I’ve recently been telling people that it’s my goal to live ‘til I’m 150. Imagine the coincidence that Scott Adams expressed living to a similar date. Hence, a reminder to write something.
I was mainly inspired by some of Ray Kurzweil’s writing which can essentially be summed up by saying that technology increases exponentially and it’s impossible for us to conceive what’s going to be around in 20 years.
Case in point: I don’t think the step from a 8MHz Mac Plus in 1986 with 1MB of RAM no hard drive, and a 9 inch black and white monitor to a dual-core 2.16 GHz iMac with 1GB of RAM and a 24 inch colour monitor was exactly anticipated. Well, Moore’s law would have predicted it (doubling every 2 years is an order of magnitude increase in 20), but looking back 20 years gives a better perspective — we’ve come a long way.
So anyway, living to 150 gives me heaps of time. What on earth am I going to do with it? I guess to start I need to make sure that my lifestyle is actually conducive to living so long. And, well, I pretty much have no clue. I’ve started exercising some, which my physio friend assures me (if I keep it up) is a big win when I get to about 50 and my body starts deteriorating.
Eating well is what bothers me. I must eat relatively well compared to some, but I still wonder. Do vitamin pills do anything, or are they passed through the body as placebos? How do I know if I get the optimal combination of proteins and whatever? Is a vegan diet with supplements better than a moderated omnivorous diet? How much attention should I spend on organic food?
Et cetera. So I’m really hanging out for the day that we can have sensors living in various parts of our bodies informing us of these sorts of things.
* BeepBeep * You need more potassium. Eat a banana.
Or whatever. I’m also waiting for built-in heart monitors and GPS receivers, which have moderate uses for tracking exercise, but most importantly EEG sensors that let you know the optimal times at which to nap (and whatever else they’ll be able to tell us).
I figure with enough optimism, there’s not too much we won’t be able to achieve before I’m dead. People express surprise that I want to live so long. I don’t really understand that. What’s the rush?