Longer average lifespans.. is the xtra years worth it?

[Jim Layhoe]

With technologicall advances daily, more and more people are leading longer lives then their predecessors.
My question to you is, are the extra years gained over time worth the suffering?
In the near future we will have the means(if we already don't)to extent the average life span by about 10 years.
Think about what the average lifespan will be in 100 years.
This senario poses many problems that i will not get into, yet i feel it is worth bringing up.

What are some peoples point of view on this?

------------------

JIM LAYHOE [email protected]

[This message has been edited by Jim Layhoe (edited September 13, 2000).]

 

[fitness-for-life !!]

What are you refering to " SUFFERING"?

 

[Jim Layhoe]

Well, the thought of longer life is great, but that does not mean a better life.
It doesn't mean your friends or family will still be arround. Think of how bored old people look in old age homes already? Another 10-15 years of that shit will make you feel like your "doing time."
All issues that are here know will be magnified.

How will you pay for basic needs?
Old age pensions suck as they are know, add a few more years of cut-backs,plus more seniors living longer lifes and that to me is suffering.


------------------

JIM LAYHOE [email protected]

 

[leaf]

ya, we're not adding years to life, but we're actually kinda adding years to death..


~leaf~

 

[d1734]

you will only suffer if you let yourself suffer. i plan to keep myself in good shape all my life. screw retirement funds, i plan to save enough money so it will work for me. then you have nanotechnology, and emerging gene therapies...all i have to say is never underestimate the rate of technological advancement. it will more than likely blow all of our predictions away. hell, in 30 years the computer sitting in front of me may very well be 10,000x more powerful the one i'm using now.

 

[Snapper55]

stay in shape and youll be just fine

 

[lizzy]

There is no rule which says that when you turn seventy or so that you have to move into a retirement village and rot. Don't be like those people who buy into socially defined roles. I think most people become a certain way because they hold the belief that that is how youu are meant to be at a certain age. Being healthy is about extending quality life-time years so that you won't have to rot in a retirement village like those people who have heart disease or adult-onset diabetes because they have eaten white bread all their lives :>

If you look after yourself then advances in medicine won't matter because you won't need them because you won't have the problems that they are designed to cure in the first place.

I strongly suspect (although I doubt it is proven) that you have a genetically determined life expectancy. You just need to maximise it by being really healthy and ensuring that you are fit and well until the day you slip away in your sleep.

 

[lawnsaver]

up

 

[maxb01]

I don't want to live longer, but I want to keep young for longer.

------------------
Max London UK

 

[BackDoc]

Great posts already.

I personally do not think that the key to living longer is going to be found in gene therapy and technologies--at least not in the near future. Already we are seeing that Molly the sheep is having health problems--so as far as we've come in terms of trying to solve the riddle of the gene, it will ultimately lead to the possibility that we could be inventing new diseases and viruses and bacteria with our genetic tampering.

As far as finding a way to live longer, don't expect much help from the government and certain health organizations...their primary concern at this point is in trying to find a way to accomodate how to feed an ever increasing population. If we all live to be 100, then we'll have a sure food shortage based on what we can do agriculturally right now. Well of course, that means that we might have to engineer more artificial foods. I can't help but see this as a vicious cycle just waiting to happen.

The best lessons have already been learned from the generation that is venerable right now: they said they wanted "to grow old gracefully". We're seeing that there's no such thing if you don't exercise, eat sensibly and use nutritional supplements. So our generation's policy should be to "live as old as you can as young as you can".

Don't get me wrong, some medical advancements are wonderful. But look at some of the research such as in "new and fascinating" cancer treatments and heart disease treatments and you'll see that they're extracting parts from certain nutritional supplements! Hell, even vincristine, an effective chemotherapy drug is derived from an herb!

Everybody seems to be correct to me: live longer when you stay active and eat right and take as few medicines as you can. That's how I beat cancer, and I think it's the answer in front of us.

 

[Urlu]

I'm glad this topic was raised, because yesterday I thought to myself "Y'know, I'm REALLY looking forward to my retirement" which is kinda a strange thing, considering I'm only 19.

But I am confident that I'm smart enough about money and education and career to have lived a fulfilling life, and have enough money to have the freedom to do what I want.

I hope to have house near a river on the South-West Australian coast, and hopefully my girlfriend will still be around, but by then she'll be my wife and we'll have kids and grandkids who come to see us. I think if you're smart about it and plan ahead, your last years can be great. And when I say plan ahead, I don't mean just financially.... I mean health-wise too. Eating right, exercising and doing things to keep you healthy, mobile and relatively pain-free. I'm starting work on all of those things now.... and I'm looking forward to being old.

And of course, enjoying the journey there.

 

[HotFlip]

As long as the extra years gained are not years of "suffering", as you put it, then sure, I'd love to live as long as this body is capable of living.... and beyond....

But if the extra years are suffering in misery, lonelines in an retirement home, in and out of hospitals, failing health, senility, then just shoot me. I'm doing everything I can right now to prevent all of that from happenning.... living healthy, eating right, taking vitamins and minerals, excercising, protecting the brain from aging.

 

[NYStrip]

An ad on the MesoRx board points you to a company which does GH therapy. Say's their 6 month therapy could roll the clock back 10 years. What do you think?

 

[ruffy1]

I rather die young, die strong and Dianabol!

 

[cyberflash]

According to Buddhist cosmology, man use to live up to 10,000 years and by the end of the world (another thousand of years from now) ... man will live only up to 10 years. If you read the bible, those guys (Abraham, Adam) lived up to 200-350 yrs. Conclusion: WE HAVE LOST THE KNOWLEDGE TO LIVE LONGER.

I believe technological advancement will bring back man's lost knowledge to increase his age. Back in the middle-ages and the time of the plague and dark ages, the mortality rate was 20-40 years old. Even developing countries have low mortality rates today. Developed countries have 80+ yrs. mortality, and this is attributed to quality of life (technology and medical/nutritional knowledge is part of that).

Extending life is not a burden. There are several benefits to growing old and even living alone. Learning to achieve Inner Peace and Tranquility is one. If I were to reach a 120 years old, my goal is to attain spiritual enlightenment before exiting the mortal flesh .....

Whazzzzupppp ... Enjoy Life !

 

[booger]

We're not designed for longevity. If we were we would be made out of kevlar, stainless steel, goretex, carbon composites, etc.

We are biodegradable units. We exist in a symbionic relationship with the plant world. Exchanging O2 and CO2 back and forth and sacrificing ourselves eventually to each other.

This longevity thing is a marketing myth. The whole idea of dying isn't very appealing.
Why not make empty promises to the masses.

Religion has been making the same promise for centuries and you don't even have to eat right and exercise. And with them it's not just a longer life. It's eternal life.

Why worry about life. You'll never get out of it alive. And for those of you who seek eternal life. Well.... The Pearly Gates are the marbled tombstones of any ordinary cemetary, and Heaven is the crypt.

 

[cyberflash]

People are willing to DIE trying in order to LIVE !

And People are willing to LIVE only to DIE in the end.

Enjoy life and death

Think about it .....

 

[MaGilicuti]

I'm 21 now. I wanna just have fun and die before i'm 50. No point to living after that..

 

[cyberflash]

I'll be in the greatest shape of my bodybuilding life at age 50 ... and the most attractive to all women... don't be a pessimist Magilicuti ... there's life at 50

 

[Laserdude]

This is something the government will not like, they will have to payout all of your social security of you live long enough, the way it stands right now they want you to die like about 5 years after you retire, that way they can spread your social security out to cover others retirement. Besides the social security system will be broke in the next 15 to 20 years. This is an issue that the idiots in Washington will want to regulate, HGH could well be banned because of this issue alone, all of us won't get it, but you can bet your bottom dollar if your a high powered politcian you will be able to get it.

Just watch the media get a hold of this one and start their fear mongering to scare people into beleiveing that Congress should pass a law against HGH. They will lie cheat and steal to control us.

 

[8-]]

As people live longer their productive/healthy lives also lengthen.

Say 50 years ago someone lived until 80 - they were probably up and about until say 60-70.

Now if someone lives to 100 - they are probably up and about until 80+.

Either way, you improve youir chances by healthy living and exercise.

I've seen 70 year olds who are healthier and more active than the average 50 year old.

 

[32DD]

Live Longest I can!!!!!!!

I FEEL LIFE IS TOO SHORT AS IT IS TO EXPERIENCE ALL THE THINGS THAT I WANT TO DO . I WOULDN'T MIND LIVING UNTIL I WAS 200! THERE IS SO MANY THINGS, PEOPLE, PLACES,ETC IN THIS WORLD ,THAT I WISH WE LIVED LONGER SO WE COULD LEARN EVEN MORE! I PLAN ON BEING A HEALTHY "OLD WOMAN" SO I WOULD RATHER LIVE TO 100. I FEEL IF THE DAY EVER ARISES WHERE I FIND MYSELF UNABLE TO WIPE MY OWN ASS OR HAVE A ORGASM THAT IS WHEN I WILL BE READY TO CLOSE MY EYES AND SAY GOOD-BYE...................

 

[Ana]

An orgasm. HUH? So when you can no longer have an orgasm......wha?

 

[Woody Allen]

long post

The American Academy of Anti Agin Medicines goal is not to just extend years but that "every one arrives to the age of 90 in the body of a 45 year old"

Yes it would be of benefit. Currently all the top people in any field (firemen, brain surgeons, teachers, mechanics, etc) spend years and years learning their trade well, only to retire at 65 years of age. Most people want to retire at age 65 because they feel like crap and are in terrible shape.

If everyone were in the shape of someone we currently think of as 30 years old when they were 60, they would want to continue to work because they would feel too good to sit around and watch Oprah all day. And think of how much progress we could make as a civilization if our best minds had another 40 years to contribure more knowledge on firefighting, brain surgery, teaching, mechanics etc).

All known mammals , except one species, currently lives to be about 10 times the age of pubery. That one species is humans - we reach pubery about 12 and we die at age 70-80 on the average. That is a lifespan of about 6-7 times the age of pubertal onset.

Tigers live to be about 7 years old - or about 110 human years. They are very old at 6 years of age. However at 6 years of age they can run down a 145 LB gazelle, break its neck and drag it 4.5 miles back to its lair. That tiger is not sitting around saying "Oh I would still chase down a gazelle if only my prostate was not acting up, or my arthritis or my diabetes". Most humans do not live to an equivalant age as a tiger, but what we currently call old age is a time of great sickness and disease for the most part. AND IT IS ALL DUE TO LIFESTYLE.

If we took a wild tiger and made him eat twinkies, and every time he was going to run put him in a car and made him drive to where he was going thereby depriving him of exercise, and had him smoke cigarettes and drink beer, and whenever it got late and he felt tired and like going to bed - had him drink coffee so he could stay awake late into the night and watch David Letterman....that tiger would get sick at a much earlier age.

By extending our life, and making whatever lifespan we have healthier we will save this country money. Like our mammal counterparts we won't get sick so early. I am not talking about the 65 year olds. I am talking about the 40 year olds. Humans start getting sick at age 30-40. Women who have osteoporosis start getting it around age 35 according to the research. We have the early signs of aging begin when we are 30 - what we currently call "middle age".

Scientists believe our normal lifespan whould be about 120. Middle age should be 60. But currently at 60 we are already very very very sick and weak. By increasing our lifespan we will have people productive longer, meaning they will not be on social security for as long, and can contribute to social security for a longer period. There will also be less preventable illnesses that we have to pay for : cancer, heart disease, diabetes - all of which are directly attributable to diet and lifestyle.

Yes, anti aging medicine is valuable. There ought to be a special tax for people that do not take advantage of what we know about the dietary and lifestyle changes that are proven to extend life and make it healthier - because those people will cost our society more money to take care of.

 

[booger]

Very good post. I agree fully. The Tiger isn't long for this world as a species though. We humans will certainly drive them to extinction. As far as these feeble, sick, old people goes.... I say make Jack Kevorian the Surgeon General. He could solve the problem.

 

[Woody Allen]

I am not sure why the fuss over Jack Kevorkian. I would think all the HMO's would be fighting to get him on their plans. he is the ideal doctor as far as an insurance company goes: he makes house calls, one visit and it is done - gauranteed.