Imagine tomorrow at your local medical center the doctor asks you, “How long do you want to live? Just give me your desired age of death and I will conveniently make the arrangements.”
This must be make-believe fantasy. Well, not so fast. Consider what the Aubrey DeGrey, SENS Foundation’s chief science officer says about this possibility.
I call it longevity escape velocity — where we have a sufficiently comprehensive panel of therapies to enable us to push back the ill health of old age faster than time is passing. And that way, we buy ourselves enough time to develop more therapies as time goes on.
In other words medical science is moving faster than we are aging.
DeGrey continues.
I’d say we have a 50/50 chance of bringing aging under what I’d call a decisive level of medical control within the next 25 years or so and what I mean by decisive is the same sort of medical control that we have over most infectious disease today.
Wow 50/50! Most of us would take those odds in any wager. But this is no ordinary wager; we’re talking life here and a lot of it. The ramifications to society as we know it are hard to imagine.
Exit questions.
How long would you choose to live?
Would the amount of your retirement savings dictate whether you choose to live or die?
If you are not retired when would you plan to retire assuming this new dynamic?
Perhaps we are on the threshold of these things no longer being an academic discussion.
With the realization that our life expectancy continues to increase there is much to think about. I guess what would cross my mind is my physical state at an older age, am I able to take care of myself or will I need assistance, will I have to work longer to ensure that I have money in my savings so I don’t run out, etc. We don’t know for sure how long any of us will live but I guess to plan ahead and make sure I am not a burden on a loved one or on the government is a goal of mine. I believe we need to be responsible for ourselves all the way to the end. I for one, enjoy my work and see myself actively working for as long as I am able, to continue to save for a later retirement and to ensure I will have enough to live on until I pass.
Thanks your thoughtful comment, you raise very good points.
For sure quality of life and money are 2 big issues that require serious consideration.