Can we live to be 1,000 years old?

[man4allcats]

Some scientists think so:

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.”

Perhaps de Gray is way too optimistic, but plenty of others have joined the search for a virtual fountain of youth. In fact, a growing number of scientists, doctors, geneticists and nanotech experts—many with impeccable academic credentials—are insisting that there is no hard reason why ageing can’t be dramatically slowed or prevented altogether. Not only is it theoretically possible, they argue, but a scientifically achievable goal that can and should be reached in time to benefit those alive today.

- snip -

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.

“I just don't think {immortality} is possible,” says Sherwin Nuland, a professor of surgery at the Yale School of Medicine. “Aubrey and the others who talk of greatly extending lifespan are oversimplifying the science and just don't understand the magnitude of the task. His plan will not succeed. Were it to do so, it would undermine what it means to be human.”

more here ...

emphasis added

I'm certainly no expert, not even close, but just based on things I've read in the biological sciences, I'm personally inclined to think life spans might one day be increased far beyond what they are today. Whether that eventuality proves advantageous will depend in no small measure on whether civilization and its social contracts can keep pace with technology.

[Taverner]

1. Choose your death rather than suffer it

I would like that

[slackmaster]

2. Based on how much more annoying younger people get every year

I'm not at all sure I'd want to live that long.

[Ian David]

3. Well, we'll certainly need term limits then. n/t

[man4allcats]

7. Good point.

Can you imagine 200 years of Bushco!? :scared:

[ben_meyers]

4. Not in my lifetime.

I crack myself up sometimes.

[Warpy]

5. I asked my dad when he was 85 if he wanted to live to 100

He replied, "Not if I can still buy a gun."

He was in good health at that point, too.

[W_HAMILTON]

6. I doubt it.

They don't cure anything anymore.

Having said that, I guess we could live to be 1,000, just taking 5,000 prescriptions a day so we can "live" with the cancer, and AIDs, and every other disease that they won't actually go out and cure.

I'm under 40, so here's to living 900+ more years, woohoo!

But in reality, I doubt it. It seems they always boast about great achievements like this, but how much have we really achieved lately? I guess if it makes sense to a company's bottom line to let us live to be 1,000, then maybe it will happen one day.

[Ian David]

9. Just imagine what a 800 year-old crack whore would look like. n/t

[man4allcats]

10. Now that is truly scary! n/t

[endless october]

8. i'd be pretty happy to make it to 80 healthy.

[lapfog_1]

11. One major problem to solve... - Telomeres. - n/t

[man4allcats]

12. Ah yes. The case of the incredible shrinking telomere.

Telomerase Man to the rescue! Well, maybe. There are so many pieces to the aging puzzle. It will be interesting to see what the future holds, but in my case at least any big breakthroughs better come sooner rather than later. ;-)

[lapfog_1]

13. However, a solution they are not talking about...

It might be possible for the brain to live for a very long time. It doesn't suffer at much "wear and tear" as things like our kidneys, heart, and lungs. And the ability to "wire" the brain and have computers interpret our brain activity is progressing quite rapidly. Almost to the point where there are solutions today (just saw it on the TeeVee) where completely paralyzed people can move a computer mouse using only their brain waves.

[Citizen Number 9]

14. That sounds like a lot of fun

Sign me up :eyes:

[Orrex]

15. I had a Falcon that lived that long (nt)

[trotsky]

16. You think we've got a problem with overpopulation and resource consumption NOW....

baby, you ain't seen nothing yet.