Up to a hundred and...? Researchers claim that in a few decades, technology will allow humans to reach the extreme age of 180, and possibly even more. The words were said at the "Annual Conference for the Future of the World", held in San Francisco
Scientists estimate that by the year 2075 a dramatic breakthrough will be achieved that will allow humans to live to the age of 180, and possibly more. "I think we are standing on the brink of eternity," said American business professor Michael Zei, who wrote two books about the future. Zei spoke at the annual gathering of the "Society for the Future of the World", an organization that tries to map the developments that human society will go through in the future.
Until now we have gotten used to greeting people on their birthdays "up to 120", but if we rely on what was said at the weekend at the San Francisco gathering, we should start updating the greeting to "up to 180" and maybe "up to 300", or even "up to 500".
Various researchers who came to the "Annual Conference for the Future of the World" agreed that technology will allow people to live in the not too distant future decades beyond what is accepted today. Professor Donald Loria of the New Jersey School of Medicine in Newark said that advances in genetic developments as well as nanotechnology will allow people to live longer: "What was once science fiction is no longer science fiction," said Professor Loria.
Professor Luria added: "There are dramatic advances that will allow people to live between 120 and 180 years. There are some who say that people will be able to live 200, 300 or 500 years."
However, many scientists still believe that the human body is not capable of living more than 120 years. According to the same researchers, even if people live a healthier lifestyle and get sick less, in the end the brain and other organs will not be up to the task.
Leonard Von, director of the Center for Gerontology at the University of Georgia, said the main issue is whether it is possible to allow people a quality of life, when they reach an extreme age: "Today, the health of people who reach the age of 120 is not good at all. I visited Jean-Louis Clement , who died in France at the age of 122 in '97 when she was 119 years old. She was weak, blind and could hardly hear."
Thomas Pearl, who heads a research team at the University of New England, said the estimates that humans are able to live more than 120 years are "pure science fiction". He noted that the researchers' estimates "are very far from reality. We are very quickly approaching the limit of the human body's capacity. Allowing the average person to be even 100 or 180 years old is like sending a space shuttle to Pluto."
