The 50 years old weaver in 1800 Manchester was rare or dead. Life expectancy at birth was only around 48.5 even in 1900-1910 in England and Wales.

http://www.osfi-bsif.gc.ca/Eng/Docs/DEIP_Gallop.pdf

Relevance? The industrial revolution enabled increases in life expectancy. At this moment, the software revolution is doing something similar.