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A recent report by the Mayo Clinic argues that due to advances in life-extending technologies that fail to make the world better for the majority of the world’s population, the first person who will suffer through 150 years of life has likely already been born.
“We’re at the forefront of major developments that won’t make people happier or more comfortable but will help them live longer,” said head researcher Donald Northrop, a sad, old man himself. “There’s someone alive today who will be struggling to make ends meet well into the 22nd century. The world could be completely transformed by then, although obviously it will still not be set up in a way to promote general welfare."
He added that given climate change and impending resource scarcities, the world this person will live to see will probably be worse.
The report went on to note that the person who will break longevity records is probably a little girl already struggling within a society that holds her to unreasonable and contradictory standards, because women tend to live longer than men.
“We’re talking a 50 to 70 percent increase in suffering here,” said co-author Tori Vasquez, noting that she fully believed that science was close to making sure people could be unhappy for much longer than is currently possible. “And the level of suffering is going to go up for a lot of those years. This person is going to live longer, but that doesn’t mean her body is going to stop aging. Her mind and body will fail at the same rate as today, leaving her wishing that she was dead long before she actually passes away.”
The report predicted that this person would be able work harder and longer before spending an unprecedented 60 or 70 years in a nursing home, feeling like a burden to whatever friends and family she has left, and being kept alive by exciting new machines.
The report promised that any medical advances would be rolled out in a way that allows access to the upper class years before they are made available to those who cannot afford them.
