Would you like to live forever?
That may not be possible yet.
But what if I told you
your body could technically last
for 150 years?
The oldest person who's ever lived
was a French woman, Jeanne Calment.
She passed at the age
of 122 years and 164 days.
That’s way more than the global average
life expectancy of 72.6 years.
And even that is optimistic
for men living in central Africa,
whose life expectancy is 51 years.
So what’s the secret to living a long life?
One recent study put it simply.
We need to remove the usual stressors
related to aging,
such as diseases and accidents.
And we need to figure out ways
to replace body parts,
faulty organs and tissues,
just like we do with our cars.
OK, let’s say we already have that covered,
and everyone can live for 150 years.
Now what?
We’d have some significant issues
to figure out.
The most pressing would be food.
With people living longer,
we could expect population growth
and more mouths to feed in a world
that already faces a food gap.
The most obvious solution
would be to reduce food waste.
About 25% of food produced
goes uneaten.
We could also think about
other ways of farming,
such as city gardens or urban rooftops.
These would come in handy,
especially if we consider that
our food production is not sustainable.
It contributes about 30%
of greenhouse gas emissions
and takes up to 40% of our land.
And we’d need some of that land
to make room for the growing population.
We might also need to consider
a plant-based diet.
That’s because beef
is more resource-intensive to produce
and requires 20 times more land
than plant-based products.
It’s also inflammatory,
which can work against our plans
to live longer.
But you wouldn’t need
to go full-on vegan.
Fish, seafood and eggs
provide some important nutrients
So you would have to include those
in your diet.
You’d also need to add in
a few years of work.
That way, everyone would contribute
to the economy,
increase tax revenue for pensions
and keep a sense of purpose.
Believe it or not,
working for a few more years
may have its benefits.
With more people needing work,
the workweek could be four days.
Or the workday may be shorter.
And a longer work life
would allow you to make
more career changes to stay fulfilled.
Do you know what else
you’d likely be switching a lot?
Romantic partners.
On average, a marriage lasts seven years.
If everyone lived for 150 years,
it might be more reasonable
to have multiple marriages
than stick with the same person
for 120 years.
On the other hand,
you'd probably have fewer children,
and they'd come later in life.
The oldest woman to give birth
was 73 years old.
This might be the new age
for women to have their kids
if we live for 150 years.
Animals that live longer
tend to have fewer offspring,
so that may end up being the case with us.
If we think about
the size of the population,
having fewer children might also
make more sense in the long term.
Living for 150 years
might seem far-fetched.
But it’ll likely be a reality soon.
If we make the changes needed
to have resources available for everyone,
it could be pretty cool.
Imagine how many times
you could reinvent yourself?
And all the things you could see
and experience with so many years of life?
Maybe you'd even live long enough
to see the age of human space travel.
But that's a story for another WHAT IF.