Well it's not something I know too much about - but a couple of interesting details to mention, that nobody has said yet.
First - what is the maximum lifespan for a human currently?
As you get older, mortaility rate plateaus at around 50% a year for very old people. Which would mean - that just by chance - people might live to be arbitrariily old. But unlikely. Chance of surviving say 10 years at that rate is roughly one in a thousand, for 20 years, one in a million, and 30 years, one in a billion very roughly.
So, given that there are a ten verified women aged over 113, then there's one chance in a billion of reaching 113 if you are a woman, that would make it one chance in about a thousand billion of reaching 123, one chance in a million billion of reaching 133 just by chance. But chance of reaching 200 is almost impossible.
But - other ways of looking at it suggest maximum life span of 125 based on VO2 max. As you get older your ability to take in oxygen goes down, and eventually, apart from the other considerations, will be too low to get enough oxygen to keep the body going.
So - that might suggest there is a maximum lifespan for humans after all in our natural state.
I found this out from the wikipedia entry here + following up to find more.
Maximum life span
That however isn't taking account of artificial machinery or cloned organs. Suppose we have new bioengineered lungs for instance, and new hearts. What then?
Also - what about slowing down aging or even reversing it?
Problem though is, that slowing down aging might have downsides. Increasing the length of telomares can make you more prone to cancer.
So - not really answering the question, I don't know the answer, just a couple of interesting points.
First - what is the maximum lifespan for a human currently?
As you get older, mortaility rate plateaus at around 50% a year for very old people. Which would mean - that just by chance - people might live to be arbitrariily old. But unlikely. Chance of surviving say 10 years at that rate is roughly one in a thousand, for 20 years, one in a million, and 30 years, one in a billion very roughly.
So, given that there are a ten verified women aged over 113, then there's one chance in a billion of reaching 113 if you are a woman, that would make it one chance in about a thousand billion of reaching 123, one chance in a million billion of reaching 133 just by chance. But chance of reaching 200 is almost impossible.
But - other ways of looking at it suggest maximum life span of 125 based on VO2 max. As you get older your ability to take in oxygen goes down, and eventually, apart from the other considerations, will be too low to get enough oxygen to keep the body going.
So - that might suggest there is a maximum lifespan for humans after all in our natural state.
I found this out from the wikipedia entry here + following up to find more.
Maximum life span
That however isn't taking account of artificial machinery or cloned organs. Suppose we have new bioengineered lungs for instance, and new hearts. What then?
Also - what about slowing down aging or even reversing it?
Problem though is, that slowing down aging might have downsides. Increasing the length of telomares can make you more prone to cancer.
So - not really answering the question, I don't know the answer, just a couple of interesting points.
About the Author
Robert Walker
Writer of articles on Mars and Space issues - Software Developer of Tune Smithy, Bounce Metronome etc.Studied at Wolfson College, Oxford
Lives in Isle of Mull
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