In the course of just 100 years, human beings have almost doubled their life expectancy…
The Human life span has increased each generation due to advancing medical technology and greater understanding of the human body. In 1900 the average life span was “45 years”, in the year 2000 it was 75 years (an increase of 67%)
With medical technologies advancing at a rapid pace such as organs being created from a person’s own stem cells and the unraveling of the genetic code, the average human lifespan’s may reach 100 by 2050 if it continues along the same trend lines that it has been since 1900.
But, this increasing lifespan graph may rocket upwards due to increased sharing of medical knowledge through the internet.
Will Only the Rich be Able to Afford These Elective Procedures to Increase Lifespan?
If this does happen will 2 social classes emerge?
The cost of healthcare is predicted to almost double in 10 years (from 2008 to 2018). So as we struggle to afford maintenance of our bodies, we have to consider how will extreme long life will cause changes in social dynamics, our economy, and the family unit.
Made to order organs may some day become commonplace. Since the leading cause of death in 2011 is heart disease, killing over 600,000 people per year. What will be the implications if doctors had the ability to grow replacement hearts from a persons own stem cells?
It is without a doubt that this operation would be expensive and no insurance company would be able to afford the costs. This would turn a heart transplant into an elective procedure.
Life extending technology will have far reaching effects in the health insurance industry.
Companies will not be able to pay for replacement organs or procedures that will extend life beyond what is considered “normal lifespan”. Receiving a new organ after a certain age may become a procedure the only richest subset of the population will be able afford them.
Will the gap between the have’s and the have not’s grow in to 2 completely distinct social classes?
Recent Discoveries in Life Extension Science
The field of life extension is still in its infancy, but there have been notable discoveries that make “large lifespan increases” seem possible.
- Extending The Life of Worms by 30% - In 2010 stanford scientists were able to increase the lifespan of roundworms by 1/3. Researchers blocked genes with a process known as RNA interference that affected how certain genes are expressed within a cell. If the human life span were increased by 30%, the average human age would increase to 97 years.
- Gene Mutation Doubles Flies Lifespan – A single gene modified in fruit flies increased lifespan from 37 days to 70 days (The human equivalent to this would be a 75 year increase). Researchers stated that the “gene mutation appears to work by restricting calorie absorption on a cellular level”. This gene was then named the “I’m Not Dead Yet” gene after the famous Monty Python skit. One scientist believed that modification of this gene was another way to achieve the similar life extending effects of caloric restriction.
- Sir2 gene deletion double lifespan in yeast cells – It is a known phenomena that an extra copy of the Sir2 gene can affect the lifespan of species like worms and flies. A researcher named Valter Longo deleted this gene in yeast and was able to increase their life span up to 6 years. He hypothesized that this gene might “block the organism from entering an extreme survival mode characterized by the absence of reproduction, improved DNA repair and increased protection against cell damage”.
Implications of Extreme Life Extension on Social Class
If medical technology reaches a point where life extension technologies are possible – demand will be extraordinarily high. Since “demand” sets the price in a market, the cost of these technologies will most likely be out of reach of ordinary people.
This might create a gap between economic classes that has never been seen before.
Upper classes could afford “life extension” technologies which lower classes might feel entitled to (thinking of it as a basic human right).
- Would the “have-not’s” demand that government intervene and make them available to all people? If so, how would a government pay for skyrocketing medical care?
- Would people with “extreme long life”, switch from being focused on a family unit, to being focused on their own individual survival?
- Would this make people less inclined to reproduce? Due to the high costs of extending life past the normal span.
Whatever the outcome is, extreme life extension will most likely have a disruptive effect on our society. Currently it is impossible to know how a technology like this would affect our us, both positively and negatively.
