The Limits of Medical Advances on Lifespan

In 1900, the average US life expectancy was 47 years old. That's the current age of Tom Brady, Ryan Reynolds, and Shakira. But extraordinary advances in medicine and public health have surged lifespans in the US and throughout the world. The average American currently lives to about 79 years old. How long can this progress continue? As we have gotten so much better at allowing people to live to old age, how much progress have we made at confronting this ultimate boss of longevity? Today’s guest is Professor S. Jay Olshansky, from the school of public health at the University of Illinois at Chicago. We talk about progress and stasis in the most important science project in human history: how to increase human life.

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Host: Derek Thompson

Guest: S. Jay Olshansky

Producer: Devon Baroldi

LINKS:

• "Implausibility of radical life extension in humans in the twenty-first century" [link]
• "If Humans Were Built to Last," an illustration of what people would look like if they were optimally designed to live to 100 [link]
• "Child and Infant Mortality," from Our World in Data [link]

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