659 0 likes

Reply to Philosophim
I am not sure that all birthday celebrations are just about having avoided death. This is one dimensions of birthday celebrations but not the only criteria. Important birthdays include age markers, such as the transition to adulthood.

Also, not everyone celebrates birthdays in the same way, if at all. I know some people who detest them because they don't like getting older.

I am sure that there are cultural differences in the way birthday are seen as well.

god must be atheist December 03, 2020 at 22:16 #476694 0 likes

Birthdays are celebrated for one particularly good logical reason: it keeps the consumer society healthy, because we feed the backbone of our economy, the capitalist industrial-military complex, with every penny we spend.

It's a little bit like why we like a smart post on the philosophy forum. It feeds the backbone of any forum, the dynamic of the meeting of the minds, by keeping alive the trolls that descend upon any reasonable post and tear them apart with irrelevent arguments.

Leghorn December 03, 2020 at 23:02 #476715 0 likes

Hey, MadFool; I think your proper name is Mr. Paradox.

Leghorn December 03, 2020 at 23:09 #476720 0 likes

Or maybe better yet, Philoparadoxos.