The Centennial Light, a bulb that's reportedly been burning for 113 years

"First of all, we understand the correlation between low output and longevity, and acknowledge that the Centennial Light produces a very low output. Even so, out of hundreds of thousands of low wattage bulbs produced from 1880-1910, it's the only bulb of its kind that has burned for 113-years. Just a handful of bulbs on Earth are older than 60. We think that qualifies as mysterious on some level -- even when scientifically dissected.

Secondly, I appreciate you clarifying the complexity of the Phoebus cartel's actions (admittedly, it's a bigger picture than what we presented) -- but there exists compelling evidence that the cartel exercised planned obsolescence (we understand planned obsolescence to be when the "lifespan of a product is rendered artificially short by design"). Pre-1900, bulbs had lifespans of 1,200-2,500 hours; the cartel set bulbs at 1,000 hours -- even when GE (a member of the cartel) had access to modern tungsten filament technology that could've increased the output of bulbs without so aggressively compromising lifespan. While, as you said, the cartel's motivation was to standardize the haphazard market, the byproduct of this was an overly-assertive cap on longevity."

Not really. Run a 100 watt lightbulb dimmed down to the brightness of a 1 watt bulb and it will also likely run for 100 years.

The only reason why you can somewhat compare modern incandescent bulbs by power is because the manufacturers have standardized on specific operating temperatures (the "cartel") - however, that only works for a given type of bulb, not between a "normal" one and a halogen one, for example, much less for the centennial light.

Still, all that indeed makes for even less reason to be impressed ...

What experts and physicists?

With semiconductors, the rule of thumb is an increase of 10 Kelvin halves the lifetime of the part. Considering this bulb is running several hundred Kelvin below modern bulbs, it isn't surprising it lasts. Run a modern 60W lightbulb at 30Vac and it'll last just as long too, but put out so little light as to be near useless (like this bulb).

It burns out roughly every 3 years (26,000 hours, pretty damned good, right.) That bulb is subject to various other environmental factors that will reduce it's lifespan (vibration and high heat.)

I've forgotten my point now, but I think it boils down to, a single factor, such as power cycling, isn't likely going to be the only reason a bulb doesn't last as long. A lot of factors play into it, including both environment and manufacturing.