Scientists say that soon there will be a "thousand-year-old man"
Last reviewed: 16.10.2021
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Scientists believe that a man has already been born who is destined to live more than 150 years. In addition, in the coming time there will be a "thousand-year-old man."
The first person who will live to his 150th birthday has already been born, says gerontologist Aubrey de Gray. Even more incredible is that the first person who will live for 1000 years, will be born in the next two decades.
Leading scientist, studying the phenomenon of longevity, argues that even during his lifetime, doctors will have all the tools necessary to "cure" aging. It will be done, he believes, by curing all illnesses and prolonging life indefinitely. By the way, recently doctors already reported that the elixir of eternal life was invented. The British specialist already "sees" the time when people will go to the doctor for "regular support" in the form of gene therapy, stem cell therapy and stimulation of the immune system, as well as a number of other advanced medical technologies. Dr. De Gray describes aging as a lifelong accumulation of various types of molecular and cellular damage throughout the body.
The aging process, Dr. De Gray describes how lifelong accumulation of different types of molecular and cellular damage is throughout the body, and the body of an elderly person compares to a used car. "The idea is to involve people in the process of preventive geriatrics, in which worn out cells will be repaired before molecular and cellular damage exceeds the critical level and goes into the pathogenic phase," the scientist explains.
The extent to which it will be possible to prolong the life of a person remains a matter of scientific discussion. Undoubtedly one: every year the average life expectancy of people increases on average by three months - these are the statistics. According to experts' estimates, by the year 2030 the number of people celebrating the centennial may have exceeded one million. However, skeptics warn that this figure can seriously be undermined by the epidemic of obesity, which in recent years has splashed out from rich countries into developing countries.
It should be noted that in the scientific community, De Gray's ideas found many critics. Some opponents even accused scientists from SENS of practicing pseudoscience. However, none of the critics could prove the inconsistency of the new gerontological theory, although the authoritative scientific journal "Technological Review" back in 2005 offered for this award of $ 20 thousand.
Many people are afraid of the prospect of living for hundreds of years, since old age is traditionally associated with physical infirmity and a variety of witches. However, the scientific supervisor of SENS says that such a sad existence has nothing to do with the future that his research team offers to humanity. "It's not about prolonging the existence of a seriously ill, dying organism, but about preventing the onset and development of any disease caused by aging," explains De Gray.
Cell damage caused by aging, the gerontologist divides into seven basic categories, for which appropriate methods are developed. While for some categories medicine has not yet come up with ways to "guarantee repair", with others it has almost reached its goal.
One of such successful methods is the rejuvenating treatment with stem cells. Clinical trials, including those on humans, have proven that stem cell injections are capable of restoring cellular tissues that have lost the ability to automatically renew. Successfully used to treat people with spinal cord injuries, this technique has a good chance to prove itself when restoring damaged brain and heart diseases. This is especially important if we recall that cardiovascular diseases are today the main "age killers".
Dr. De Gray does not dare to make accurate predictions about how long people can live in the future and how soon this future will come. However, every discovery in medical science brings us closer to a new era, the scientist is sure. According to his estimates, the first person able to live a thousand years, will be born within 20 years after the birth of an individual who can step beyond the 150-year mark. And when this time comes, the most common cause of death will no longer be illness and old age, but accidents, against which medicine, alas, is powerless.
"I call this the acceleration of running longevity - when we acquire an increasingly wide therapeutic tool for curing diseases much faster than the time comes to grow old," De Gray said, "so we buy ourselves enough time to develop even more progressive therapies There can be no limit to life limited by the date of birth, the whole point is to provide maintenance indefinitely. "
So far, the officially recorded world record of life expectancy is 122 years. As for the future, in which the world's population consists entirely of long-livers, many experts paint it not in rainbow colors. If science achieves a sharp increase in life expectancy, this can lead to serious social changes, experts at the Institute of Healthy Aging at the University College of London believe. The population of the Earth will consist mainly of old people, its numbers will increase, the gap between rich and poor will increase, and people will have to artificially control the birth rate and increasingly resort to euthanasia.