Can the Human Lifespan Reach 1,000 Years -Some Experts Say "Yes"If true, I will almost certainly get to live in space. Awesome.
Cambridge University geneticist Aubrey de Grey has famously stated, "The first person to live to be 1,000 years old is certainly alive today …whether they realize it or not, barring accidents and suicide, most people now 40 years or younger can expect to live for centuries."
It might also explain why some Baby Boomers don't give a shit about the state of the world. They're just jealous because I'm going to live forever and they'll be dead in the ground. Heaven may not be a certainty so might as well turn this joint into hell.
Back to growing old in the slowest way possible (unlike some people who are on a rocket to the grave).
Not everyone thinks humans should live in cities, regardless of whether or not we actually can. Not everyone thinks humans should eat meat, regardless of whether or not we actually can. Not everyone thinks primates, domesticated or otherwise, should put on clothes and dedicate 40 hours a week of their lives to doing meaningless crap they hate doing, regardless of whether or not they actually can."There are many, many different components of ageing and we are chipping away at all of them," said Robert Freitas at the Institute for Molecular Manufacturing, a non-profit, nanotech group in Palo Alto, California. "It will take time and, if you put it in terms of the big developments of modern technology, say the telephone, we are still about 10 years off from Alexander Graham Bell shouting to his assistant through that first device. Still, in the near future, say the next two to four decades, the disease of ageing will be cured."
But not everyone thinks ageing can or should be cured. Some say that humans weren’t meant to live forever, regardless of whether or not we actually can.
Humans do all kinds of things we shouldn't do. That's half the fun and all the problem. No need to stop now.
The downside of living for a thousand years? It would take one hell of a portfolio to retire at 65.
8 comments:
Two excellent novels that deal with this:
Rollback, by Robert Sawyer, starts to think about the beginning of drastically extended lifespans.
Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom, by Cory Doctorow, imagines how the world would change when basic needs (lifespan, food, and shelter) have all been conquered.
The picture of Dorian Grey comes to mind.
Or Time Enough for Love by Robert Heinlein.
This is almost as bad as the concept of "Heaven". I'm in no hurry to die, but I think that 80-90 years of life is plenty. 1000 years is a really fucking long time to live, let alone eternity. Can you imagine the interminable boredom?
"The downside of living for a thousand years? It would take one hell of a portfolio to retire at 65."
Even now, you need a damn good portfolio now retire at 65 and plan to live for 20 to 30 more years. Even moreso when SS goes broke in a few years. Considering that retirees are now active and healthy well beyond their 7th decade, there's no reason for them to be on the dole so young. The money they put in is perfectly sufficent for 10 or 15 years, but after that they take out more than they put in.
I can't imagine getting bored with a 1,000 year active lifespan. There is an entire planet to explore. Then a whole solar system. Then a whole galaxy. If I can't find new and exciting things to do with all those possibilities, even if I can only afford a trip every ten or so years, there's something wrong with me.
I just had a visual of Mozart standing next to 5o cent at some music awards. arrrghhh
Retirement is for pussies! Just because you find a better "job" or a hobby that pays does not mean you have retired. For example my great aunt is 78 and works 40 hours a week at Walmart because she is a robot freak. She loves to work. She was pissed last week because she was going to have five days off in a row. Walmart forces people to take 3 days off for bereavement. She thought that was far to much time to be sitting at home after such a simple thing as her sister dieing.
You can find a job you love thus not be retired and enjoy what you do for $$. I have yet to do it but I hear it can be done. Also as much as Walmart may suck, how many other companies are going to hire a 78 year old to stock the candy and work the garden center?
Maybe the key to long life is just for Walmart to build retirement homes right off the back of the store? Keep em healthy, happy and working.
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