The future is longer.
This might sound like a bold statement, but the evidence is inescapable. People are living healthier and longer lives, with some individuals even approaching the age of 120 years!
In the future, it's possible that people will have more control over their own mortality. For example, we may be able to choose not to age and die, and some may even live forever. I cover some research about this topic later in this article.
Imagine what you can do with an extra 30-50 healthy years added to your lifespan! Read a thousand more books? Marry 3 more times? Explore several alternative careers? Tick a visit to Mars off your bucket list? Create many more bucket lists?
We will of course need to think about how we will handle living longer. Some of the benefits are a lifetime of wisdom and experience, opportunities for additional education and career development, and an increased ability to contribute to our communities. Who wouldn't want to live a healthier, longer life on this beautiful planet, and spend more time with their families, friends, and loved ones?
However, there are challenges that come with a longer lifespan that need to be considered such as how we will take care of ourselves or our family members. A longer life can put a strain on our relationships because everything becomes more difficult. It also creates ambiguity about what our ambitions were before and after all these extra years were added to our lives. Also, the increased strain on our planet is a significant cause for concern!
Ground-breaking research is being done globally on longevity and age reversal.
The topics in this field that I find most interesting are the science and technology of age reversal, the potential for increasing lifespans, slowing dementia incidence, improving mental health, and maintaining physical function - to name a few.
I also want to learn how these changes impact society -- postponing the need to stop working, increasing or decreasing life satisfaction, increasing social connections, medical costs rising faster than inflation rates, retirement savings not building up fast enough to match rising healthcare costs, etc.
Longevity has been a controversial topic for a long time now, but longevity experts consistently predict that people will live considerably longer than they do now.
As per this article , demographic research suggests that at the beginning of the 19th century no country in the world had a life expectancy longer than 40 years. Globally the life expectancy increased from less than 30 years to over 72 years; after the last two centuries of progress, we can now expect to live twice as long as our ancestors. And this progress was not achieved in a few places. In every world region, people today can expect to live more than twice as long . Given the much higher rate of acceleration in the development of healthcare, and longevity-related science and technologies, can we double the average human lifespan again from 72 to 144 years in the next 50 years?
Age reversal research is a field of study that has the potential to help people live past 120 years of age. It is being addressed by a large number of scientists throughout the world, but one of the most public figures in this field is Aubrey De Grey. As per his speaker bio on ted.com, "he provocatively proposes that the first human beings who will live to 1,000 years old have already been born." In his fascinating TED Talk , which was my first introduction to longevity several years ago, Aubrey de Grey argues that aging is merely a disease -- and a curable one at that. Humans age in seven basic ways, he says, all of which can be averted. “I now think there is a 50% chance that we will reach longevity escape velocity by 2036. After that point (the “Methuselarity”), those who regularly receive the latest rejuvenation therapies will never suffer from age-related ill-health at any age.” the eminent biomedical gerontologist and co-founder of the SENS Research Foundation, said recently on twitter .
Sergey Young, the founder of the Longevity Vision Fund, is on a mission to help one billion people around the world to extend their healthy lifespans. His Fund's DNA is "making longevity accessible and affordable by funding life extension breakthroughs". In his myth-busting article on longevity , Sergey writes, "while human bodies, in their current state, may not be able to last much longer than 120 years, augmented bodies may be able to live to 150 and beyond. This is due to breakthroughs in organ regeneration being able to replace failing or diseased body parts, as well as solve the issue of shortage of organ transplant supply."
In the age of science and technology, we are closer to finding a cure for diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. In fact, there may be a cure within our lifetime. Scientists have been able to make significant progress in this area with many promising therapies being tested. With potentially effective treatment, these diseases might be reduced to manageable chronic illnesses.
3D printing of organs is fast becoming a reality. This technology will allow doctors to create custom-made organs on-demand, saving patients from waiting years for transplants and reducing the risk of organ rejection by using their own cells as starting material.
Other researchers are studying treatments involving Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy, NMN, Metformin, Rapamycin, and a host of other supplements and treatments (that may or may not reverse aging of course, but do show varying degrees of promise to that end!)
I conducted a poll last week, designed to understand awareness about Longevity, Longevity Research, and the Longevity Economy amongst my LinkedIn community. 38% of the respondents to my poll said that they have never thought about Longevity (average human lifespan of 120 years).
Longevity is slowly becoming a factor for you to consider in your long-term plans as an individual, a family, and as an organization -- and indeed, for us as a society. I think you should start thinking about it!
So far, the subject has only been broadly addressed by biologists, but now futurists are considering what longevity might mean economically and personally for humanity. Not only will longevity disrupt social norms (such as work expectations), it will also impact how family dynamics change over time (grandparents may outlive their grandchildren) and how housing/retail sectors adjust to this new paradigm.
I truly believe individuals and organizations should start thinking about longevity and start planning for a very different future.
A (seismic) shift in family dynamics: Longer lifespans will change the lives of individuals, and also the dynamics of their families. People might have children later in life, children might not be able to support their parents beyond a certain timeframe, there could just simply be less emotional energy available to keep families together for so long (can you really tolerate your siblings for 200 years?)!
Changing workstyles: I imagine that with longer lifespans, we will change the way we work. We might switch careers at a later age or move into an entirely new line of work several times during our careers. Beyond a certain point, we might continue working only to find meaning in our lives, rather than sustenance.
Change in traditional retirement timelines: One of the social results of longer lifespans is the extension of traditional retirement timelines. The time spent in retirement will be a lot shorter and it will be more common for older adults to continue working until they can no longer do so. Some of you might, of course, choose to retire early and pursue other passions -- like that trip to Mars :)
Retaining wisdom: We will retain wisdom for much longer if people live longer lives. The things that we have learned, the things that we have done, and the skills that we have acquired will serve us well in a life of extended duration.
Economy: People will live longer and work for longer periods of time which means a much larger population with higher disposable incomes over time. This means greater opportunities for consumption which drives the economy well beyond current levels of growth. Every future economy in the world will grow like present-day emerging economies - and there will be little or no difference in growth rates between developed and emerging economies.
Pressure on resources and affect on the climate: One of the main economic worries is that with the postponement of the highest global cause of death (aging), the global population will grow exponentially. Even though this might not be an immediate problem, it can become one in the future. There are at least two types of pressures on mother nature; climate change and the lack of resources. The increase in population will lead to more greenhouse gases in our environment which will impede global efforts to control climate change. The increase in population will also result in fewer natural resources like food and water that we need for the sustenance of life. More pressure would also come from more people who need higher quality sources of water. These new pressures on mother nature will be more apparent when there are long periods where there are drought conditions.
Demographic shifts: The demographics of a society may be the most affected by the changes in longevity. As more and more people live past 100, it is difficult to project what will happen to the population. It may make a difference in how countries allocate resources and what sort of families are formed. Birth rates will also be affected by these increased pressures because it will lead to a higher demand for education and healthcare. The cost of providing education and healthcare will be significantly higher possibly forcing families to have only one child, or perhaps no children at all!
32% of the respondents to my poll believe that a human lifespan of 120 years will be possible by 2050 whereas 31% of the respondents think that it will take longer
Watch this fascinating video on the XPRIZE Impact Roadmaps website which creates a vision for longevity in 2040 and read about the various challenges towards meeting this vision -- advancing scientific understanding, improving treatment tools, expediting drug development and approval, improving public perception, and ensuring accessibility of treatments
The endless debate of longevity and immortality has been around for many years. Many people say that they would never want to live this long, while others say that it would be a blessing. Some people make the argument that there is nothing else to do in life after a certain age if you were going to live forever. Others envision a life filled with work, joy, and excitement as if they're living in perpetual childhood. There is no end to things to experience as an immortal human being who can control their future as they please.
While I wouldn't claim to be an expert on Longevity, and I don't have a firm answer for whether the average human can hope to live beyond 120 before 2050 (or after), I can say one thing for sure - organizations and individuals alike should not ignore the conversation around Longevity Research and its many implications.
The Longevity Economy is just on the cusp of a boom and the foreseeable future will only provide for further debate and interest in this field.