Jack Zaleski: Live for 1,000 years? No, thank you
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Posted on Sep 27, 2014 at 11:39 p.m.
Nodding off the other night, I caught a piece of a public radio program that featured a scientist/lecturer/philosopher who said there is someone living on the planet today who will reach the age of 1,000 years old. So ended the nodding off. I was startled to full consciousness. Live a 1,000 years? No way! I mumbled.
Way, he said.
He cited medical research that started in the mid-20th century and has been accelerating ever since. He said advances in genetics-based biology and bioengineering are affecting every aspect of human physiology. The “creation” of replacement tissues and organs is no longer the stuff of science fiction, and hasn’t been in decades. The next revolution, he said, is general application of the new medical science.
It’s no longer just about organ transplantation and knee replacement but rather about molecular manipulations that “create” tissues and organs. It no longer is merely about treating disease and injury with drugs and devices but rather applying a mind-boggling array of therapies that actually re-create the body as it ages or when it suffers trauma.
As I shifted in the recliner to ease the reliable late-night achy tightness in my back, the promise of new body parts sounded good. As I realized I couldn’t see the clock because my glasses had slipped off while I dozed, the prospect of sharp, young eyes again – that might last for hundreds of years – was intoxicating. (Or maybe it was an extra sip or two or three of Bailey’s Irish Crème over cracked ice.)
Still, I could not grasp the notion of living for 1,000 years. Nothing in human experience – other than sci-fi rumination and phantasy – anticipates such longevity. Yet, it’s not that long ago that living 100 years was rare. Today, centenarians are as common as 60-year-olds were in the 1950s.
If the prognosticator on the radio was right, it will be my 8-year-old granddaughters who benefit from a new age in medicine, health and longevity in ways we aging boomers can’t imagine. But then again, our parents could not have fathomed the advances in medicine and pharmaceuticals that have extended lifespans and enhanced the quality of life for their children.
Can you imagine? One thousand years old. I’m not ready for it. Fact is, at my age I’ve about had it up to my gills with a lot of people, and they have had it with me. We’d not want to hang together for 500 years (which would be the new middle age), let alone 1,000.
But, if I could do something permanent for a contrary lower back, the click-pain-click of that left knee, the slight hearing fade in the right ear – well, I’d go for it right now.
Contact Editorial Page Editor Jack Zaleski at jzalesk@forumcomm.com or (701) 241-5521.
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