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Monday, February 15, 1999 Published at 15:18 GMT


Talking Point


Would you like to live to 130? Your reaction

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Yes! It would be fun to live a real long life BUT NOT as a dependent on others or on the government but to enjoy a healthy and working life with my girlfriend. Apart from dealing with the increased medical problems related to age, it sound exciting!
Anurag Gupta, The Netherlands

I am fortunate to have lived until 21 years old. Sadly there are literally millions of people in the world today who are not destined to even reach their teens. Instead of trying to increase the life expectancy of some to 130 years we should try and make sure that we increase the life expectancy of those who are unfortunate enough to die young.
Ahmed Usmani, UK

Only if my children could live to be at least 165.
Mike Blankenship, USA

I think life is long enough not to live until 130... I couldn't imagine living that old when I see how difficult it's for some elderly people to live untill 80, with all the difficulties the have to move for example;
Mathieu Rouxhet, Belgium

If we are going to be living to 130, then we need to speed up our space programmes, because we're going to need all the room we can get. The planet can't cope with the amount of people around today, let alone tomorrow. Saying that, I'd like to see how the next hundred years turns out (Hopefully it'll be more productive than the last hundred).
Gaz, UK

I think wanting to live to 130 is very selfish as it limits the resources available to other to live their lives properly.
John MacKenzie, Canada

That much life means loneliness. Please look at the people around who are more than 80 or so.
Gunfer, TÜRKİYE

Since it's close to impossible to be totally active for so many years, I would rather die at 80 and not see the inactive part of me.
Pawan, Nepal

None of our social institutions are geared for humans living till 130. Overall, it seems to me that the sum total of human misery will increase dramatically if a number of people start living up to 130. For instance, today we have retirement at 65 in the West and 58 in India. This would be unfair to people who would have completed only half their life span till that age. However, if the retirement age is revised upwards, the openings in the job market would shrink dramatically. In reality, do we have enough resources on Earth to justify people living up to 130 as a matter of course?
G Krishnamurthy, India

With the new advances in medical technology that will keep us healthy I would love to live another 80 years and find out which Science Fiction authors guessed correctly about the future.
Richard T. Ketchum, USA

I'd love to, providing the ageing process is slowed: I'd hate to be in the physical condition most 75 year olds are now, for another 55 years. The world's changed so much in the 27 years I've been on it that I can't imagine what it'd be like in 2100. I would love to see it, whatever its state.
Simon Hall, UK

I would only like to live to 130 if I was still active, but who knows what imbalances this may have on the world if everyone lived this long.
Marc, UK

The opportunities for mankind in the next 100 years are incredible, and I'd like to be around to see them.
Dave Robinson, UK

Living longer give no assurance of quality life. God controls how long we live and when we start thinking we can become God he will show us our weaknesses.
Nicholas Rice, USA

Yes - as long as I don't feel it or look it.
T J Cassidy, USA

With health I'd like to live 150 years.
Cassiano Falcão, Brazil

But only if I'm still active!
Greg Walker, UK

People are obsessed with longevity. If you lived to 130 there's a good chance you might outlive not only your children but your grandchildren as well - who on earth wants that? The current ageing society is already testing the limits of the welfare state; if people had 50 or 60 year retirements, who is supposed to pay for them? It's quality, not quantity that counts. I'd rather die in my seventies, having had a full and rewarding life, than waste my time being obsessed about living forever.
Steve Hayes, England

Of course I would like to live to be 130. The more years I have on this earth, the more experiences I can have.
Tammy Mosley, USA

I would if I could take the body of an 18 yr old with me! However, the thought of walking at 2mph, having to have things repeated five times and a nurse to wipe my bum for 50 years fills me with horror.
Wendy, UK

Had one asked a 14th century peasant whether they would like to live to 70, they would have scoffed: their father probably died at fifty, old and decrepit. It would seem logical to them that if you were to live to seventy, your condition would be far worse and far more crippled than that of their father. Yet modern medicine, diets and life styles mean that at fifty or sixty, one is no longer considered as old. So why not live to 130, assuming that our quality of life can improve further?
Nicolas Jarraud, UK

Yes, if the quality of life improved. Spending an extra 50 years bedridden or senile does not appeal in the slightest. If we are healthy, then people would need to work longer (maybe to 100, about the same fraction of average life as at present), but this should not result in employment problems as with a greater population there will be more work to be done.
Keith Walker, UK

There are some things in life that as a 20-something I love like dancing, going out, having fun. Are these really going to be socially acceptable for the over 80's?? I can't see myself having the same quality of life when I get close to my century as I do now and I'd look terrible!
Simon Gray, UK

Life gets better as each year passes. I would like at least another 50 years.
Jenny Lewis, Australia

I am as frustrated by the shortness of my life span as I am with the shortness of this text box! I'd love to see more of the dance of life. Maybe I'd see the longer term effects of my interactions with the environment. Maybe I'd understand more of how people get along or fail to get along. Of course it would change our society. But there's no sense in barring that door; we started changing ourselves and our society many years ago.
Charlie J, USA

Living to 130? Yes it sounds good on the surface but one has to analyse it further. What type of life would I be living at age 130? Would I still be able to participate in a substantial number of athletics or would I find myself amongst the old who sit on park benches staring at the sun?
Niki Deveraux, France

It depends on the quality of life.
T Davenne, UK

Yes, why not? To die at 75 or 79 is to die prematurely as a result of poor diet and health habits. That to me is far less "natural" than the extension of life through understanding of how our bodies - and minds - work.
Sally-Ann Russell, UK

The problem is that we won't live healthy - it would be years in a bed watching by the window, waiting for the next operation. Feeling the guilt of being good for nothing. I think that this doctor misses something, the point is not to just extend life, but to upgrade it's quality. My grandma often tell me that she is waiting that for god to come take her. I often think that if she wasn't so Catholic she would commit suicide having tired of this meaningless life; she is 85.
Mathieu Vidal, Canada

"Live long, die suddenly" doesn't seem like a bad idea. In other words, a long HEALTHY life could be satisfying. But a long life in which decline starts in one's fifth decade, as is so often the case nowadays, would be very hard to bear.
Barrie Martindale, Canada

70 or 80 years has to be enough for anybody surely. I'm not being morbid, but why should we not look forward to a good rest at the end? Just enjoy the years we have to the best of our ability - and get on with people! Soapbox mode off!
Martin Jones, UK

Not unless this government introduces a better pension scheme.
Kate Alley, UK

Wishing to live to be 130 is wishing sadness and torture on oneself. Imagine seeing all your friends, family & those around when you were a lad dying. Imagine the state your body will be in, having to have a dedicated GP just because they're not quite sure which of your limbs might break each day. The only advantage of living so long is that I'll get the chance to see Tottenham Hotspur dominate world football.
Steve, UK

Yes. I'd like to live forever - make sure the history books are written truthfully. But only if I can stay about 25.
Stacey, UK

One's body would be so frail, one would probably have to live many years in bed. Another problem is the natural senility that kicks in around 80. Most elderly have a slowed-down intellect even when healthy. I can imagine what it would be like at 100. I don't think the quality of life would be any good at all. And what about a sex life? I can't imagine sitting around playing bridge for 30 years.
Susan Ragan, US

In reply to harsh, God created man in his/her own image. Therefore all that we do and all that we know will come from god is it unethical to make man live forever? Robotic part or real human parts. Does it really matter which. What makes a man a man is not his skin colour sex hair colour but goes on within his soul what makes him want to get up in the morning, what makes him go to work that day. That is the making of a man not the clockwork machinery that is inside of him.
Jack Pocock, UK

I believe much good could come from this. This is a time where more education is necessary. Higher education would be more of an investment. Families would not break down any more than they do now. My great grandmother is 99 years old and her children rally around her. Brothers and sisters who would have separated to raise their own family stay connected.
Otis B, USA

No I wouldn't!! I don't want to eat genetically modified food either, or live in a society where the focus on the future is entirely aimed at helping rich people live longer while letting poor people starve. Can't we invest these resources more wisely, try to end suffering and save our planet rather than trying to play God? Isn't there a single ethical research scientist left?
Fiona, UK

As long as I was as fit as I was at 40 say.
T.Pride, GB

I believe that living to 130 (or beyond) and being in a fit state of mind would be one of the most exciting things to occur. Over the past hundred years the world has seen dramatic changes at an even more dramatic rate which I believe can only continue into the new millennium. Of course it would have to mean a change in the way we live, as all changes mean this, but would it necessarily be for the worse or would it merely show the futility of the fight we rage against each other and as such bring about a better place not only for ourselves but for the future to come.
Henry Charter, UK

Yes I'd like to live forever, but I don't want to get physically old. When I was 18, old age seemed a long way off. Now in I'm in my 40's and past my best, things don't look so rosy or so distant. If I could choose, 30 would be a good physical age to stop at. It's not that death frightens me, but there is so much to do and I just don't want to miss anything.
Geoff Halsey, UK

Given the chance, I'd take it. Especially if I could maintain a reasonable standard of living. But I'm not sure I'd prefer the kind of society I'd be living in: overpopulated, with children a rarity, and limited opportunities (it's a long wait for your boss to retire). The possibilities of biotechnology and intelligent computing strike at the core of what it is to be human. The dreamy musing of dead philosophers takes on immediate and vital importance.
Michael Grazebrook, Germany (but UK citizen)

Yes! Even longer. Maybe by then England can win World Cup. Especially if they are playing against 130 year-old pensioners! Second thoughts, no ... may prolong the misery even longer.
Bill, UK

I think there are good reasons why so far, we only live up to 75 or 79 years. It is typical of these scientists who would prefer to call themselves 'GOD.' In the article, it is stated that there will be "limitless supplies of human organs." Soon there will be no difference between machines and humans, or would humanoids sound more accurate! I believe there should be limits as to what extent science should alter life or all living things in general. I think that mankind (these kind of scientists) will try to push all sorts of boundaries and will bring their own downfall in the process. The word 'ethical' does not exist anymore!
Harsh, UK




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