Can you imagine a world without old age? A world without more people suffering from the damage of advanced age.
If it has never occurred to you, you might be interested to know that doctors have actually thought about it. Over the years, several studies on the topic have popped up here and there around the world.
We proceed with the study of senolytic drugs, medicines intended to combat the effects of aging – both on internal organs and on the skin.
Among the most interesting researches in the field, we cannot fail to mention the study of Oisin Biotechnologies, which is patenting a method to eliminate senescent cells by intervening at the DNA level.
The idea of gene therapy also crossed the mind of George Church, the director of the company rejuvenate. Their long-term goal is to reverse aging within the next 20 years.
But what would life really be like without old age? What would happen if doctors were able to find a definitive solution? Let's try to hypothesize the situation together, based on the numbers currently available to us.
A world without old age: is it possible?
The doctors' idea is to significantly extend the average lifespan by intervening on the cells responsible for aging.
The process of "regeneration" of these cells should be repeated after every few years, leading the body to recover and continue to live peacefully.
Death would only occur from secondary causes, or from diseases not directly related to old age.
Currently, the number of deaths per year is around 60 million. Approximately 60% of these deaths are linked to the advanced age of the patients, which is affected by different types of degenerative diseases.
30% of deaths are instead caused by global poverty, while the remaining 10% is divided between deaths from accidents, diseases not related to age or poverty, and deaths due to violence (wars, conflicts, etc. ).
As it is easy to guess, old age is the main cause of deaths all over the world, and fighting it would bring about a real demographic revolution.
Up to what age could we live?
Most countries aim to solve poverty-related problems within sixty years (hypothetically in 2080). If that were the case, the number of deaths would fall again and again.
Anyone rescued from old age treatment could survive for at least 250 years. One would come to live two lives, while maintaining a young and healthy appearance.
In most cases, death would occur due to an accident or problems external to the care of age.
With the development of medicine and nanotechnology, doctors could intervene promptly when needed, and the lifespan would only lengthen further.
It is practically impossible to hope that people will be able to survive beyond 500, even 1000 years. Our body is not biologically capable of reaching similar levels, and would end up self-destructing anyway.
How far can we go? As long as it is right to continue fighting to allow man to survive again and again.
Is there really anything we can do to fight the nothingness beyond life? Extreme theories like the mind uploading they make us think that yes, maybe there really is something we can do.
We will stand by and see, waiting for the future to present itself in front of our surprised eyes.
