What would it be like to live to 175?

[Aurecante]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/4442020.stm

A tortoise reputedly collected from the Galapagos islands by Charles Darwin has turned 175. What if humans lived that long?

Harriet the giant tortoise has celebrated her 175th birthday and is now probably the world's oldest living creature. Her longevity has been put down to lifestyle and genes, and her keepers at Australia Zoo in Queensland say she could reach 200.

"She's not under any pressure, she goes at her own steady pace, doesn't burn up any energy and is loved by everybody," says a zoo spokesman.

[Midnight_Terror]

She'll probably get stolen and made into turtle soup...175 years gone in an instant.

[rockandrose]

As of 2005, Jeanne Louise Calment is the only person to undisputably live to/over 120, on the August 4th of 1997.

Therefore, it is very very unlikely that any human being will live over 120, let alone up to the age of 175.

Why would you want to have a human longevity up to 175? I think you would have to be selfish and greedy to want to live that long.

[Aurecante]

I want to live very old (or be immortal!) simply to watch humanity evolve, and all the goods things science will bring: I'm really curious about the futur, not you?

[rockandrose]

I'm curious of the future all the time, but I don't need or want to live exceptional that long.

I don't believe in immortality, as that concept is mythical.

[blackdragon]

even if humans could live that long..which will never happen...i wouldnt want to live that long...youll be beyond old,miserable,and lay in your bed when you know that none of your relatives are not going to visit you because theyre dead and you get mistreated and neglected....

[mccombk]

I think the answer would lie in the quality of life. I would love to live to a ripe old age, as long as I could enjoy the life I have been given.

-Ra

[MrMaelstrom]

Originally Posted by Aurecante

Harriet the giant tortoise has celebrated her 175th birthday and is now probably the world's oldest living creature.

Mon esprit est troublé, ma chere, because your quote is wrong.

There are a lot of trees that are a lot older (as in 1.000 year old). Hang on, maybe a tree doesn't count as a liveing CREATURE. Hummmmmmm...

As for others, don't think it couldn't happen to us. Life expectancy (in the Western countries) is now about 70. But only 500 years ago, it was more like 40. So anything can happen. Living longer doesn't mean you get extremely britle and fragile, it just means you AGE SLOWER, m'kay?

Meaning that in the future, someone at the age of 100 might look and feel like a 60 year-old by todays' standards.



.

I think many of you feel this way cause you're young. You see a vast future ahead of you. Maybe when you're 75 the idea of having a chance to reach 175 would sound very appealing. I want to live as long as I can. That's all any of us can do. If I had a choice between 75 and 175 you'd better believe I'd take 175 - even if it meant I was in a chair or a bed all the time. I'd still be here - observing the world and learning and growing my mind - all while your selfish "die young corpses" have long rotted to nothing.

[tenet_2012]

In Pineridge South Dakota, USA, the life expectancy is 34. It is the lowest in the nation.

[Aurecante]

Originally Posted by MrMaelstrom

There are a lot of trees that are a lot older (as in 1.000 year old). Hang on, maybe a tree doesn't count as a liveing CREATURE. Hummmmmmm...

Well yes, i was talking about animals, not vegetals.
Trees could live very long but it must be very... frustrating: feeling the world around you without the habilitie to interact. In fact it's a little like watching TV


About immortality, i don't think our body could live very old (maybe 150 years old max) without being fixed. But we can imagine other solution for immortality:
_ download our "spirit" in a robot or a computer.
_ or, the solution i like the more: when you're old, you clone your body and transfert your spirit in the new one.

For the time being, it's Science Fiction, but in 50 or 100 years... who knows?

not in 50 or 100 years - but maybe in 500 or 1000 years...

[psychopixi]

I don't know if I would like to live to be 175. I certainly would hate to be immortal. Immortality, to me, sounds so lonely. No matter how many friends you make, you'll still watch them die; watch as the world fucks itself up more; watch as we (the UK) become the 51st state.

As for living to 175, I could do that provided my body aged well enough that I could still get around, not hobbling, or shuffling at one step per minute. A major factor would be my state of mind though. I'm far -far- more afraid of losing my mind than I am of dying.

Give me a choice between them and I'll pick death by torture over a slow decent into insanity and dementia. The most worrying thing is, what if I -know- it's happening? What if I know, in rare moments of sanity, that the rest of the time I'm so far gone, I may as well be dead, and there's nothing I can do about it?

No thanks, kill me now.

[MrMaelstrom]

Originally Posted by Manimal

not in 50 or 100 years - but maybe in 500 or 1000 years...

I'm not so sure, Manimal.

Consider that the last 100 years saw a leap in technological advances and scientific discoveries that pretty much eclipsed everything except for the XVII th century lambskin condoms (I'm partial, I know).

[ThwanCondu]

I think it's possible. I think even immortality could be possible (through genetic manipulation). We've come so far so quickly, it doesn't make sense that we'd suddenly stop developing just because some peeps can't see beyond the next ten years.

Originally Posted by MrMaelstrom

I'm not so sure, Manimal.

Consider that the last 100 years saw a leap in technological advances and scientific discoveries that pretty much eclipsed everything except for the XVII th century lambskin condoms (I'm partial, I know).

Maybe... Except... that the trick to it all doesn't lie in the technology - at least not solely - it lies within the people. The more Industrialized and "advanced" we become, the more we poison ourselves with substances claiming to be better food and thus lower our life expectancy. Yummy milk, hotdogs, soda pop, big red steaks, hot pockets, the entire "food pyramid" is a farce yet still we consume based on marketing and convenience. Imagine how far we could go with the technology we have if we didn't live in a fast food society. The problem isn't the gadgets - it's the people. And people take a looooooooong time to change as a whole.

[rockandrose]

If you're barely can survive at the age of 75, why would you even want to live any further.

The longer you survive on earth, the more you observe, the more pain you have to witness and encounter.

By living a human longevity up to 175, you are able to see how the world evolves on a more prolonged scale. It would be a painful long life.

I would be grateful to live up 75.

When my Great Aunt turned 100, I asked her what she wanted for her birthday. She said simply "No more birthdays."

She died that year. But her life was full, and it would have been all down hill anyhow. Her quality of life would not have improved and she wouldn't have fun getting more decrepid. She was happy with the time she got and demanded no more. I want to be just like her.

[Bach]

I don't want to live very long, life's to much a bitch for that..
I just hope I'll live long enough to see it all go down.
The polar caps melting, huge tidal waves, fault lines moving around sporadically, society crumbling, the end of the world. ..
There's really no point in the existence of humanity anyway..
So why would anyone even want to live to be a 175 or more...?
I just don't get it..
Anyhow, if I don't get to see it, well, I just want to live my life as I choose to, as I've chosen and simply die whenever my time is up...