Longevity Revolution

For most Indians an average life span of 60-65 yrs is considered a good run, though for healthy Americans it spans at 80-85 yrs. For a Indian with good diet (not considering typical desi food) and active lifestyle we can bump it up to may be 80-85, but anything beyond that is almost like living dead, with most of organs almost finished. Interestingly few people have started to question as to why that should be the case, cant we prolong it as much as we like. Think of a old house or a car, if a part is old we just replace it, that way we can keep extending its life. Though the analogy sounds convincing, in reality lack of complete understanding of a human body is the current limiting factor. I am convinced to a extent we are just a matter of few decades away where in we can opt for how long we choose to live, natures constraint would be thing of the past. Here is interesting video which explores the possibility.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4336018714668472419

In a Utopian society where people can live as long as they like, it rises challenging questions like what on earth would people want to do with some much available time, would we really want such a choice. May be yes may be not.

Venkat Reddy