I think I read some where that in the next fifty years, we can expect an average life expectancy of 125 years old.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

I can live 50 years from now.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

I have to disagree. Not with the post, but with the idea of our life expectancy rate becoming higher. I know there are some 70 and 80 year olds out there who get around just fine (my grandparents are some of them) but for the most part it seems as though living past 70 is just pain and suffering for some. I really don't see the point in trying to raise the life expectancy rate we currently have.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

its not about having a "point" in raising life expectancy, its about medicine becoming more and more advanced. with the ecological crisis and the rising population (1 billion people every ~12 years) earth will go to shit by 2050 anyway.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

I agree.. But, I also think the life expentancy rate will possibly decrease because of the poor food choices most people have been incorparating in their diet.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Living that long is not a good thing at all...

by Anonymous 12 years ago

People probably said that about living past forty too.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

It's not the specific age that is a bad thing, it's the state of being old, especially with retirement. With medical technology being what it is, there are too many old people living and not benefiting society in any way, and voting selfishly. And not enough young people to take care of them, because for some reason, nobody wants to die. People need to figure out that death is not shameful. It's the only thing that's fair in life. Besides, there will be no more oil in a good 60 - 80 years, possibly less depending on the population. And once where is no more oil, society won't function very well, if at all, for a very long time. So if that happens, then the life expectancy will not get to that point.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

The life expectancy was 40 because of the high infant mortality rates. There weren't all kinds of middle-aged people just dropping dead. If one made it past childhood, they normally lived decently long lives. It's called "average life expectancy" for a reason. Some people lived to be really old, but a lot of people died before they were 5, so it evens out.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

No... they don't include infant deaths in average life expectancy. Sure, some people lived to be 70 or 80, but they were mostly the elite who could afford to feed and shelter themselves and didn't have to work 12 hours a day in the fields. The vast majority of the population lived very difficult lives riddled with plague and famine and generally died by age 50.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

I'm just going off of what my European History professor told me about how they calculated average lifespans.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

the way medicine is going, in 500 years people will be shocked when someone dies

by Anonymous 12 years ago

It's difficult to keep the brain from aging or deteriorating because it's not like we can just go grab a new one. So even if medicine cures every disease, and physical problem, eventually you're body just gives out because it's been running for so long. Also we'd need to de-age the older ages. In 80's 90's most people are pretty skeletal and even with exercise it's hard to keep in shape when you're body has been running for longer than it was intended for.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

With medicine these days we are more focused on cure than on prevention. 100 odd years ago things like aids and cancer didn't really exist and it's probably because of diet, lifestyle, weather etc. and I can't see those things changing anytime soon. I reckon we will increase the average life expectancy but only from being so reliant on medicine.

by Anonymous 12 years ago