I’m old enough to say I cannot think of myself not being alive,
Give ancient religious origins credit for backing me up in feeling this way.
Religion’s power derives from the teaching that there is no death and that we live forever.
Religion tells us we will be renewed physically, that our aches and pains will go away.
Many people have taken this to heart and work to extend their lives as much as is humanly possible.
Did you know the average female in Monaco lives to be 93.6 years old?
93.6 years old, the average!
Why do these Monacan women live so long?
Is it their health care system that makes this possible? The weather? Their wealth? Diet? Culture? Race? Beliefs? Exercise habits?
Research shows that Monaco (located on the French Riviera in the south of France) has certain things going for it which might contribute to longevity. For one, it has a very successful national health care system, among the best in the world. The weather in the south of France is mild, and Monaco is the wealthiest nation in the world per capita. A lot of wine is consumed which contains resveratrol, a component in the skin of grapes that some studies indicate might add to longevity.
So if we possess the things that Monacan women have, can we hope to live as long as they do? Maybe. It certainly won’t hurt. (Honestly, we don’t know if these cause longevity or are merely correlated with longevity).
But, I’m not so sure that’s the fulfillment of religion’s promise of eternal life. At the most, Monacan women live maybe five to ten to fifteen years more than the rest of us.
Are there other things going on right now that may prove more promising?
Yes.
Science has always been inspired by the idea of discovering ways life can be significantly extended. Right now it is on the verge of eye popping breakthroughs.
One is the super rapid advancement of genetic engineering. A tool has been developed that invades the nucleus of a cell and snips out sequences of DNA that hold viruses like cancer and replaces them with healthy RNA (DNA’s twin). The tool is called CRISPER CAS 9. It has been successfully tested in human cells.
Eliminating these viruses will permit us to live longer than the females of Monaco, much longer; much, much longer!
As evolution teaches us: life selects the best, adapts and continues on. With the new age of gene editing emerging, we are witnessing the evolution and advancement of humans’ longevity before our very eyes.
In 1,000 years will there be 1,000 year old humans?
Probably yes. By this time we will have cleaned out all kinds of genetic mutations that lead to life threatening diseases including heart disease, Alzheimer’s, etc. Also, the human body will have been renewed with all types of synthetic body parts like; bone, muscle, tissue, heart, kidney, etc.
Will you and I be around in 1,000 thousand years? For me I’m taking it one step at a time. Five years ago, with the advances in colonoscopies, pre-cancerous polyps were removed from my colon, which probably put five to ten years onto my lifespan. And I’m certain that sometime in the future they may do some gene editing on me. And of course, I’ll keep putting lots of resveratrol into my diet.
I’m going to do everything in my power to help religion keep its promise of eternal life.
After all, I can’t think of myself not being alive.