Re: Woman Deemed World's Oldest Person Dies at 116 in Michigan
There are only two living people now who were born in the 19th century - both of whom were born in 1899. Just two years ago, that number was six. It's likely that there will be nobody born in the 19th century who is still living in a year or two from now. 
I am not sure whether the secret for longevity lies in the genes or in the lifestyle. But you can't say that humans aren't designed to live that long. There are references from 400 or 500 year ago, about people living up to 100 year or more. As the living standards increase, along with the advancement in the medical science, longevity will increase further.
There are some physiological limits. Approximated limit of average lifespan is about 250 years. If we solve genetic issues then there still would be another limitation due to nature of our brain. To be exact, there is no possibility to remember more than 4000-5000 years of living experience. You won't die but you'll forget anything what happened before last 4000-5000 years of your hypothetically unlimited life. And there will be no way to recover these memories.
Where did you get that number from? Even with huge advances in medical technology and a significantly larger population, the maximum lifespan of humans seems to have a hard limit of about 120 years - not 250. The oldest people today aren't significantly older than the oldest people who lived 100, 200, or 300 years ago even though far more people are now reaching old age than previously. Jeanne Calment was the only person to live past 120 years and she was definitely an outlier.
The same pattern can be seen with animals too. For example, there are several dogs that have reached 27-29 years of age, but none so far have reached 30.
A cure for all cancers (ignoring the fact that cancer is a collection of diseases with a myriad of causes far too complex to have a single cure) would increase the average lifespan by approximately 10 years. Curing heart disease would probably increase it by another 10 years. But even with the average lifespan at close to 100, I would still expect the oldest humans living in such a world to be no older than 120 years old.
Surely it's just a genetic lottery win? Humans certainly aren't designed to live that long and people with perfectly respectable lifestyles drop dead in their 50s and 60s every day.
I am not sure whether the secret for longevity lies in the genes or in the lifestyle. But you can't say that humans aren't designed to live that long. There are references from 400 or 500 year ago, about people living up to 100 year or more. As the living standards increase, along with the advancement in the medical science, longevity will increase further.
Where did you get that number from? Even with huge advances in medical technology and a significantly larger population, the maximum lifespan of humans seems to have a hard limit of about 120 years - not 250. The oldest people today aren't significantly older than the oldest people who lived 100, 200, or 300 years ago even though far more people are now reaching old age than previously. Jeanne Calment was the only person to live past 120 years and she was definitely an outlier.
The same pattern can be seen with animals too. For example, there are several dogs that have reached 27-29 years of age, but none so far have reached 30.
A cure for all cancers (ignoring the fact that cancer is a collection of diseases with a myriad of causes far too complex to have a single cure) would increase the average lifespan by approximately 10 years. Curing heart disease would probably increase it by another 10 years. But even with the average lifespan at close to 100, I would still expect the oldest humans living in such a world to be no older than 120 years old.