The Prolongation of Life: Optimistic Studies

The “MediaBook” studio presents an audiobook by the Russian and French biologist (microbiologist, cytologist, embryologist, immunologist, physiologist, and pathologist), Nobel Prize laureate in Physiology and Medicine — “Studies in Optimism.” “In Tierra del Fuego, when famine threatens, the old women are killed and eaten before anyone turns to dogs. The natives explain that dogs catch walruses, whereas old women can’t do that. In some parts of North America, at least half of the elderly women throw themselves to fate when they can’t walk anymore. This is considered normal and justified by the belief that it’s better to die than to drag out a useless, suffering-filled old age. Civilized peoples do not behave like the inhabitants of Tierra del Fuego or other savages; they don’t kill or eat their elderly. But still, the lives of the elderly often become very hard. They are seen as a burdensome burden because they can’t be useful either in the family or in society. Not considering themselves entitled to get rid of them, people still desire their death and wonder why the desired end doesn’t come sooner. Italians think old women have seven lives: Bergamasques give them souls for the family, plus a tiny eighth and a half; Lithuanians believe old women are so tough that you can’t even grind them up in a mill. I. I. Mechnikov, ‘Studies in Optimism.’ Listening, liking, and actively commenting! )