Step right up step right up and claim the prize.... one million dollars to the person who can cure aging. Well not quite but that is the basic long term goal of the M-Prize. The goal? Increasing Human Life spans and increasing the vigor of old age. Or put another way, seeking to keep people physically young/healthy as they live longer.
Would a population that lives 150 years on average be a good thing? How about longer? What if as Debrey posits it is possible to render aging moot? What if you no longer had to grow feeble as you aged and could remain youthful and vigorous indefinitely? Not immortality mind you but the end of dying simply because your body wears out.
Can't say I am holding my breath. While average life expectancy has almost doubled in the last century, there has not been a similar increase in the maximum age people have lived. In fact one of the amazing facts of the 20 century in America has been the narrowing of the gap in life expectancy of those who are well off and those who are less fortunate. At the turn of the century the average life expectancy was in the mid 40's while it was well into the 60's for those of means. Today average life expectancy across the board is well into the 70's. Yet even those with the best of care rarely cross the century mark and those that live even longer seem to be largely due to genetic heritage (as opposed to medical care) and a great deal of luck. In case you are wondering the oldest documented life is 122 and the oldest rumored is 250.
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