Is it conceivable that the average life expectancy could reach 100 years?
Are we reaching the limit of our longevity?
Since the 19th century, life expectancy has significantly increased thanks to improvements in medicine and healthcare. However, recent studies suggest that this progress is slowing down. According to research published in Nature Aging, the increase in life expectancy in high-income countries has slowed down in the last three decades. Furthermore, the probability of reaching 100 years old remains low: in the United States, only 3.1% of women and 1.3% of men born in 2019 are expected to reach this age.
Researchers suggest that we have reached the limits of natural mortality. Treating age-related diseases seems to offer limited benefits in terms of longevity. This phenomenon suggests that the biological process of aging remains a significant obstacle.
The perspective of centenarians
Some scientists focus on studying people who reach advanced ages in good health. According to Nir Barzilai, director of the Institute for Aging Research, centenarians not only live longer but do so. His research has identified longevity genes that delay diseases up to 30 years later than in the general population. Barzilai argues that, although there is a “ceiling” of longevity around 115 years, it is possible to extend the healthy life of more people through medications that leverage these genes.
However, increasing that maximum limit would require significant advances in biotechnology, something that may not happen in the short term. The goal, according to Barzilai, should be to ensure that more people live to 90 or 100 years in good health before considering extending life beyond 115 years.
The role of artificial intelligence
Other experts, like Preston Estep, argue that the future of human longevity will depend on the development of more advanced artificial intelligences (AI). Although medical advances have contributed to prolonging life, issues and vaccine hesitancy are counteracting these achievements. Estep suggests that a “superhuman” artificial intelligence would be necessary to overcome current biological barriers.
AI could not only accelerate scientific discoveries but also develop technologies that allow the merging of human biology with non-biological systems. This symbiosis could be the key to extreme longevity and even immortality, although it poses significant ethical and social dilemmas.
