Could it do so infinitely? Some researchers believe that there's a limit on how many years a human being could live, the maximum being 125. Others see a world in which we have centenarians walking around with people who have lived for 500 or 1,000 years.
Lifespan refers to the maximum number of years an individual can live, making lifespan unique to everyone. The longest recorded lifespan was Jeanne Calment who lived for 122 years and 5 months, making the maximum possible human lifespan 122 years and 5 months – that is, until someone outlives Calment.
No matter how advanced technology gets, it might be impossible for our bodies to go on forever. Some researchers believe there's a limit on how long it's physically possible to live: perhaps 125 years.
Rapidly advancing technologies such as AI and genetic engineering could soon mean that human beings become immortal – and anyone born after 1970 could live forever. Futurologist Dr Ian Pearson has predicted that by 2050, humans might be able to live forever – outside the confines of the human body.
As a person ages, the telomeres (chromosome ends) tend to become shorter in every consecutive cycle of replication. Also, bones start getting weaker by reducing in size and density. In addition to this when a person starts getting old, muscles become less flexible (results in poor coordination and balance).
The current record for human lifespan is held by Jeanne Calment, who lived to be 122 years and 164 days old. While this is an impressive achievement, it is still far from the 300-year mark. In fact, there is currently no scientific evidence to suggest that it is possible for humans to live for such a long time.
In 7 years, humans might be able to live indefinitely, predicts Ray Kurzweil, a futurist with a track record of accurate predictions. He believes that with the technological advances and expansions, we're witnessing today in genetics, robotics, and nanotechnology; we'll soon have nanobots running through our veins.
Futurist Ray Kurzweil is still making waves years after his initial singularity claims as artificial intelligence continues to progress. With singularity milestones coming, Kurzweil believes immortality is achievable by 2030. Kurzweil's predictions are met with a healthy dose of skepticism.
Finally, the most probable fate of the planet is absorption by the Sun in about 7.5 billion years, after the star has entered the red giant phase and expanded beyond the planet's current orbit.
It is often said that these feelings emerge due to the inculcation of religious beliefs -- that is, the idea of a "soul", or other similar notions, arise from our understanding of what constitutes a religious-based afterlife, whether we believe in it or not -- or from cultural influences such as TV, films or books.
Humans may have a lifespan limit of 150 years
The older you grow, the longer it would take for your body to "bounce back" from this wear and tear, because aging is baked into our cells and DNA. All this means your tissues gradually lose the ability to heal themselves, which can lead to disease and dysfunction.
To date, there's only one species that has been called 'biologically immortal': the jellyfish Turritopsis dohrnii. These small, transparent animals hang out in oceans around the world and can turn back time by reverting to an earlier stage of their life cycle.
More reproduction followed, and more mistakes, the process repeating over billions of generations. Finally, Homo sapiens appeared. But we aren't the end of that story. Evolution won't stop with us, and we might even be evolving faster than ever.
There is much debate among researchers about the mechanisms that contribute to the ageing process. However, it is widely accepted that damage to genetic material, cells and tissues that accumulates with age and cannot be repaired by the body is the cause of the loss of function associated with ageing.
“Based on these studies, one can extrapolate that the maximal human lifespan lies between 120 and 150 years,” Verdin says. However, the longest a person ever lived was 122, suggesting the maximal lifespan is probably closer to 120.
To achieve human biological immortality, we would need to find a way to reverse this aging mechanism built inside our cells. Additionally, even if we manage to control aging, we could still be killed by external causes. For example accidents, catastrophic changes in the environment, and diseases could still be deadly.
Futurist and former Google engineer Ray Kurzweil said that he believes humans will reach immortality by 2045, according to Youtuber Adagio who discussed Kurzweil's theory in a two-part Youtube series.
In 2019, the quest for everlasting life is, largely, though not always, more scientific. Funded by Silicon Valley elites, researchers believe they are closer than ever to tweaking the human body so that we can finally live forever (or quite a bit longer), even as some worry about pseudoscience in the sector.
If immortality became a reality, one of the most immediate consequences would be an exponential increase in the global population. With no natural death, reproduction would become the only means of population growth. Imagine a world where individuals continue to live indefinitely while still bearing children.
A good portion of philosophers believed that the body is mortal and the soul is immortal. Ever since Descartes in the seventeenth century, most philosophers have considered that the soul is identical to the mind, and, whenever a person dies, their mental contents survive in an incorporeal state.
With these nanobots being potentially able to make cellular-level body repairs and foster immunity against aging and disease, Kurzweil considers nanobots the future of medicine. He also thinks that humans may be able to digitally upload their consciousness and reach immortality.
The Social Security Administration's middle-range forecasts indicate that in 2050 e(0) will be 80.0 and 83.4 years for males and females, respectively (table 2). The Census Bureau (CB) forecasts that in 2050 e(0) for males and females will be 80.9 and 85.3 years, respectively.
Scientists still don't know exactly when or how the first humans evolved, but they've identified a few of the oldest ones. One of the earliest known humans is Homo habilis, or “handy man,” who lived about 2.4 million to 1.4 million years ago in Eastern and Southern Africa.
Outside of mythology, the record for the maximum verified lifespan in the modern world is 1221⁄2 years for women (Jeanne Calment) and 116 years for men (Jiroemon Kimura). Some scientists estimate that in case of the most ideal conditions people can live up to 127 years.