Lifespans are increasing –聽but we won’t all get to聽enjoy an active old-age Thomas Barwick/Getty
Who聽wants to live forever? Only around 1 in 5 people, according to the聽2018 New Scientist Asks the Public survey.
In the survey, carried out in August by Sapio Research on a representative sample of 2026 UK adults, 21 per cent of people said they would be very聽likely to accept an offer of immortality. A further 30 per cent said聽they would be somewhat likely to聽take up such an offer, but around half of people appear to be reconciled to their own demise.
More from our exclusive survey 鈥 Revealed: What the UK public really thinks about the future of science
The question posed in the survey was 鈥渋f you were offered the chance to live forever, how likely are you to take it?鈥. While this is a hypothetical question, some gerontologists believe that radical life extension聽鈥 if not actual immortality聽鈥 may be available to people who are alive today.
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Even people who are already old may soon benefit from a range of interventions, from drugs to manipulation of their gut microbiota, that can extend their lifespan or at least improve their health in old age, according to a major review published this month in Nature.
Nursing home world
However, the survey found that more people are worried about radical life extension than are optimistic about it. The main concerns people have are overpopulation and a 鈥渘ursing home world鈥 full of geriatrics. Of those who expressed concern about radical life extension, 44 per cent agreed with the statement 鈥淚聽think we should just accept our natural lifespan鈥.
Why wouldn鈥檛 you want to live forever? New Scientist editors debate
Nonetheless, in a separate question, 58 per cent of people agreed with the statement 鈥渓onger life聽expectancies are a good thing鈥. The two are not necessarily incompatible. Over the past 200 years, average human life expectancy has doubled in聽most developed countries due to better diets, public health and education.
These gains are projected to continue, according to Linda Partridge of the Max Planck Institute for Biology of Ageing in Cologne, Germany, lead author of the Nature review.
However, 鈥渉ealthspan鈥澛犫 the number of years lived in relatively good health聽鈥 has not increased as much as lifespan, meaning concerns about radical life extension are probably well-founded.
Will it ever really be possible to live forever?
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