When i'm 164: the New Science of Radical Life Extension, and What Happens If It Succeeds

104 Pages·2013·1.167 MB·English

by  Duncan, David Ewing

Web Viewer http://platform.atavist.com/view/tedbooks/story/115?unpublished
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Web Viewer http://platform.atavist.com/view/tedbooks/story/115?unpublished
Contents
Dedication
An experiment
Prologue: The question
Part I: The science of radical life extension
Darwin’s tortoise
Healthy living, prediction and prevention
Genetics
Regeneration
Machine solutions
Part II: Upsides and downsides of extreme aging
Myths, stories and yearnings
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Web Viewer http://platform.atavist.com/view/tedbooks/story/115?unpublished
Life at 164
Epilogue: Generations
Endnotes
Thanks
About the author
About TED Books
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Dedication
To my great-great-great-grandchildren

When I get older, changing my genes,
Living oh so long,
Will you still be mind-hacking valentines,
Birthday brain-melds, transgenic wine?
If I’d been married 23 times,
Would that bother you?
Will you still need me, will you still feed me
When I’m a hundred-and-sixty-four?
You’ll be older too.
— Adaptation of “When I’m 64,” by John Lennon and Paul McCartney
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Web Viewer http://platform.atavist.com/view/tedbooks/story/115?unpublished
An experiment
This short book is an experiment as a narrative form, falling between a long
article and a traditional book — much as a TEDTalk is longer than brief
remarks, but shorter than the classic hour-long lecture. This length has
many advantages, including the brevity of the read, although it also means
that several topics are dealt with more as summaries than as complete
descriptions or arguments. But no worries; I’m only writing about life,
disease, death, the possible end of death, and the future of humanity, among
other things. For those craving more, I encourage a visit to the “When I’m
164” website, whenim164.com , which contains links and more
information.
This book is based on a TEDx talk I gave in Brussels on November
22, 2011, titled “Will you still need me, will you still feed me, when I’m
164.”
— David Ewing Duncan
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Web Viewer http://platform.atavist.com/view/tedbooks/story/115?unpublished
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Web Viewer http://platform.atavist.com/view/tedbooks/story/115?unpublished
Prologue: The question
When I was a small child, my mother took me to visit my great-great-aunt
Effie. At 102, Effie was hard of hearing and could barely see. But she made
cupcakes with blue and red sparkles for my little brother and me. She was
born in 1862, almost a century before my birth, and I remember being a
little frightened when she leaned in for me to deliver the requisite kiss. Her
cheek felt rough, like sandpaper. She smelled faintly like old socks.
Being 6 years old, I didn’t ask Aunt Effie what life was like at her
advanced age. I certainly didn’t inquire if she wanted to live to be 164,
though if by some miracle she had survived, her 164th birthday would now
be fast approaching. She was old enough to remember the aftermath of the
Civil War. If my kids were in her direct line, they would be her great-great-
great-grandchildren.
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Herbert and Patricia Duncan, the author's parents, with his son
Sander in 2011
A half-century later, I have asked my 81-year-old father if he would like
to live to be 164 years old. In remarkably good shape for a man born in
1931, when Herbert Hoover was president, Dad doesn’t take a single
medication. He still designs buildings part time as an architect. But his
answer was an unequivocal no.
“I’ve had a good life, and if I could stay healthy for another 10 years,
that would be okay,” he said. “But if I died tomorrow, I’d be okay with that,
too.”
“What if you could take a pill that would slow aging, or reverse it,” I
asked, “keeping you young for years or decades longer? Would you want to
live to 164 then?”
“No,” he repeated, again without hesitation. “Even if you slow aging,
you will get old sometime, and I like the idea of growing old gracefully and
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not obsessing about hanging on for a few more years.”
“But don’t you want to live?”
“I literally do not think about this,” he said. “I think this runs in my
family. My mother was like this up until she died.” Grandma passed away at
the age of 86, still busy with charities and her church — and a new husband
three years her senior — when she abruptly died after being healthy most of
her life. “I think worrying about living a long time and fearing death hastens
aging and death,” said my father.
My 80-year-old mother has a very different outlook on aging. She hates
it. “Don’t ever grow old,” she has told me more than once. “It’s no picnic.”
An accomplished and successful artist, photographer and writer, she has no
major medical problems but has had difficulty with digestion and arthritis,
and her hearing isn’t what it used to be. “Every day I get up wanting to
paint, but sometimes I’m just too tired,” she told me. Unlike my dad, my
mom is pissed off that she has less time in life to get things done. As in Dylan
Thomas’ poem, she is a woman raging against the dying of the light:1
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
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