How long do you want to live?

"Oh, a hundred at least" is probably your answer. 110 maybe. For ever? Why not? With modern advances in genetic science, almost anything is possible, if not for us, then for our children and grandchildren. Someone born today stands a 1 in 4 chance of living to 100, whereas for people born before 1939 the odds were 1 in 30,000.
When I qualified in medicine in 1974 the average life expectancy at age 100 was one week. Today that figure has increased to nearly five months. To me that says it all about the incredible transformation in life expectancy we have seen in the last thirty years. So maybe you will indeed get your wish.


But let me return to my opening question: how long do you want to live? A friend recently had a pop at me for continuing to smoke. When we talked about it again she confessed it was because she wanted me to live to 90, like my sainted mum, who achieved that magnificent age only yesterday. It's a lovely sentiment and I appreciated it. But then the conversation turned to a survey I came across recently asking people how badly they wanted to live to a great age. Interestingly, doctors asked the question were noticeably less enthusiastic about  the idea than all other social or professional groups, and this is, I believe, because doctors are regularly confronted by the messy end of life's journey and perhaps understandably do not relish undergoing the process themselves.


When we are young, our bodies fizz with vigour and life force. We almost seem invincible. But as age ensues we are less able to withstand the second law of thermodynamics, which states that all systems proceed to a state of increased entropy. Hence unweeded gardens go to seed, untended buildings crumble and collapse, even mountains will gradually erode flat in time. And bodies? their joints seize up, their arteries clog, their brains (like my mum's, bless her) turn to mush and their immune systems no longer have the energy to seek out cancer cells before they form tumours. That's where we're going and it ain't a pretty prospect. So I'm in that camp of people who don't really care about living to 100; not if it means all that horrible entropy. Sure I'd like to live to a vast age and retain all my faculties, then fade painlessly away in my sleep. And what are odds of that? Less than 1 in a hundred, unfortunately. Bugger!