Do you think the average life span will increase ?

[GreatLakes]

I think the potential will increase and the outliers will be older but we can't sustain humans living much longer. The planet can old hold so many people and as the current people live longer it puts pressure on the system.

While medical science will certainly cure things that kill and expand potential the strain on the food supply, increasing less clean water, new diseases that resist medication, and climate change will balance that out.

 

[Hikergirl]

Yes I do. But I honestly don't want to live until I'm or whatever. I think 75 is good enough.

Wow, my FIL is about to turn 76. He still works and travels and enjoys life especially his grand kids.


I think on average it will decline but slowly for now. Then a little in the future it will go up again, slowly. I'm guessing it isn't going to change significantly in one direction or another unless there are amazing breakthroughs in cancer, stroke and cardiac research.

 

[ronandannette]

I think the potential will increase and the outliers will be older but we can't sustain humans living much longer. The planet can old hold so many people and as the current people live longer it puts pressure on the system.

While medical science will certainly cure things that kill and expand potential the strain on the food supply, increasing less clean water, new diseases that resist medication, and climate change will balance that out.

Food scarcity is an issue of geo-politics, inequality, mis-management, corruption, oppression and corporate greed - not the ecosphere's potential to produce enough for it's inhabitants. Desalination of sea water would support 1000x the current population if there was the will to do so.

 

[disneychrista]

Wow, my FIL is about to turn 76. He still works and travels and enjoys life especially his grand kids.

Exactly. I don't want to live past being able to work and enjoy my life.

 

[Cubbiecakes]

No. Between too many people on the planet, coupled with increasing polution, dwindling resources, resurgence of diseases that were once contained, and the massive proliferation and breeding of fact-resistant humans these past 30-40 years, average life expectancy will continue to decline.

Besides, we’ve only got a few decades or less before our antibiotics will no longer be effective, and once that happens we’ll start seeing people die very early from inconsequential wounds.

 

[GreatLakes]

Food scarcity is an issue of geo-politics, inequality, mis-management, corruption, oppression and corporate greed - not the ecosphere's potential to produce enough for it's inhabitants. Desalination of sea water would support 1000x the current population if there was the will to do so.

We can only grow so much food without using chemicals which, in turn, polite the water. The Earth does not have the ability to support unlimited growth.

 

[Hikergirl]

Exactly. I don't want to live past being able to work and enjoy my life.

Ok, so I guess you assume that at 75 you won't be able to do those things. Sad thought, you never know what the future holds.

 

[disneychrista]

Sad thought, you never know what the future holds.

That actually works both ways. At 75 I could be perfectly healthy, happy and living a great life. OR I could be in poor health, unable to do things I enjoy. One never knows.

 

[a1tinkfans]

Yes I do. But I honestly don't want to live until I'm 100 or whatever. I think 75 is good enough.

Are u in ur teens lol?
My dad is about to be 86, he can likely run us all to the ground. Just back from a cruise, headed to an island next month. Perhaps it’s the 68 year old gf, lol.
Seriously tho.. he worked smart, has always been weight conscious and despite what I call crazy eating... it’s worked for him. His mom lived to 99.
My mom on the other hand, passed at 68, massive heart attack post triple bypass 10 years earlier. Overweight, hypertension and then diabetic. Very sad BUT she had an Amazing life before that .. they traveled extensively and they both raised 4 Amazing siblings for me.
Anyhoo... I’m agreeing with others.. and Quality Of Life far Exceeds length of life..
RIP mom

 

[disneychrista]

Are u in ur teens lol?

HAHAHA...not quite.

 

[Hikergirl]

That actually works both ways. At 75 I could be perfectly healthy, happy and living a great life. OR I could be in poor health, unable to do things I enjoy. One never knows.

I know that's why putting an age that is "good enough" seems strange IMO. Especially an age where many people are still doing those things.
Seems you could have just said I don't want to live past an age where I couldn't work, travel, have fun and enjoy life, whatever age that may be.

 

[disneychrista]

I know that's why putting an age that is "good enough" seems strange IMO. Especially an age where many people are still doing those things.
Seems you could have just said I don't want to live past an age where I couldn't work, travel, have fun and enjoy life, whatever age that may be.

I guess...but how I feel right now, the idea of living another 25 years seems like long enough.

 

[Hikergirl]

I guess...but how I feel right now, the idea of living another 25 years seems like long enough.

If you aren't joking, I hope your days get better

 

[Dan Murphy]

What are we now 75

At my now current 74, I sure hope so.

 

[disneychrista]

If you aren't joking, I hope your days get better

Thanks. Just going through a bit of a rough patch. It'll get better, it has to.

 

[Happyinwonerland]

I think we'll see older people living longer, but you have to survive youth to get there, and the young people dying are going to bring down the average.

The number of people my age (and I'm not that young- in my 30's) and younger that I see dying of addiction and lifestyle related illness is staggering. Not just overdoses, but the myriad of other awful conditions that drug and alcohol abuse can cause. Obesity, vaping, and "selfie goals" are also big conributing factors.

But, if you manage to take care of yourself and avoid all of that, I think most of us can expect to live longer, healthier lives than prior generations.

 

[SirDuff]

Lifespan in US? North America? High Income Countries? The world? Different answers depending on what you mean.

 

[GreatLakes]

I heard a great discussion once about living longer once that stuck with me. The gist was that you should imagine you life as a graph. The X axis represents your age while the Y represents your health. Instead of concentrating on elongating the horizontal line you would worry about maximizing the area under that line which means slowing the descent. The very end should fall off of a cliff, not round out like the Unit Fixed Cost line of a total cost graph.

That put what I believe into a simple description and mental picture.

I think we'll see older people living longer, but you have to survive youth to get there, and the young people dying are going to bring down the average.

The number of people my age (and I'm not that young- in my 30's) and younger that I see dying of addiction and lifestyle related illness is staggering. Not just overdoses, but the myriad of other awful conditions that drug and alcohol abuse can cause. Obesity, vaping, and "selfie goals" are also big conributing factors.

But, if you manage to take care of yourself and avoid all of that, I think most of us can expect to live longer, healthier lives than prior generations.

That is a big part of it too. No amount of pharmaceuticals will undo bad living for the first part of your life.

 

[tvguy]

My mom was an RN, working in hospitals from 1945 to 1985 before retiring. She said the major advances in neonatal care amazed her. The number of newborns who survived birth defects or other health issues at birth increased sharply in her career. But she pointed out, that those birth defects or other health issues could catch up with them later in life in their 30's, 40's and 50's with fatal consequences. Seems in recent days and weeks I am reading more and more about people having heart attacks at a younger age (Miss Teen Universe just died at age 19 from a heart attack) or strokes (Luke Perry at 52).

 

[kimblebee]

Yes I do. But I honestly don't want to live until I'm 100 or whatever. I think 75 is good enough.

Ok, so I guess you assume that at 75 you won't be able to do those things. Sad thought, you never know what the future holds.

Are u in ur teens lol?
My dad is about to be 86, he can likely run us all to the ground. Just back from a cruise, headed to an island next month. Perhaps it’s the 68 year old gf, lol.
Seriously tho.. he worked smart, has always been weight conscious and despite what I call crazy eating... it’s worked for him. His mom lived to 99.
My mom on the other hand, passed at 68, massive heart attack post triple bypass 10 years earlier. Overweight, hypertension and then diabetic. Very sad BUT she had an Amazing life before that .. they traveled extensively and they both raised 4 Amazing siblings for me.
Anyhoo... I’m agreeing with others.. and Quality Of Life far Exceeds length of life..
RIP mom

I know that's why putting an age that is "good enough" seems strange IMO. Especially an age where many people are still doing those things.
Seems you could have just said I don't want to live past an age where I couldn't work, travel, have fun and enjoy life, whatever age that may be.

I always say if I make it to 80, that’s good enough. As a person with a chronic disease that will never improve, I don’t want to live life for another 50 years like this.