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New research reveals longevity gains slowing, life expectancy of 100 unlikely

(lafollette.wisc.edu)
215 points XzetaU8 | 1 comments | 30 Aug 25 16:15 UTC | HN request time: 0.344s | source
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lemoncookiechip ◴[31 Aug 25 13:49 UTC] No.45083139[source]▶
I find it a tough sell to add another 20 years to life expectancy, considering that by the time you reach 70, most people are already in decline (some worse than others), and the drop from 70 to 80 tends to be steep for many. Those who make it past 80 into their 90s or even 100s often aren’t living particularly fulfilling lives, if you can even call it living at that point.

Losing your vision, your hearing, your mobility, and worst of all, your mind, doesn’t sound very appealing to me.

So unless we find a way to both live longer and to decliner slower, I just don't see the point for the majority of people who will unfortunately live lonely worse lives.

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1. jandrewrogers ◴[31 Aug 25 15:06 UTC] No.45083730[source]▶
My own observation is that a lot of decline happens because people stop living and start coasting to the grave, and that can happen decades earlier than 70.

My great-grandfather was physically very active into his 90s, still running his businesses, working in his orchards, and generally being surprisingly productive. He was mentally sharp too; I remember him teaching me about the physics of vacuum energy at length. Seemed like he could go on indefinitely. Then his wife died and he died less than a year later.

I always have him as my model for what I want to be like when I am old. He was still in the game until he wasn’t.