Intuitively, everything with something resembling a lifecycle comes to mind: humans, companies, countries—heck, even star systems. What I haven’t seen before: estimates on politician turnover, friendships/relationships and … chairs. Let’s do it.
Politicians: from small parties, most simply ‘dabble’ a bit on the side, and stop after a few years/voting cycles when they have no success, or stay for 20+ years with success. So I’d guess average would be about 5 years, as I’d expect the distribution to be heavily skewed. Estimate is for Europe/Germany, particularly the county and federal level. Relevant for …
shorter timescales: scandals and voting results.
longer timescales: Lobbying efforts.
Friendships/Relationships: I’d count about every positive interaction with everyone else as a ‘relationship’, and it’s only an ongoing one if you’re interacting at least once a month, but not e.g. interactions with restaurant staff. Since most interactions are with people you’re together with rather frequently (school, uni, work, …), and only ‘rarely’ have just a single encounter, I’d assume average turnover to be around 2-3 years. Relevant for …
shorter timescales: moving, pandemics, travelling
longer timescales: pandemics, traumas, character development
Chairs: financially, you can write off most furniture over about five years, so I’d expect their average lifetime to be at least twice that. Realistically, most chairs are probably good for about 15 years (on average), though I’d expect more complex chairs to break down earlier while simple wooden chairs could live quite a bit longer.
shorter timescales: starting a new household/office/school, fire/water damage
longer timescales: city humidity, environment (private home with careful use vs. public library with abuse)
Intuitively, everything with something resembling a lifecycle comes to mind: humans, companies, countries—heck, even star systems. What I haven’t seen before: estimates on politician turnover, friendships/relationships and … chairs. Let’s do it.
Politicians: from small parties, most simply ‘dabble’ a bit on the side, and stop after a few years/voting cycles when they have no success, or stay for 20+ years with success. So I’d guess average would be about 5 years, as I’d expect the distribution to be heavily skewed. Estimate is for Europe/Germany, particularly the county and federal level. Relevant for …
shorter timescales: scandals and voting results.
longer timescales: Lobbying efforts.
Friendships/Relationships: I’d count about every positive interaction with everyone else as a ‘relationship’, and it’s only an ongoing one if you’re interacting at least once a month, but not e.g. interactions with restaurant staff. Since most interactions are with people you’re together with rather frequently (school, uni, work, …), and only ‘rarely’ have just a single encounter, I’d assume average turnover to be around 2-3 years. Relevant for …
shorter timescales: moving, pandemics, travelling
longer timescales: pandemics, traumas, character development
Chairs: financially, you can write off most furniture over about five years, so I’d expect their average lifetime to be at least twice that. Realistically, most chairs are probably good for about 15 years (on average), though I’d expect more complex chairs to break down earlier while simple wooden chairs could live quite a bit longer.
shorter timescales: starting a new household/office/school, fire/water damage
longer timescales: city humidity, environment (private home with careful use vs. public library with abuse)