Last weeks’ Time Magazine has a series of articles on how science can retard the rate of aging and possibly even halt it completely. Of more significance to me – which was unstated – was what would the social & societal consequences of such a process be? Does this even bode well for humankind in terms of the quality of those additional years? For instance would one then be senile for fifty years instead of ten?

 Main picture: I bet that Bridgette Bardot has many regrets about her life but probably her main misgiving was about getting old and more importantly, looking decrepit.

A Caveat

Just to clarify the situation. If aging were to be cured this does not imply that we would live to eternity. Rather what would occur is that the process of aging would slow thereby extending humankind’s life span. Certain parts of the body such as the tendons and the joints are subject to non-age specific deterioration. Hence they will all probably wear out long before the body is ready to “die.” Many of the causes of death today are not age related either. These fall into the categories of life style related – smoking, drinking, obesity and the like – and injuries sustained in accidents.

Christene Keeler in her heyday

The Recent Notion of Retirement

The whole concept of retirement is a recent innovation. Just over a century ago, people were expected to work until they died. In a society in which 95% of the population lived on the land before mechanisation, all mouths had to contribute with their hands to the tilling of the land or the tending of the flocks & herds.

Christene Keeler at 71 years old

With industrialisation the link before food production and the number of available hands was irreparably severed. This was replaced with work in factories. Even though the direct linkage between work and food production was dissolved, there was still interdependence. Once the worker retired, there was no income and hence starvation was the consequence. With no pension and little if no savings, workers continued working until they died or became incapacitated.

This situation was remedied in Germany by the far-sighted Kaiser Wilhelm in the early 1900’s. His first question to his Finance Minister was what Germany could afford. Based upon this figure they could afford to allow the citizens to be on pension for only two to three years. With the life expectancy being 65 years, the age of 63 years was set as the date at which they would be entitled to a state sponsored superannuation allowance.

Kirstie Alley

Today the reality is that most retirees have insufficient savings for a retirement duration of 30 years let alone 150 years or – heaven forbid – 300 years. Only the most sanguine or most economically illiterate will concede that the current basis of retirement will not have to be drastically rethought. Instead of a set age, it would have to be set as x years from the average life expectancy with x probably being 20 years.

At birth what could one look forward to?

280 years of work and 20 years of retirement!

What a prospect.

Nick Nolte

Work

In a world already suffering from unemployment, where would these jobs be created? Would this not require one to change careers every few decades to prevent boredom?

A skin specialist once told me that he had removed 50 000 moles over his career. One cannot expect such an intelligent person to continue on the same path for another 200 years.

The whole concept of only studying when one is young will have to be rethought. A particular career can no longer be a life-long pursuit but rather an interlude in a series of careers. Instead of universities being places of study for the young, they will places of study for the old transitioning between careers. The funding for both one’s studies and the replacement salary will have to be provided by the government.

Kathleen Turner

Perhaps certain types of jobs will be reserved for the youngsters where drive, determination to etch a career and the ability to handle pressure are still in abundance. Indubitably the majority of jobs will be those catering for the needs of the elderly. Just because aging has been defeated just not mean that people will not suffer debilitating injuries and diseases. Instead of a paralysed person being a burden on society for a maximum of 50 years, it will now be 200 years.

Care-givers, assistants and helpers for the elderly are occupations that cannot be automated. Apart from any other requirement, there will be need for companionship and human interaction. People might get older & wiser but those illnesses and injuries related to lifestyle or wearing out of body parts will continue apace. With increasing lifespan will not necessarily come quality.

Bob Dylan

With societies comprising 90% older people, which is the inverse of today’s third world countries, societies will more conservative and stable. The driving force in the market will no longer be the youngsters, but rather the needs of the oldsters.

The jobs of caring for the aged will then become the duty of the semi-aged or those becoming old. In spite of the wisdom of their age, like now, it will not be tapped. In society, failure is the best teacher in life and so shall it be then. The aged will again not be tapped for their knowledge and wisdom, but employees will continue on the course of experiental learning.

Relationships

Even today, relationships are fraught with obstacles and heartache. This will be an even more pressing concern when relationships last longer. If the truth be told, most marriages are not made in heaven as their partnerships unlike that of Paul and Linda McCartney are not as inseparable soul mates but individuals with their distinct personalities each with their own foibles.

Ozzy Osbourne

Ultimately the majority of couples co-exist rather than being truly understanding of the other party’s wants and needs. This is a human failing which will be exacerbated by extended marriages. Can one expect two people to live together for 200 years? Doesn’t this stunt the development of each? Don’t the couples eventually merely exist as in a close friendship without any intimate contact between one another? The marriage is then sustained more as a platonic friendship rather than as a passionate sexual one.

In most circumstances this situation would suffice for most couples but what happens when one party has an expectation of more something more than a platonic friendship, would the spouse of 200 years allow the other party in some other passionate activity with another party rather than terminate a 200 year old marriage.

Mickey Rourke

An Overview

At first glance the prospect of a lifespan two to three times that of the current norm evokes a positive response but is it truly the idyll, the halcyon future that we envisage?

Perhaps stem cell technology will come to the rescue. If it does not, the current array of body parts that wear out and most crucially, one’s brain, human beings could be consigned to 150 years of crippling medical conditions with diminished mental abilities as an added disability.

This scenario does not bode well for humankind.

Take solace from the fact that if mankind can solve the aging disease, it is highly probable that they can decode the secret to regrowing body parts. 

For now I will be content if medical scientists could discover how I can lose 25kgs of weight and not suffer from hunger pangs!