A sharing by Ling Sing Lin
This sounds terrible, even if you are in reasonably good health. Just the pictures of people in their 90s and beyond puts you off.
Methuselah
Many years ago, I decided to read the Bible from cover to cover. I actually did. I found that the lifespans of people in the Old Testament in the early days was much much more than the biblical three score and ten years we are more familiar with.
Methuselah at 969 years was the longest living. He was Noah’s grandfather. Noah, associated with the ark and the great flood, lived 950 years. He was 600 years old at the time of the great flood. He lived another 350 years post-flood.
Subsequently, the lifespans dropped quite dramatically to about 450 years, then 230 years, and then to 70 years. Looking at the long lifespans of the early years, a person could live to see many generations of his descendants, and actually outlive many of them.
What caused shortened lifespans?
A few speculations have been made.
- The Earth’s atmosphere was covered by a canopy of water before the flood. A mist covered the earth and irrigated the earth and possibly protected the earth from radiation. The mist was lost after the flood.
- After the flood, the only people left to procreate were Noah’s three sons (who had brought their wives on board the ark), since all human, animal and plant life were decimated by the flood. With the expected close intermarriages (among relatives) and genetic homogeneity, there could have been a limited gene pool and likely genetic mutations from consanguineous marriages.
Cellular Reprogramming
In my previous post Pick Your Poison, I referred to a process called cellular reprogramming, which rejuvenates old cells to become young again, so that it becomes theoretically possible to reach 140-150 years of age.
There are super-rich people who are prepared to invest in this technology, and fund the research, so that with their plentiful resources, they hope to live to 150 years but continue to have youthful and healthy cells and still look youthful.
Implications of living to 150 years
It is therefore not implausible for mankind in the not too distant future, to live to 120 years or even 150 years.
The social implications of radical life extension include over population, decreased fresh ideas of the young which is necessary for progress, and the rich outliving the poor as they have access to expensive technologies.
Long and Healthy Life
Let us assume that this greater life expectancy is tied to healthy life expectancy. This is feasible if one practices healthy lifestyles. See Pick Your Poison. In other words, you can live to beyond 100 years still in relatively good health. 120 years could be the new 70 years old, 100 years old could be the new 60 years old, 80 years the new 50 years, and 60 years old the new 40 years old.
Wouldn’t you want to extend your life by another 20-30 years if you are in good health and have adequate financial resources? Today, we hear that 50 is the new 40. In other words, it is already happening. On the other hand, if you look at photos of people who lived 100-150 years ago, it is the reverse. When our ancestors were 30 years old, to our eyes, they looked 50 years old.
New inventions make our lives more comfortable, medical technology helps us to live longer, cosmetics and aesthetic procedures can make us more youthful looking. Aging can be slowed down significantly.
It isn’t that far-fetched after all to have a life span of 150 years.
lingsinglin
Dr Ling Sing Lin is a medical doctor by training. She worked in MOH HQ for many years, in policy making and administrative positions, until her retirement.
