A 100-Year Life

Odds are you will live past 100 years. Are you mentally and financially prepared?

It is easy to ignore the exponential nature of technological and pharmaceutical advances during the last 100 years. We do awe at the fact that we have some magical gadgets that previous generations did not enjoy and newer medicines for some ailments, but it is difficult to grasp the world-changing consequences of the health revolution that kickstarted in the first part of the 20th century and dramatically increased life expectancy over the last 100 years. 

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the global life expectancy at birth in 1920 was only 32 years, while it has now risen to 72 years. This means that on average, people are now living 40 years longer than they were a century ago. The increase in life expectancy has been even more dramatic in some countries. For example, in Japan, life expectancy at birth has increased from 44 years in 1920 to 84 years in 2020. In the US, life expectancy at birth has increased from 54 years in 1920 to 77 years in 2020.

Overall, the increase in life expectancy over the last 100 years is a testament to the success of public health measures, medical advancements, lifestyle changes, and technology. Measures such as better sanitation and hygiene, the widespread availability of vaccines, and the development of antibiotics to treat infectious diseases have helped to reduce mortality from infectious diseases, which were a leading cause of death in the early 20th century. Additionally, the development of new treatments for heart disease and cancer and new medical devices and procedures, such as organ transplants and joint replacements, have helped people to live longer and healthier lives.

But what is mind blowing is that all this success was achieved mostly without supercomputers and quantum computers, without the vast and fast information sharing possible through the internet, and without the existence of Artificial intelligence (AI). Fields such as gene therapy and gene editing have not even begun pulling their own weight in the contribution to longevity. It seems that we are only getting started.

It is in this context that we must realize that the next big jump in life expectancy is right at our door, and it could be massive. And although it will certainly be a good thing for humanity, it will definitely change our whole view of what an individual human life comprises.

In recent decades, we have grown accustomed to what I will call a SWR life: Study, Work, Retire. We even built pension systems around this model with the wrong assumption that the demographic pyramid would always be, well, a pyramid. Retirement age seems to sit around the mid-60s everywhere in the world and trying to increase it apparently is a quick cause for huge social unrest. France is currently facing a complex social situation after a proposal was introduced for a retirement age increase of only two years. Make no mistake. Pension systems are the fairytale of our generation. There are simply not enough workers below us to ever be able to gather that pension, to ever be economically sustained by younger generations.

Apart from the obvious economic issues, increased longevity can lead to a number of social challenges. As people live longer, they are more likely to develop chronic health conditions that require ongoing medical care. This can place a significant burden on healthcare systems, which may struggle to keep up with the demand for services. It will also mean more radical changes to family structures, including the loss of spouses and the need for care from family members. We live in a world that ditches workers over 60 and where old age isolation is fairly common.

So, what are we going to do with all this extra time but not necessarily the extra money?

In my view, we need to reimagine what it means to lead a life of 100 years, in which periods of study, work, caregiving and “retirement” alternate in cycles. As longevity increases, work life will need to be longer as well, but periods of retraining and reskilling will be necessary to continuously adapt to the demands of ever-changing job descriptions. We urgently need to bring elderly people back into the economy and modify our institutions and public policies. We need to revamp our personal finances in order to begin working toward our economic independence from day 1. 

Technological and pharmaceutical breakthroughs expanding longevity will be fast. Much faster than what it takes a society to regroup and reorganize. This will be a huge challenge. We have never dealt with a situation like this in the history of humanity and it will very much put to the test our capabilities to adapt and psychologically endure a new way of living a life. A 100-year life.

Fun fact: According to David Sinclair, director of the Harvard Medical School's Paul F. Glenn Center for Biology of Aging Research, it's very possible that the first person who will live to 150 has already been born.