LONGEVITY ESCAPE VELOCITY
At some point in the near future, each additional year that you live will increase your life expectancy by more than one year.
Longevity Escape Velocity (LEV) is a term used to describe a hypothetical situation in which life expectancyis being extended longer than the time that is passing.For example, in a given year in which LEV would be maintained, technological advances would increase life expectancy by more than the year that just passed.
Life expectancy increases slightly every year as treatment strategies and technologies improve.At present, more than one year of research is required for each additional year of expected life. LEV occurs when this ratio reverses, so that life expectancy increases faster than one year per one year of research, as long as that rate of technological advance is sustainable.
LEV was first publicly proposed by David Gobel, cofounder of the Methuselah Foundation (MF). The idea has been championed by biogerontologist Aubrey deGray (the other cofounder of the MF) and by, Singularity University cofounder, Google AI Director and noted futurist Ray Kurzweil.Gobel and deGray claim that by focusing scientific and medical research on expanding the limits of aging, rather than continuing along at its current pace, more lives will be saved in the future.
Kurzweil uses the term LEV to describe that
point in time which, once reached, will define
the ability for science to indefinitely prolong life. According to Kurzweil, we’re ten to twelve years away from reaching that point.
DeGray claims that, “the first person who will live to one thousand is alive today.” These are incredible predictions coming from some very credible sources.
One of the consequences of LEV is that retirement, as a social and economic construct, goes away. This can be good or bad depending on what you’re doing during these additional years. If you have the option of continuing to create and receive value (wherever and whenever you want) for doing what you truly love, it’s a good thing. If not, then it might be a less welcome development.As individuals, it will mean that many of us who are older will need to start thinking about what we will do for our third or fourth acts and how we can best leverage our knowledge.
The Social Security Act of 1935 set the retirement age at sixty-five. That’s because life expectancy in 1935 was sixty-five. Expect to see a change, both in how we think about retirement and the age at which we retire. These changes will impact our lives on many levels. It will affect our work, retirement, financial planning, even our relationships.
What might you do differently if you knew you were likely to live to two hundred or three hundred years old?
