This is a Wikipedia user page. This is not an encyclopedia article or the talk page for an encyclopedia article. If you find this page on any site other than Wikipedia, you are viewing a mirror site. Be aware that the page may be outdated and that the user whom this page is about may have no personal affiliation with any site other than Wikipedia. The original page is located at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Ryoung122. |
This user is a citizen of the United States of America. |
This user is a skeptic. |
13,000+ |
This user believes that articles are useless without images. |
GSU | This user attends or attended Georgia State University. |
This user has published peer-reviewed articles in academic journals. |
MAGAZINE | This user has had their work published in a magazine. |
WOP | This user is a member of WikiProject World's Oldest People. |
This user is interested in Botany. |
This user is interested in Genealogy and has published their family tree online. |
This user is of French ancestry. |
This user enjoys singing. |
File:N22620671 33776132 6083.jpg
Born May 2, 1974, I have already made a small impact on this world in many small ways. I am currently the Senior Gerontology Consultant for Guinness World Records (since 2005, and a junior consultant since 2000) and the senior claims investigator for the Gerontology Research Group (www.grg.org)(since 1999). I also run the web group "World's Oldest People" at Yahoo groups (founded 2002). I work part-time for several organizations, including the New England Supercentenarian Study at Boston University, the Social Security Administration, the New England Centenarian Study at Boston University, and the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research. I am a founding member of the Supercentenarian Research Foundation, and I have been featured in hundreds of newspapers, including "The Wall Street Journal," "Tokyo Times," and "The New York Times". I have worked on several books, the first of which, the "Wisdom of the World's Oldest People," was out in bookstores in Oct 2005. I also worked on "Living in Three Centuries" by Mark Story (2006) and have a third book due for publication in 2008. I have been cited in scientific journals, including "The Gerontologist" and "Rejuvenation Research". I hold a certificate of gerontology from Georgia State University (2006) and a Master of Gerontology (2008) from Georgia State University. I have been featured in magazines including Science Magazine (Sept 26 2008 issue) and the Futurist Magazine (Nov 2008 issue). On November 22, 2008 I won the ESPO award for best interdiscplinary paper by a graduate student in gerontology, 2008...a national honor given to only one person a year. Truly my dreams are coming true.
I am also an editor at www.emporis.com, which is the #1 web resource for high-rise buildings.[citation needed] I have contributed to the Guinness Book of Records (including the 1987, 1997, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008, and 2009 editions). I also contributed to the "World Almanac 2004".
I am also an historian. I hold three degrees in history, an Associate of Arts in History (honors) from Georgia Perimeter College (2004), a Bachelor of Arts in History (summa cum laude) from Georgia State University (2006), and a Master of Arts in History (world history concentration) from Georgia State University (2011). I believe that Wikipedia, while not the place for 'original' research, can move the 'chains of progress' forward (a reference to first downs in football). For some articles, such as William Potts and Myrtle McAteer, I have employed my genealogical skills to locate birthdates for long-forgotten persons who are suddenly notable again, as their once-unrecognized contributions have now come to light. Thus, I am melding gerontology, history, genealogy, and the frontier of Wikipedia to further the collective knowledge of humanity.
I have worked with a number of top names in the field of gerontology, including Stephen Coles, James Vaupel, Jean-Marie Robine, Greg Fahy, and Louis Epstein (supercentenarian tracker). I have met others such as S. Jay Olshanksy, Aubrey de Grey, and K. Warner Schaie and have been in e-mailed conversations with even the great Leonard Hayflick. My goal was and has been not simply to debunk the optimistics, but also the skeptics. True, a reaction to extreme/false age claims is to go the other way. But claims by skeptics that the 'maximum human life span' was '103' (in 1898), '107' (in 1951), or '110' (in 1981) have each fallen short of reality. My research has shown that people are consistently living to ages previously thought impossible. In 1951, for example, it was said the 'maximum human life span' was 107; had the mathematicians bothered to do any research, they would have known that humans already exceeded that age in the 1830's). Each prediction of a 'maximum' turned out to be wrong. Now, however, we have finally arrived at where I advocated: "let the theory fit the data, not the other way around." Recent efforts in the last decade have finally dispelled the notion of an 'exponential' death rate and recognized that, starting around age 97, the death rate begins to slow from an exponential prediction. Still unresolved, however, is how high the observed maximums will reach.
I also invented the idea of tracking 'maximum verified age by year of birth'. An analysis I did in 2002
[PDF] Workshop on Supercentenarians, May 8 2002 Atlanta, GeorgiaFile Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - View as HTML May 8, 2002 at the Hilton Atlanta, Georgia, USA ... 9:45 a.m. --- Robert Young: “Problems with Supercentenarian Theory: How More Data ... www.demografie.de/calendar/files/15716.951751709-Workshop%20Program.pdf - Similar pages
Debunked the old idea that increases in observed life span was 'static' since Roman times and only began to take off with the Industrial Revolution. This idea, posited for over a century but not actually studied, was incorrect. For Europe, at least, a steady and almost constant increase in observed life span took place over a 700-year period (1250 to present). This accorded with Dr. James Vaupel's idea that observed life span increased and has been increasing almost constantly. Though Vaupel favors his ideas in mathematical terms, I would say that what it shows is that life span increase occurs due to the sum-total of the collective efforts of many interventions (also called 'progress').
In regards to 'supercentenarians,' we found a period of rapid increase in gains (1980-1999) but since 2000, there has been a levelling off in maximum ages, even as the total numbers increase. This accords with Dr. Coles's push of the idea of rectangularization of the mortality curve or that even as more people reach age 110, the result will be a higher death rate at age 110 instead of massive increases at 115 and above. This is postulated to result because those reaching 110 today are more frail, on average, because they were able to survive to an age that they would previously not been able to reach (due to modern medicine).
Yet Vaupel's optimistic observation that, since persons today aged 80 are in better health than 80-year-olds thirty years ago, we should see a translation of this into not simply a greater quantity of supercentenarians, but possibly a rising of the age maximums.
In 1999, British demographer Sir Roger Thatcher postulated that by the year 2070, the national record for the UK would rise from 115 to 123. Yet predicting that England would pass France might be a bit of a national-pride thing.
My ultimate goal is to further the education of the planet, through both small, incremental improvements as well as bold new ideas. Stay tuned for more!
My Wiki-contributions (see below) follow my Wiki-Philosophies, which include:
Wikilinking/expanding through redlinks Rather than simply make up any article that comes to mind, I make an article when I come across a link I want to know more about, or that I know more about, but for which no additional information is available.
I favor history and scholarship over business acumen I believe that ideas are more important, ultimately, than money. The Hurricane Katrina disaster 'relief' shows that simply throwing $100 million around isn't the answer; you have to know how to manage it. Thus the need for both theory and application
A general should lead his troops into battle. I'm a firm believer that no one should be a general (or president) without having first served as a private in the army. One has to know how things work from the ground level, in order to manage effectively from the top. Note also that many of the best generals succeeded because their men respected them, and that because they set an example that they lived. "Do as I say, not as I do" is a big NO for me.
Not everything deserves an article. Articles of the extreme ordinary...a local school, a local football team, a road, etc....are a waste of space. Yet, sadly, we see gobs of gratuitous junk, especially on TV shows, entertainment, sports, and the local.
I am an academic inclusionist. I find it appalling that Wikipedia, while having articles on Keeley Dorsey, doesn't have articles on deceleration or other academic ideas. True, you can learn it in the classroom. But is Wikipedia an 'encyclopedia' or is it just a fun place for kids?
I am an exclusionist when it comes to fictious TV characters from minor shows, lists of airport takeoffs and landings, and minor college football players and high schools being touted as 'notable.'
I am an inclusionist for cities/towns Even small towns have a history, a place on the map...and the potential to one day grow a lot larger.
Wikipedia, despite its flaws, is still superior to newspapers
The news LOVE to claim that Wikipedia is 'unreliable'...but they constantly ignore the fact that Wikipedia can be corrected at a moment's notice, while major news gaffes are often ignored (for example, many supercentenarians have died months ago but show up in news articles as if they were still alive)> Unless, of course, they erroneously claim that Bob Hope died. Then they'll have to fess up.
I believe in incrementalist expansion, or, Rome wasn't built in a day.
An article can be started as a stub. Creativity and new ideas and effort come and go. Moreover, just as Rome's buildup was gradual, multifactorial, and in many ways (population increase, construction, social standing, etc), so we can't expect Wikipedia or an individual article that was just started to be anywhere near complete. But I do leave clues for future expansion.
The Original Barnstar | ||
Despite encountering disagreements time and again here, you still continue to contribute tirelessly to Wikipedia, as well as clearing up doubts and misconceptions with other Wikipedians about supercentenarian-related facts. I doubt any of the supercentenarian articles on Wikipedia would ever have gotten as far as they have without your contributions.
Wikipedia's supercentenarian articles would never have survived as long as they have without people like you. Well done, Ryoung122. BrendanologyContriB 03:53, 10 August 2010 (UTC) |
The Original Barnstar | ||
Robert, you have been so supportive to me and been there for all of the Supercentenarian researchers and the fans. You have kept a look out for everyone here at wikipedia and have done a great job. Keep up the good work. Plyjacks (talk) 03:02, 28 November 2008 (UTC) |
Home-Made Barnstar | ||
This barnstar goes to you Robert for all the hard work you do to make wikpedia and supercentenarians better. You have been through a lot of diffcult things on wikipedia, the 110 club and and the yahoo WOP group. I have seen many difficult and stressful things go on with the groups but I've never seen anyone handle it as well as you. I gave you a barnstar last year and this year I thought you should get another one because I've never seen someone handle things like you have and do it very well. For all you do you deserve another one. Plyjacks (talk) 04:08, 29 June 2009 (UTC) |
This editor is a Veteran Editor and is entitled to display this Iron Editor Star. |
http://tools.wikimedia.de/~river/cgi-bin/count_edits (as of Nov 10 2007)
Although I only adopted the current identity "Ryoung122" in Feb 2005, I have edited articles in Wikipedia for several years prior. I have contributed heavily to the supercentenarian and associated articles, and started several. While this remains my first area of focus, my interests are not limited to this, and I have on occasion contributed to a plethora of articles over a great many topics. My first goal is to further the "education" of the world, and correcting errors is something I do quite a bit.
Edit count | Edit made to page | Reached on |
---|---|---|
1000 | June 18, 2006 | |
2,000 | Nov 27, 2006 | |
3,000 | Mar 30, 2007 | |
4,000 | July 8, 2007 | |
5,000 | July 31, 2007 | |
6,000 | Sept 24, 2007 | |
7,000 | Nov 6, 2007 | |
8,000 | Leonid Stadnyk | Oct 7, 2008 |
9,000 | Stone Mountain | Jan 31, 2009 |
10,000 | Oldest people | July 5, 2009 |
11,000 | Armagnac-Burgundian Civil War | Mar 7, 2010 |
12,000 | List of Living Supercentenarians | Sept 27, 2010 |
13,000 | Milton, Florida | Dec 19, 2011 |
I don't plan on making more edits than I want to make. I do like to measure whether I'm a Wiki-holic, or not. Right now, it looks like a daily activity but not something that I am obsessed with.
Latest list:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:List_of_Wikipedians_by_number_of_edits
Date | Edits | Change in Edit Count | Ranking | Ranking Change |
September 12, 2007 | 5892 | N.A. | 3194 | initial listing (my first time in the top edit counts list) |
December 22, 2007 | 7377 | +1,485 | 2862 | +332 |
January 20, 2008 | 7377 | 0 | 2979 | -117 |
September 16, 2008 | 7772 | +395 | 3625 | -646 |
November 20, 2008 | 8182 | +410 | 3592 | +33 |
February 25, 2009 | 9213 | +1031 | 3442 | +150 |
June 10, 2009 | 9922 | +709 | 3415 | +27 |
July 1, 2009 | 9950 | +28 | 3453 | -38 |
Oct 14, 2009 | 10378 | +428 | 3498 | -45 |
Feb 24, 2010 | 10899 | +521 | 3551 | -53 |
June 30, 2010 | 11567 | +668 | 3541 | +10 |
Sept 29, 2010 | 12012 | +445 | 3533 | +8 |
Jan. 5, 2011 | 12283 | +271 | 3587 | -54 |
Mar. 2, 2011 | 12455 | +172 | 3624 | -37 |
May 18, 2011 | 12530 | +75 | 3714 | -90 |
June 29, 2011 | 12557 | +27 | 3764 | -50 |
August 3, 2011 | 12616 | +59 | 3784 | -20 |
Oct 12, 2011 | 12760 | +144 | 3837 | -53 |
Dec 28, 2011 | 13025 | +265 | 3847 | -10 |
Jan 25, 2012 | 13129 | +104 | 3846 | +1 |
Mar 16, 2012 | 13282 | +153 | 3860 | -14 |
May 23, 2012 | 13367 | +85 | 3919 | -59 |
July 31, 2012 | 13498 | +131 | 3964 | -45 |
Feb 10, 2018 | 13592 | +94 | 6044 | -2080 |
June 21, 2018 | 13693 | +101 | 6153 | -109 |
I had peaked at around 2800th-most-active editor in 2007. I don't expect to be as productive as in the past, but rather to serve as a technical advisor in areas of longevity records.
Regards Moderator
Article success rate as of Nov 1 2007: 73/76 (96%). Since one was added to Wiktionary, arguably 74/77 of articles started on Wikipedia still exist. This suggests that I don't consider starting an article lightly.
Note that in November 2007, a campaign was waged to reduce the number of supercentenarian articles on Wikipedia. As many of these articles were supported by newspaper mentions, which links often disappear and are archived, if at all, to pay-only websites, some of the articles below were deleted despite surviving, in some cases, over two years. The claim that any of them was "original research" was a false accusation, as every article could definitely be referenced properly.