Life Span

[Larsa]

OK belive it or not I was actualy watching TV and I saw a show (2056 [fifty years from now]) and there was one part in it that kinda shocked me and disturbed me a little. In the year 2056 A.D. the people who are born in that year are supposed to have a life expectency of 200 years at average. Now I've thought about it for a while and I've wondered if I would really want to live that long if I was born in that year. Now looking at the way the the health insuance and things are going it doesn't really look like it's going this way but still what IF it were to happen?

What do you think of this matter? Would you really want to live out the life of 200 yaers or commit suicide?

(I'm sorry but I saw this on the discovery channel and I've been trying to find the same things but have been unsuccesful.)

[Goatboy]

Forty nine, actually. And if society has survived 'til then, anyone who could live to 200, wouldn't.

[Ex Deo]

I saw that show, and while it's certainly entertaining, I don't put much faith in anything that's on it.

[EDIT] as for whether I'd want to live to be 200 years old, I can't say definitively whether I would or wouldn't. If my body continued to deteriorate at the same rate that people's currently do than hell no. But if the process could be significantly slowed down, than who knows. Unless I knew fully what such a lifespan as that entailed, who can say?

[Shadow]

Short of being crippled as Ex Deo suggested, I'd eagerly accept an extended glimpse of the future, good or bad. I'm not totally content with our natural life of a decade or two under 100 years.

[Larsa]

Originally Posted by Ex Deo

I saw that show, and while it's certainly entertaining, I don't put much faith in anything that's on it.

[EDIT] as for whether I'd want to live to be 200 years old, I can't say definitively whether I would or wouldn't. If my body continued to deteriorate at the same rate that people's currently do than hell no. But if the process could be significantly slowed down, than who knows. Unless I knew fully what such a lifespan as that entailed, who can say?

Well way back when our bodies had a life span of 30 years and by the time thirty years had been taken up our bodies had already deteriorated the equivilence of what it it now at the age of 80. So yes ths also puts into consideration that our bodies would detiriorate at a much slower pace.

[Jenova]

I would live out my 200 years.

[I AM THE CAPS MONSTER]

People colud last that long if our technolgy Keeps raising and our health get better, all sort of SSHHIITT like that.


(and that will be in like another 100, 200 or 300 years time)

[Ashley]

Considering how unhealthy North America's(and I'm sure the other continents) has become with poor eating habbits and lack of excersise which leads to other problems like obesity, diabetes etc, I don't think our life expectansy will be increasing anytime soon, I can see it declining.

[Shakan'Dar]

I find this interesting because my science teacher from a while back (about 4 years ago) told us about a drug they'd tested on mice. Basically it goes under the principle that while oxygen keeps us alive, it also slowly kills us. If oxygen can erode metal, think what it does to our bones. That's one of the reasons older people have diminished bone mass.

Anyway, it's a result of "stray oxygen" that doesn't get used up in our lungs, and isn't exhaled either. It just goes through our body until it hits something, damaging it, if granted, in very minuscule proportions. The drug helps to stop these "rogue particles" of oxygen from proliferating in the body.

The mice it was tested on doubled their lifespans. Now whether this drug is still in research for human use, or is even still in development, I'm not sure, but theoretically, it could give us this idea of a double lifespan.

As lifespan is mostly a result of how quickly you deteriorate, longer life pretty much automatically means a slower rate of deterioration. That means we'd get old at 160+ or so. I think that a longer life would be good, just for the fact that you'd be able to see many future generations, assuming that things like sexual maturity aren't also prolonged. You'd also get to see technological advances and that'd be interesting. There would be many good things, and I think a pessimistic attitude of the future only helps to make it a self fulfilling prophecy.

[Wei Yan]

Considering that sexual maturity continues to drop, even while our life spans continue to grow, I doubt that'll be the worst of our problems.

But live 200 years?

Do you people REALLY want that?

By all means, go to your grandparents house, and try to explain them how the internet works, and what Final Fantasy is all about. They won't understand nada of it. Just like their grand parents didn't understand square of the radio in their days. It was an evil magic box that made noises.

Now I'm sure you're all arguing, that ain't gonna happen to us, we'll just evolve along. I very much doubt we will. Because if the human race could, than why didn't the previous 1000 generations did it before us? I seriously do not look forward to being outsmarted at age 200 by a 15 yo punk.

So ehm, thank you very much, but I'll just do my 60 remaining years, and die a happy man.

[Shadow]

It will happen, to a certain extent. But our technological expectations are generally projected for about the next fifty years or so, which will probably take us an extra decade or two to actually achieve. Though they may go through different iterations, things like the internet and space travel are here for good now. There would obviously be a big distinguish between generations, but I'd like to think we've at least ventured beyond comments like "evil magic box that made noises."

I'd like to see how low marriage rates would plummet if people lived to 200 in today's society though. People can't even stand each other for a few decades, let alone over a century.

[Wei Yan]

Originally Posted by Shadow

It will happen, to a certain extent. But our technological expectations are generally projected for about the next fifty years or so, which will probably take us an extra decade or two to actually achieve. Though they may go through different iterations, things like the internet and space travel are here for good now. There would obviously be a big distinguish between generations, but I'd like to think we've at least ventured beyond comments like "evil magic box that made noises."

I'd like to see how low marriage rates would plummet if people lived to 200 in today's society though. People can't even stand each other for a few decades, let alone over a century.

I dunno, I can see myself at the age 45 sitting in a bar trying to hit on a chick and coming to the conclusion that she's a cyborg or something. Geez, I'd curse it and call it evil magic.

As for marriage rates. Free love and lotsa divorces for teh win?

(I know I could live with that)

[Shakan'Dar]

I don't think that the reason grandparents wouldn't understand is because they can't, it's because they don't want to. I've read about women as old as 80 playing WoW, and enjoying it. It just depends on whether they are open to understanding it.

I know that when I have kids, I'll be getting the next gen. consoles as much for myself as for them, lol.

I never understood why my dad thinks that because I'm getting older, I should stop liking video games.

My grandma was watching Lord of the Rings the other day with me. She doesn't speak English that well, so I had to explain what it was all about, but she got the basic idea of what was going on.

I think that the older generation will be more and more open to technology. The more they understand, the less they will fear it. For instance, that same grandma thinks listening to my mp3 player is emitting radiation into my ears. I told her that it doesn't, and that's just mobile phones, and she hasn't bugged me about it any more.

Why should anybody else's grandparents have any trouble?

[Goatboy]

Other people's grandparents may not have synapses firing as fast.

[Shakan'Dar]

How is being outsmarted at age 200 by a 15 y/o any different to being outsmarted at age 70 by a 15 y/o?

I wonder how this would affect the education system. With so much more time to live, would they make school take longer? School atm is rapid because you want to be able to get a job before you're in your 30's.

[Goatboy]

You didn't say anything about age or intelligence, you just said they don't want to understand. I may have been up too long, but you don't make sense.

[Shakan'Dar]

Originally Posted by Goatboy

You didn't say anything about age or intelligence, you just said they don't want to understand. I may have been up too long, but you don't make sense.

I'm sorry. My last post was in response to an earlier one where someone said they don't wanna get outsmarted at age 200 by a 15 y/o.

I just cbf quoting. It was Wei Yan

[Wei Yan]

Disclaimer: Wei Yan is not responsible for the words of people quoting him.

Originally Posted by Shakan'Dar

I know that when I have kids, I'll be getting the next gen. consoles as much for myself as for them, lol.

Invalid argument. I'm sure your grandparents said the same about radios. And so they did, they bought newer and better radios. Radios are their generation's next gen console.

Originally Posted by Shakan'Dar

My grandma was watching Lord of the Rings the other day with me. She doesn't speak English that well, so I had to explain what it was all about, but she got the basic idea of what was going on.

Well, surely your grandma understand the basic principle of movie, so all she had to do is follow the story line. That's not all that amazing. Heck, my grandparents often lend the movies I've just recorded on DvD. (one of the latest being Collateral, that movie with an older Tom Cruise as a hitman)