The BBC has a speculative article by Cambridge geneticist Dr. Aubrey de Grey claiming that human life spans can be extended to 1,000 years. According to Dr. Grey,
Ageing is a physical phenomenon happening to our bodies, so at some point in the future, as medicine becomes more and more powerful, we will inevitably be able to address ageing just as effectively as we address many diseases today.
I claim that we are close to that point because of the SENS (Strategies for Engineered Negligible Senescence) project to prevent and cure ageing.
. . .
So, will this happen in time for some people alive today? Probably. Since these therapies repair accumulated damage, they are applicable to people in middle age or older who have a fair amount of that damage.
I think the first person to live to 1,000 might be 60 already.
De Grey is the chairman and CEO of The Methuselah Foundation which seeks to implement his SENS approach in mice first and offers the Methuselah Prize(s) — an X Prize-style reward for researchers involved in aging research in mice.
It offers the Longevity Prize, for researchers who produce mice that live longer (the prize is based on how much longer the new mice live compared to the old record), and the Rejuvenation Prize for successful reversal of the effects of aging in mice who have passed their mean life expectancy.
In other words, forget building a better mousetrap and focus on building a better mouse.
Of course even 1,000 years is not nearly enough, but it would be a nice start.
Source:
‘We will be able to live to 1,000’. The BBC, Dr. Aubrey de Grey, December 3, 2004.