Living to 100 years of age and beyond used to be a concept reserved for the lucky few with good genetics and science fiction writers’ imaginations. But according to Sonia Arrison, Jason Hartman’s guest on episode #50 of The Longevity & Biohacking Show, the reality of life expectancy shooting well past the century mark will be upon us sooner than most people realize. As a distinguished longevity researcher, Arrison has written a fascinating book, 100 Plus – The Coming Age of Longevity.

The Big Picture

Deciphering the human genome has made a huge impact in increasing our health and lifespan. Since the 1950’s, the science of longevity has grown into the engineering phase, bringing us closer to regenerative medicine, growing organs and tissue in labs, and even ushered in battlefield injury solutions like spray on skin. With new technologies evolving more rapidly now than at any time in the past, we may soon see ourselves extending our current lifespan by five or even ten years or longer. While some say it may strain the earth’s natural resources, others contend longer, healthier lives may boost innovation and, with it, the economy.

Are We Entering the Age of the Immortals?

According to Arrison, the question of whether we are primed to experience a leap forward in life expectancy is not a matter of if, but rather when. For each person walking the planet today, the irresistible question becomes, “Will it happen for me? Or will I have the misfortune to be part of the last generation before immortality?”

But even if humanity never achieves literal immortality, it only takes a glance back through history to see that we’re headed in the right direction. From the brutal circumstances prehistoric man, who could only expect to live 18 years, it took several thousand years to push that number up to 43, where it was in 1850, and it has since doubled in the less than 200 years since then.  

Life Expectancy – Focusing on What Kills Us and When

One of the interesting concepts Allison described is how scientists in pursuit of creating longer lives for everyone have switched their focus from reducing the things that kill us early in life (like infant mortality) to things that kill us at the end of life – diseases like cancer, stroke, etc. This change became evident about halfway through the 20th century and continues full speed ahead.

Health Expectancy is the Goal

While we use the phrase life expectancy to express the idea of humans living ever longer, what we’re really looking for is health expectancy as well. After all, where’s the real benefit in living an additional 20 years if you’re just going to do it taking up space in a nursing home? Arrison says the goal is to be able to extend quality of life also, allowing people to stay vibrant and engaged well past what many today see as retirement age.

How Technology Made Biology an Inclusive Science

There’s no doubt than the recent strides in life expectancy research have come about thanks to the idea that modern biology has become an engineering project that solicits contributions from a variety of fields, and is no longer only of interest to biologists.

The project to map the human genome, referred to as the “blueprint for humanity” by President Bill Clinton in the 1990s, was completed at extraordinary cost in the year 2000. Thanks to that incredibly diverse team of cross-disciplinary specialists, any individual today can have their personal DNA breakdown done in the lab for about $1,000. It would have cost millions just a decade ago. While the full impact of this achievement has yet to be felt on a widespread basis, it’s coming.

Tissue Engineering

For those who don’t stay abreast of breaking science stories, it’s been close to two decades since a scientist walked into a laboratory and concocted a brand new bladder – grew it, actually – from a patient’s stem cells, then successfully implanted this working new bladder. This isn’t science fiction, folks. It’s happening now. The bladder creator first created a mold, shaped exactly like a human bladder, and slathered it with bladder stem cells cultivated from a patient with a failing bladder. These stem cells knew exactly what they were supposed to do and went to work.

Another company has recently taken the next step and devised a plan to create a working bladder by feeding stem cells into a 3D printer. To date they have been successful in printing out working blood vessels. Entire organs aren’t far behind. All of these technological developments will continue the exponential race to increasing life expectancy.

Changing Family Relationships

Can you imagine a future where eight, nine, or maybe even 10 generations of a family are alive and well at the same time? It could happen. We all might have to get used to the idea of more diverse and dynamic families strung across many multiples of generations. Already the idea of childbearing has been extended. While doctors used to caution a woman about attempting to get pregnant after 40 (the time when most women no longer produce eggs), now women in their 60s and 70s can, with donated eggs, successfully give birth to a healthy baby. Talk about a change in family dynamics. And you can bet that the ability to extend the life of a woman’s own eggs well past 40 won’t be far behind.

Want to Know More? Buy the Book

For those interested in learning Arrison’s conclusions about how a radically longer life expectancy will affect the world’s societies in terms of economics and environmental books, visit her website at www.soniaarrison.com(Image: Flickr | Lord Jim)

More from Jason Hartman:

Meditating with MUSE, the Brain Sensing Headband

Is Chris Dancy the Most Connected Man in the World?

The Longevity Show Team

The Longevity Project