# Crazy old Harlan Ellison is dying **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 24, 2010, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crazy-old-harlan-ellison-is-dying/554868 "2010-09-24T13:03:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Sam\_A.Robrin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sam_a.robrin/32/14497_2.png) [@Sam\_A.Robrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_A.Robrin)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2010, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crazy-old-harlan-ellison-is-dying/554868/41 "2010-09-26T02:02:18Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > > [@silenus](#): > > > > And so will pass one of the giants of speculative fiction. > > Figuratively speaking, of course. And don’t you just know, at this very moment, someone, somewhere, is referring to him as “the _enfant terrible_ of science-fiction”…! ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2010, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crazy-old-harlan-ellison-is-dying/554868/42 "2010-09-26T02:32:12Z")
> [@OtakuLoki](#): > > the average life expectancy @ birth for a male in the US is 75.6 years. At 76 Harlan has passed that mark. Yes, that means the average male lives to be 76.5. So take all the males who died much much earlier than that age and factor that into the “average”. This means that quite a number of males live quite a bit past 76.5. ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2010, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crazy-old-harlan-ellison-is-dying/554868/43 "2010-09-26T03:42:05Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > > [@OtakuLoki](#): > > > > the average life expectancy @ birth for a male in the US is 75.6 years. At 76 Harlan has passed that mark. > > Yes, that means the average male lives to be 76.5. So take all the males who died much much earlier than that age and factor that into the “average”. This means that quite a number of males live quite a bit past 76.5. WTF? I was responding to someone who claimed that at 76 years Harlan had not yet made it to the average life expectancy. (BTW, you seem to have scrambled your numbers: It’s **75.6** years, not 76.5.) I am well aware it’s a statistical average and people who die under that number are balanced by those who die over it. I don’t confuse an average life expectancy with a _Logan’s Run_-style experation date, and would really like to know just what the Hell got you thinking I did. I’ll admit I was being a bit of a pedantic asshole. I was correcting a minor, but explicit, error in the poster’s thinking. Can you show me the explicit error in my thinking from the post you quoted? ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2010, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crazy-old-harlan-ellison-is-dying/554868/44 "2010-09-26T03:47:30Z")
Harlan? ---
**Author:** ![NoCoolUserName](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5fc32e/32.png) [@NoCoolUserName](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NoCoolUserName)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2010, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crazy-old-harlan-ellison-is-dying/554868/45 "2010-09-26T15:18:24Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > > [@silenus](#): > > > > And so will pass one of the giants of speculative fiction. > > Figuratively speaking, of course. “Stand up on a chair, Harlan, so everyone can see you.” 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![notsoheavyd3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/85e7bf/32.png) [@notsoheavyd3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notsoheavyd3)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2010, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crazy-old-harlan-ellison-is-dying/554868/46 "2010-09-26T15:31:09Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > > [@OtakuLoki](#): > > > > the average life expectancy @ birth for a male in the US is 75.6 years. At 76 Harlan has passed that mark. > > Yes, that means the average male lives to be 76.5. So take all the males who died much much earlier than that age and factor that into the “average”. This means that quite a number of males live quite a bit past 76.5. Or you could just look it up on an actuary chart like the one [here](http://www.ssa.gov/OACT/STATS/table4c6.html) and find that Harlan’s got a life expectancy of about 9 to 10 years right now. (Assuming he’s healthy of course.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crazy-old-harlan-ellison-is-dying/554868.md?page=2)