Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community - View Single Post - 120 or 180 Yrs Old? Experts Debate Limit of Aging

Rodney · 07-21-2003, 05:05 AM

Somebody made the point that it's no good living to 180 if the quality of life is so poor that you just sit there. Frankly, improving quality of life for the span that we already do have would be a revolution.

Suppose that science could find a way to keep more people alive up to the current max of about 120 _and_ keep them mentally alert and physically competent most of that time. It would mean things like being able to "start over" at age 65 with a new career, maybe even a new family.

It would mean that you would have time to take on a load of experience and get yourself mentally sorted out (something that takes most people into their 40s or more), and then still have 60 years to do something about it instead of having the old bod start to break down ten or 15 years later. You could end up with a population of extremely competent people.

Of course there would be no retirement as we have it now. Our entire society is based on the idea that most of us will start to slow down in our 60s and get feeble and die in our 70s or 80s.

Actually, there are people like this now. Saw a TV special about a group of people on Okinawa who seem extremely long-lived. Way more than average live past 100, in pretty good shape. They profiled one guy who apparently got the deluxe gene option package; he was 85 years old and still dived in the ocean daily, hunting for shellfish. They showed him in a wetsuit, and he was built like a buff 30-year-old (with extremely beat-up skin, of course).

07-21-2003, 05:05 AM	#11 (permalink)
Rodney Observant Ruminant Location: Rich Wannabe Hippie Town	Somebody made the point that it's no good living to 180 if the quality of life is so poor that you just sit there. Frankly, improving quality of life for the span that we already do have would be a revolution. Suppose that science could find a way to keep more people alive up to the current max of about 120 _and_ keep them mentally alert and physically competent most of that time. It would mean things like being able to "start over" at age 65 with a new career, maybe even a new family. It would mean that you would have time to take on a load of experience and get yourself mentally sorted out (something that takes most people into their 40s or more), and then still have 60 years to do something about it instead of having the old bod start to break down ten or 15 years later. You could end up with a population of extremely competent people. Of course there would be no retirement as we have it now. Our entire society is based on the idea that most of us will start to slow down in our 60s and get feeble and die in our 70s or 80s. Actually, there are people like this now. Saw a TV special about a group of people on Okinawa who seem extremely long-lived. Way more than average live past 100, in pretty good shape. They profiled one guy who apparently got the deluxe gene option package; he was 85 years old and still dived in the ocean daily, hunting for shellfish. They showed him in a wetsuit, and he was built like a buff 30-year-old (with extremely beat-up skin, of course).