We live in a society in which choice is overwhelming, whether it is choice of our mode of life, choice of our beliefs, choice of the country in which we live, choice of our profession or choice of our diet. When we look back to the previous centuries, one thing that has obviously changed is our freedom from social pressure, and how this has changed our mindset.
One of these changes is our life expectancy. We are living longer than before, gaining on average one more year in average life expectancy every 4 years. if we have so many choices, why not the choice of living substantially longer, perhaps indefinitely?
Genetics are, of course, one of the key factors in determining our lifespan. Long-lived individuals often had long-lived parents who only suffered from major chronic diseases very late in their lives, if at all.
Caloric restriction – i.e. feeding 30% less calories than in a normal diet – has been shown to increase animal longevity by up to 40%. Research is now conducted on primates to see if the results obtained with rodents can be duplicated. Caloric restriction appears to lower the risk factors of certain grave diseases.
Initial trials have been authorized, based on clinical observation, with metformin, an anti-diabetic medication.
Gene manipulation is also being considered and research on the hypothalamus and its mechanism is also conducted, but both are at an early stage of research.
If any of these techniques were truly able to extend life considerably, say by enabling us to live one thousand years, which would be a few years more than Methuselah, what kind of world would we be living in?
Certainly an overcrowded world, with depleting resources, and for some of them having gone the way of the dinosaurs.
Possibly a world in which sexual maturity might come at a later age – perhaps at 50 years – and in which the average age at which people marry would be close to 100. Couples could divorce dozens of time and remarry again and again.
Society would be so different that it is difficult to fathom what other changes could take place in an age of Methuselahs.