In 2015, then-Treasurer Joe Hockey was ridiculed for suggesting that some children alive right now could live to 150. But experts in anti-ageing – or “life extension science”, as it’s known – support his claim. It’s a fascinating area of science, and one that has obvious implications for all areas of society.
Life extension science doesn’t claim to reverse the ageing process (for that, you need the cosmetics industry!), but to slow it down. That means you live longer, but age better; and the younger you are, the better the results.
The most optimistic experts in this area even suggest that eventually the science will become so good that people could live forever. Their logic is that the science is improving so rapidly that it will outpace the ageing process itself. It’s too late for me in my 50-year-old body to live forever, but possibly not for my 7-year-old niece. But even if she doesn’t live forever, I have no doubt she will live to 100 – and be at least as healthy and active as her 50-year-old uncle today.
It might sound far-fetched to imagine that 100 years from now, it will be normal to live a healthy, active life at the age of 150. But it would have been equally far-fetched for Australians 100 years ago – when the average life expectancy of a baby was about 50 – to imagine that so many people now live to 100.
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This is an extract from my article in Money & Life, the FPA’s magazine for financial advisers in Australia. [READ-NOW ]
