Living to 120 and Beyond: Americans’ Views on Aging, Medical Advances and Radical Life Extension

With falling birthrates and rising life expectancies, the U.S. population is rapidly aging. By 2050, according to U.S. Census Bureau projections, one-in-five Americans will be 65 or older, and at least 400,000 will be 100 or older.1 Some futurists think even more radical changes are coming, including medical treatments that could slow, stop or reverse the aging process and allow humans to remain healthy and productive to the age of 120 or more. The possibility that extraordinary life spans could become ordinary life spans no longer seems far-fetched. A recent issue of National Geographic magazine, for example, carried a picture of a baby on its cover with the headline: “This Baby Will Live To Be 120.”

Read it all.

print

Posted in * Culture-Watch, * International News & Commentary, Aging / the Elderly, America/U.S.A., Anthropology, Ethics / Moral Theology, Theology