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Ask HN: How long do you think you will live?

9 points by etherio 7y ago

There are have been many medical advancements recently and several organizations are trying to push the limits of life expectancy with STEM technology. How old are you and how long do you think you will live (if we exclude the possibility of accidental death) based on these discoveries? What do you think of these subjects and the consequences of the development of this tech?

psv1 7y ago
Long term and on a large scale there are interesting implications - societal changes that come with an older population, retirement age and how people plan their last decades, improved quality of life in your later years, certain treatments and quality of medical care being only available in certain countries or only to people above a certain level of wealth... On a personal level, I'm still in my 20s and it really doesn't matter to me right now if I would live to 70, 90 or 110 - it wouldn't impact any of the decisions that I would make in the next 2 or 10 years.
- etherio 7y ago
  Yeah I agree, it would create a huge amount of conflict and revolt. Wealthier people would have easier access to this tech. That would really mess things up I think.
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
  - ekr 7y ago
    > Wealthier people would have easier access to this tech. That would really mess things up I think. How is that different from today's situation where wealthier people have access to better health care, while millions die from easily treatable or preventable diseases, especially in places such as Africa. Or more simply, wealth is strongly correlated with life expectancy already, and there is a more complex casual link as well. (the daily stressors encountered by lower socioeconomic status people are the hidden cause behind a lot of illnesses).
    - etherio 7y ago
      Yes I totally agree and this reminds me of an article [1] I had read about unequal life expectancy based on race in the USA. Racial groups that are less advantaged economically have a much lower life expectancy [1] https://www.thebalance.com/the-racial-life-expectancy-gap-in-the-u-s-4588898 https://www.thebalance.com/the-racial-life-expectancy-gap-in...
swah 7y ago
Between 80 and 90 would be ok.