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Ideal Human Lifespan
As I grow older I ponder what would I like to have as a lifespan. I am now 65 and there is much more past in my life than future. I am not asking abou humanity in general but asking about individual lifespans. After much thought I would like to live for one to ten galactic years. A galactic year is the time it takes the solar system to revolve about the galactic center one complete revolution. That period is estimated to be 225 to 250 million years. A lifespan of that duration would give an individual scope for significant periods of human history. A lifespan of ten galactic years would be approximately 2.5 billion years. I would indeed like to live so long to see our huaman history work itself out. What do you think? Aug 16 14 08:14 pm Link Around 50 years should be good enough for me. I'm about 2/3 of the way there.  Aug 16 14 09:05 pm Link I think you are way overselling our species and how long it will take to "play out" Most mammal species last a bit more than 2 million years on average. If you figure that Homo Erectus dates back to about 1.9 million years - we're pretty much on the twilight side of the simple numbers. We show a pretty good ability to wreck and ruin our one existing world - so, while I'm sure that life on earth will go on until the sun plays out - I really doubt that we've got much of a future on it. Baring some sort of "Star Trek" sort of miracle and warp drive ships - we might have a few thousand years until we suck the earth dry - maybe only a few hundred more. (VintageVista - finding dark clouds in silver linings since 1962,) Aug 16 14 09:14 pm Link I think its extremely individual, based on overall quality of life. My grandparents barely made it into their 70s, they were very ill for many many years. Growing up, I thought once you hit 50 you were basically done for. 50-60 was "old" and by 70 you were basically dead. My husbands parents are in better shape than we are. I have to almost run to keep up with my MIL. In comparison, my parents are around the same age and they're almost frail to me, and my mothers already got a myriad of health issues. Age means nothing if you're ill/havent taken care of yourself when you could. I hope that I can be more like my in-laws than my bio parents. If I'm well then I'd like to live quite a long life, if Im not well I dont want to drag my life out miserably just for the sake of saying I made it to some arbitrary age. for the secondish part of the question…I dont really want to experience life that far ahead of the next 100 years…Im not positive we're headed in positive directions. If I KNEW the future would be fantastic, then sure, but I dont know so Id rather not chance it. Aug 16 14 09:44 pm Link I have curiosity about the future beyond my lifespan. Aug 16 14 11:28 pm Link I think the Logans Run lifespan is about right Aug 16 14 11:56 pm Link Looking at the rate of lifespan growth and the increase in technology over the past 100 years kids born today are likely to be very very old when they die if they are born in the west. Their kids may literally never die. That has massive implications for your society. Personally if I make 80 and can still walk and think then i'll be well happy. Aug 17 14 05:49 am Link For many years I maintained that I would be satisfied to reach 75 with no health issues and then go out with few regrets and many happy memories. Now that I'm nearing 60, I'm tempted to revise that number to 80...  Aug 17 14 06:50 am Link Long enough to have lived and no more. A life lived and not just lived a life. Aug 17 14 07:08 am Link A long lifespan on both sides of my family is considered to be about 75. To me, that is not long, and I hope to live well into my 80s, or possibly early 90s. At the same time, genetically, it's very likely that cancer will take me out in twenty more years, no matter how well I care for myself. My grandfather died from cancer at 43. All my mother's biological siblings (except for her) are cancer survivors. Almost all the women in my mom's family have had to have full hysterectomies - again, except for my mother. On my dad's side, it's been heart attacks mostly. My dad has been on cholesterol medicine since he was maybe in his 40s (too young to deal with that kind of mess). I'm kind of genetically screwed. Aug 17 14 07:14 am Link I'd say by 15 is a good time to stop. You've enjoyed childhood, but nothing can prepare you for the pain and isolation of adulthood. Better to just give up. Aug 17 14 07:39 am Link It's all about health, physical and mental I have an 80 year old uncle who just flew to Hamburg to pick up a Mini Cooper and then drove it back to Worcestershire without thinking twice about it. My father is 82 and will think nothing about getting into an old car and driving it down to the southern tip of Portugal. He has five hernias, too. Not so sure about the galactic life-span. Imagine you had 250 million years to live and got hit by a bus when you were 60. Aug 17 14 07:56 am Link I intend to live forever. So far, so good. Aug 17 14 09:28 am Link 1 Aug 17 14 09:35 am Link Brooklyn Bridge Images wrote: Unless you're Peter Ustinov... Aug 17 14 01:43 pm Link Schlake wrote: Dear God, childhood was the absolute worst. Aug 17 14 02:48 pm Link It really is the ultimate in "relative". I think I'd like to observe things for the period of time you suggest, but who knows how long I'd keep that opinion? I once took a course in geriatric diagnosis, the much younger fellow next to me asked the teacher, "who would want to live to be 80 anyway?" Then I whispered to him, "I'd like to ask your opinion when you're 79." He genuinely hadn't thought about it in those terms. Aug 17 14 02:49 pm Link JadeDRed wrote: I am so sorry to read this. Aug 17 14 02:51 pm Link Gabby57 wrote: Sounds like you lived as a real child, wish I could have had a normal kids life. Aug 17 14 04:31 pm Link I hope my lifespan is a few months shorter than my brain's. I don't want to outlive my mind. Aug 17 14 04:45 pm Link If you haven't already, I suggest reading "Time Enough for Love" by Robert Heinlein. It deals with some of the issues of a man who has lived 2,500 years. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_Enough_for_Love Aug 17 14 04:51 pm Link Jim Ball wrote: Great story. Aug 17 14 06:49 pm Link Its about quality, not quantity. Sadly ive not been doing well in quality lately. Aug 17 14 06:58 pm Link Jim Ball wrote: Lazarus Long.... I think that is the name. I read those Heinlein stories long ago. Aug 17 14 07:26 pm Link Robb Mann wrote: Sorry to hear that Aug 17 14 10:40 pm Link |
heres wishing you for better.