According to demographers, the average life expectancy on the planet has increased by 6.2 years since 1990. Most likely, this growth will not only continue, but also accelerate. And after some time, the life span of a person will increase to several hundred years. But such a long life will entail a change in the entire way of life we are used to. The world will be different.
Technology
British gerontologist Aubrey de Gray believes that the first person to live to 150 years old has already been born, and the first person to live to 1,000 years old will be born in the next two decades. And he is probably right in many ways. On the one hand, improving the quality of life, on the other hand, new medical technologies that prevent aging, extend both the life span itself and the period of human activity. Many are afraid of the prospect of a long life, because it is associated with old age. Someone is even ready to leave this world, just not to see their decrepit body. Others, on the contrary, are waiting for the time when people will live for 200-300 years.
It is difficult to say what technologies will allow us to live not just for a long time, but for a very long time. Professor Yuval Harari (Hebrew University of Jerusalem) believes that in the future, people will be able to afford to merge with technology and become cyborgs, thereby being able to live forever. De Gray believes that the aging process is associated with the accumulation of defects and damage in the body. His recipe for long life is preventive geriatrics. Defects and damages must be eliminated before their number exceeds the critical mark. And long before the onset of old age. A division of Alphabet Inc. Calico studies chemical compounds that contribute to the formation of new neurons. It will help treat Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and other diseases in which neurons die in certain areas of the brain. It is not enough just to preserve a healthy body, you also need to preserve the brain.
Yuval Harari
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In the future, life extension will be achieved using a significant amount of technology. Even plastic surgery, which allows you to hide your real age and appear younger than you really is, is to some extent one of these technologies. After all, it is unlikely that in the foreseeable future, scientists will find a way to immediately rejuvenate a person completely. Fitness bracelets and implanted sensors that tell you when to take a pill or see a doctor and thus help prevent disease, artificial organs grown to order to replace worn-out ones are life-extension technologies. Therefore, we will move towards a long life and potential immortality gradually, step by step, mastering more and more new technologies.
One life = many "lives"
We consider it natural that human life goes "from dawn to dusk." Childhood, youth, mature life and old age. Each period has its own purpose. Childhood and youth - for the first knowledge of the world and education. Mature life is spent on parenting and careers. Old age is a well-deserved rest. Life expectancy has increased significantly in recent years. But today, modern man spends more and more time on education and later marries. And developed countries are constantly postponing retirement dates for their citizens. The time frames of the age periods are stretched. But it won't always be that way.
Philosopher and writer Steven Cave, author of the 2012 book Immortality: The Pursuit of Eternal Life and How It Governs Civilization, believes that when life expectancy increases significantly, we will have to move away from the linear sequence that exists today. Education, work and leisure will alternate several times. In one life, a person will be able to change several professions, build a career several times and take a long break several times.
Stephen Cave
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For the first time, a person will have the opportunity to actually live multiple lives. Having comprehended the results of the first cycle (education, work, rest), a person will approach with great comprehension the choice of the next profession and career aspirations.
Work and education
Already, many people change their specialty and field of activity during their lives. Many would be happy to quit their unloved job and, having received a new education, do something else. But if now these are the needs of individual individuals, then in the future, with an increase in life expectancy, a regular change of profession will become a social necessity.
The extension of the working period will lead to the fact that the older generation and the young will compete for jobs. If people retire later and later, young people will be left without work.
Moreover, the elderly will have all the competitive advantages - professional and career experience. At the same time, the medicine of the future will allow
they should be as active as in their youth. Remember the words of the French writer Henri Etienne: "If youth knew, if old age could." Now previously incompatible things will become a reality.
But it will not only be bad for the young. There are entire industries that hold on to fresh ideas. If they do not receive fresh blood, they are at risk of stagnation. In this regard, Professor Yuval Harari proposes to imagine a situation in which your boss is 120 years old, and the ideas by which he is guided appeared at the end of the 19th century. Moreover, in the company where you work, he will stay for another couple of decades.
The famous German theoretical physicist and founder of quantum physics Max Planck once noticed that the progress of science goes from funeral to funeral. The change of generations makes it possible for new progressive ideas and theories to supplant old ones that have outlived their time. Unfortunately, this happens along with people who are carriers of these ideas. Now, when, after a certain period of labor activity, a person will be able to get the opportunity for a long rest, and then get a new education, we seem to be able to get away from this.
New division of duties
In connection with the preservation of the ability to work even in old age, scientists are already asking the question: why should one age group simultaneously work, raise children and support those who are already retired? Besides, all of this does not always work out equally well. Researchers Elke Leuhinger (Vienna Institute for Demography) and James William Vopel (Institute for Demographic Research of the Max Planck Society) believe that in the future, part-time work should become the norm for both young and older people, but retain the ability to work actively. If a person does not devote all day to work, he will be able to devote more time to raising his children and education.
The usual eight-hour workday and five-day workweek for most of us may become a thing of the past. During the day we will devote less time to work and more to other activities.
In addition, some companies are still experimenting with part-time work. At the same time, they often show that an employee manages to do as much in 3–4 hours as in a whole working day.
Urgent marriages and the future of family relationships
The increase in life expectancy cannot but affect the family. If classical marriage is limited to the moment "until death do us part," now this moment is postponed indefinitely. There is less and less confidence that in a world where a profession will be chosen only for a while, where people will constantly change their place of residence, and after the children grow up, parents will still have a lot of vitality, the choice of a spouse will be made for life. Already, an increase in life expectancy is leading to an increase in the number of divorces.
And if so, then, perhaps, everything goes to the fact that in addition to "eternal" marriages will also be concluded - family unions, limited in time. If spouses entering into marriage are now increasingly entering into marriage contracts, suggesting that sooner or later their marriage may be dissolved, then the idea of temporary marriages should find those who are ready to conclude such marriages.
The concept of fixed-term family unions is not new. A marriage that dissolves automatically after the youngest of the spouses reaches 80 years old was described by Jonathan Swift in his novel Gulliver's Travels. But his immortal "struldbrugs" grew decrepit with age and terrified those around them with their appearance and behavior. Medicine of the future will not only prolong life, but also increase active age. Therefore, 80-year-olds will by no means be useless old people.
In the 18th century, the French commander and Marshal of France, Count Moritz of Saxony, proposed to introduce a temporary marriage. True, he was distinguished by very free morals and the time for such ideas did not come then. An English doctor, the founder of sexology, Briton Havelock Ellis was examining the idea of a trial marriage. But in this century, the idea of time-limited marriages is gaining more and more supporters. Not so long ago, the famous Chinese publicist Lu Guoping proposed the establishment of a seven-year marriage license. Legislatively tried to allow temporary marriage in Mexico, but the bill was blocked.
It is quite possible that in the future, many marriages will be concluded only for the period of raising children. As soon as the youngest child reaches a certain age, the marriage will be considered dissolved, and the former spouses will have freedom and the opportunity to start a new family.
Centenary world
In connection with a significant extension of the active life, the structure of the world economy will also change. An increasing number of people will be employed in medicine and industries related to maintaining an active life in old age. Cosmetology, pharmaceuticals, production of artificial organs and implants will take the leading positions.
Services that are already available now, but are quite rare, will become massive. For example, people entering into a second or third marriage and wishing to have children may not always be able to do this. Rejuvenation technologies will not be perfect right away. Surrogacy services, and later the bearing of a fetus in an artificial womb, will become quite common. The emergence of periods of extended rest will lead the tourism of the future into one of the leading sectors of the world economy.
There will also be a change in attitude towards your body. Technologies will allow replacing worn-out organs like spare parts for a car. People will stop being afraid of illness and injury. The attitude towards one's age will also change. People will simply stop feeling it. And perhaps someday, when we reach the final turning point in the fight against aging, an event will occur that can be considered symbolic - the date of birth will no longer be indicated in passports.