Is a 1000 year old human a possibility?
Sun, June 1, 2008 at 2:29 PM 
Can Humans Live to 1,000? Some Experts Claim We Can.
Cambridge University geneticist Aubrey de Grey has famously stated, “The first person to live to be 1,000 years old is certainly alive today …whether they realize it or not, barring accidents and suicide, most people now 40 years or younger can expect to live for centuries.”
Perhaps de Gray is way too optimistic, but plenty of others have joined the search for a virtual fountain of youth. In fact, a growing number of scientists, doctors, geneticists and nanotech experts—many with impeccable academic credentials—are insisting that there is no hard reason why ageing can’t be dramatically slowed or prevented altogether. Not only is it theoretically possible, they argue, but a scientifically achievable goal that can and should be reached in time to benefit those alive today.
“I am working on immortality,” says Michael Rose, a professor of evolutionary biology at the University of California, Irvine, who has achieved breakthrough results extending the lives of fruit flies. “Twenty years ago the idea of postponing aging, let alone reversing it, was weird and off-the-wall. Today there are good reasons for thinking it is fundamentally possible.”
Even the US government finds the field sufficiently promising to fund some of the research. Federal funding for “the biology of ageing”, excluding work on ageing-specific diseases like heart failure and cancer – has been running at about $2.4 billion a year, according to the National Institute of Ageing, part of the National Institutes of Health.
So far, the most intriguing results have been spawned by the genetics labs of bigger universities, where anti-ageing scientists have found ways to extend live spans of a range of organisms—including mammals. But genetic research is not the only field that may hold the key to eternity.
“There are many, many different components of ageing and we are chipping away at all of them,” said Robert Freitas at the Institute for Molecular Manufacturing, a non-profit, nanotech group in Palo Alto, California. “It will take time and, if you put it in terms of the big developments of modern technology, say the telephone, we are still about 10 years off from Alexander Graham Bell shouting to his assistant through that first device. Still, in the near future, say the next two to four decades, the disease of ageing will be cured.”
But not everyone thinks ageing can or should be cured. Some say that humans weren’t meant to live forever, regardless of whether or not we actually can.
“I just don’t think [immortality] is possible,” says Sherwin Nuland, a professor of surgery at the Yale School of Medicine. “Aubrey and the others who talk of greatly extending lifespan are oversimplifying the science and just don’t understand the magnitude of the task. His plan will not succeed. Were it to do so, it would undermine what it means to be human.”
It’s interesting that Nuland first says he doesn’t think it will work but then adds that if it does, it will undermine humanity. So, which is it? Is it impossible, or are the skeptics just hoping it is?
After all, we already have overpopulation, global warming, limited resources and other issues to deal with, so why compound the problem by adding immortality into the mix.
But anti-ageing enthusiasts argue that as our perspectives change and science and technology advance exponentially, new solutions will emerge. Space colonization, for example, along with dramatically improved resource management, could resolve the concerns associated with long life. They reason that if the Universe goes on seemingly forever—much of it presumably unused—why not populate it?
However, anti-ageing crusaders are coming up against an increasingly influential alliance of bioconservatives who want to restrict research seeking to “unnaturally” prolong life. Some of these individuals were influential in persuading President Bush in 2001 to restrict federal funding for embryonic stem cell research. They oppose the idea of life extension and anti-ageing research on ethical, moral and ecological grounds.
Leon Kass, the former head of Bush’s Council on Bioethics, insists that “the finitude of human life is a blessing for every human individual”. Bioethicist Daniel Callahan of the Garrison, New York-based Hastings Centre, agrees: “There is no known social good coming from the conquest of death.”
Maybe they’re right, but then why do we as humans strive so hard to prolong our lives in the first place? Maybe growing old, getting sick and dying is just a natural, inevitable part of the circle of life, and we may as well accept it.
“But it’s not inevitable, that’s the point,” de Grey says. “At the moment, we’re stuck with this awful fatalism that we’re all going to get old and sick and die painful deaths. There are a 100,000 people dying each day from age-related diseases. We can stop this carnage. It’s simply a matter of deciding that’s what we should be doing.”
One wonders what Methuselah would say about all this.
Reader Comments (96)
thanks
thanks
i dont believe in this thing
Thinking abou the possibility to become 1000 years is horrible to my opinion. And I cannot believe that something like that could be possible.
It´s always said that better food can help us living longer. (100-130 years).
thnks
This is a very good thread that i ever seen it before. Nice article. but I believe that no one can live upto 1000 yeas. Not possible it is. Really we are not worthy to live upto 1000 yrs.
Remember - nothing is impossible!
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Well, I believe that a long time ago, it is possible to have 1000-year-old man but now, not possible since there are so many pollutions, poisons and stress. Even if they can invent anti aging drugs, I don't think that would be a great idea.
thnks
I believe according to the Bible, the first humans lived for hundreds of years. :)
I have to wonder what it would be like to live 1000 years. I work in the medical industry full time, and I see the effects of aging first hand. I had the pleasure of taking a 106 year old patient of mine to a MLB baseball game. The poor gentleman passed away about three months later, but only because of a fall down his stairs. This man had excellent mental capacity and was in very good health.
I think that the man who stated 1000 years is possible may be overly optimistic, but this article does make you think.
The picture is amazing..anyone can become like this?
I would really love to live that long but. I guess it's not how long you have lived but it is how you live your life that matters. When I get old I plan to live my life to the fullest and well I might just reside to a place near the creeks, lake or river where I will build my log cabinhome, there I will just enjoy life close to nature.
Well... even if we could attain the miracle of let's say mortality, I think it would a heavily guarded secret. Because if we were all immortals, then the planet would get very crowded. And there would be no real incentive to work hard, etc.
That said - the planet, or should I say our collective society - is UNABLE to sustain the population growth we are already experiencing. It surely won't be able to sustain a human population that doesn't expire and only increases it's numbers.
The thought gives me the creeps.
If we did not die, just think what we would have. The greatest minds working on new and better things. Instead of a generation dieing off and us losing their talent, we will continue to add to that knowledge and as a race we would be able to conquer anything. Keeping our most brilliant people alive would push us into a new era.
If religion wants to think it immoral go ahead, do not taint yourselves with the treatment. However those of great curiosity and those with a great worth to the human race should be allowed to continue, in the name of science and for the betterment of humanity.
If we lived for hundreds of years just think we would be able to talk to the founding fathers of this great nation, Einstein, and many more iconic names that define American Culture. I am American and assume too much, sorry. But still there have been many great leaders around the world and many great persons; who if were alive today would greatly enhance our culture, science, and technology.
I say do it. We need to think about the human race, and its future. Naysayers will always exist, and we should not worry about those who cannot see the greatness we can achieve and only think about themselves and not for the greater good.
Living in the moment, with less stress, with more time to enjoy life, would propell us into an era of great peace.