The age of longevity

Futurist Sonia Arrison's new book 100 Plus: How the Coming Age of Longevity Will Change Everything, from Careers and Relationships to Family and Faith looks interesting. Life expectancy has dramatically increased in the past half century. But how far can it go?

You might want to see this WSJ article by Matt Ridley.  He begins with this: "There is a paradox at the heart of the debate on aging. All the recipes for averting the effects of senescence— the anti-wrinkle oils, the vitamin supplements, the testosterone shots, the strict dieting regimens—are plainly little better than snake oil. And yet something is obviously working: People are living longer and longer, and are getting healthier and healthier in old age. Experts have been predicting for decades that average life expectancy will level out, but it stubbornly keeps rising. Others have predicted a growing burden of ill health among the elderly. Yet old people are healthier than ever, much of their illness compressed into shorter periods at the end of life."

He has this quip: "As somebody said of giving up alcohol: You don't live longer; it just feels like it."