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wasoxygen  ·  3722 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Future Human Evolution

    Last suggests life expectancy could increase to 120 as early as 2050
I can't find the number "120" in the source paper; perhaps that was an embellishment. But that age was reached by Madame Calment, so it is plausible that improvements in health and safety could make such an age more attainable to the masses.

I was surprised to hear someone suggest that a baby girl born to affluent American parents today has a 50-50 chance of celebrating her 100th birthday. The idea was that today's life expectancy figure, in the 80's, is calculated by combining the mortality rates observed at all ages from all causes. But of course today's baby will not be driving today's cars when she is 20, nor will she rely on today's medicine if she falls ill at age 50. Almost every factor relevant to longevity has been improving, and it is reasonable to hope that this positive trend will continue.