mechanisms, but in terms of what there is still to be learned and in terms of any intervention we are only at the beginning. The number of scientists working on ageing is tiny compared, for example, to those working on cancer. Extending life expectancy is one of humanity’s greatest successes, as we have doubled it over the last two hundred years, and for the first 150 of those years it was done by preventing people dying young by getting rid of infections and advances in general sanitation, vaccines and so on. Until about 25 years ago that was thought to be the end of the story. But it is a great surprise that the increase in life expectancy has not slowed one jot as people are getting old in better shape, and there is a decline in death rate in older people. After all this success, should we now be tampering with the ageing process itself?
This raises challenging questions. In my view it is perfectly OK to use science to increase lifespan provided the emphasis is on the quality of the years gained. Is immortality possible? At a theoretical level, yes. When I had, some years ago just finished my book on ageing,
What did he feel about his own ageing?
I think ageing is a challenging process—I am just coming up to 60 so not yet much affected. I enjoy being alive so I want to become older and I enjoy talking with older people. One has to accept reduction in mobility. Many young people do not want the problems of old age, but when they reach that age they may enjoy a very full and active life. Most people including scientists still think that we are programmed to age, although the evidence is totally against it—it is part of the need to see a purpose.
8. Extending
‘Every Man desires to live long; but no Man would be old’
How long can we, and should we, live? How to live for ever has been a compelling subject for a very long time. One of the earliest legends about immortality, and also one of the earliest written stories, is that of Gilgamesh, the Babylonian demigod, from around 2000 BC. When he aged and began to fear death, Gilgamesh was told that he could survive forever if only he could show that he could master sleep by not sleeping for seven days and nights. But try as he might, he failed to do this. The gods then told him that he could find a plant underwater that, if he ate it, would make him alone immortal. Gilgamesh found the plant, but was enjoying swimming so much that he left the plant on the shore while he continued swimming. A snake came along and ate the plant. The lesson to be learned was that ageing was unavoidable.
The legends of the Greeks are filled with the adventures of the immortal gods and humans who seek immortality through their deeds, or through the acts of the gods. But there was also a more realistic attitude. The Greek philosopher Democritus criticised people for yearning for a long life, and argued that if they developed the right attitude to ageing and death they could live more peacefully. The Roman Lucretius thought it absurd not to recognise that a long life was insignificant compared to how long one remains dead. He also argued that death was essential to keep the population down.
The ancients were all too aware of the dangers of immortality if the effects of ageing were ignored. This is illustrated by the story of Tithonus in Greek mythology, a story we should keep in mind when trying to extend life. Tithonus was the lover of the goddess of dawn, Aurora, and so good at what he did for her that she went to her father, the god of gods, Zeus, and asked if Tithonus could have eternal life. Zeus, being a doting father, immediately granted Tithonus immortality. The problem was that Aurora had failed to also ask for him to have eternal youth. With time the ageing process took its toll, and when Tithonus reached a hundred he had mild cognitive impairment and went around Aurora’s castle babbling incessantly:
But when loathsome old age pressed full upon him, and he could not move nor lift his limbs, this seemed to her in her heart the best counsel: she laid him in a room and put to the shining doors. There he babbles endlessly, and no more has strength at all, such as once he had in his supple limbs.
Aurora no longer loved him, and one day she turned him into a grasshopper, a cicada. Some claim that when today we hear the chirping of cicadas, it is just a group of old men babbling incessantly.
Judaism and Christianity had very strong views about long life. The Bible is against immortality; Psalm 90, verse 10, sets the human lifespan at threescore and ten, though the possibility of 120 years is given in Genesis. When Adam and Eve had eaten fruit from the tree of knowledge, God said, ‘See! The man has become like one of us, knowing what is good and what is bad! Therefore, he must not be allowed to put out his hand to take fruit from the tree of life also, and thus eat of it and live forever.’ God banished them from the Garden of Eden and stationed the cherubim and the fiery revolving sword to guard the way to the tree of life.
Old age could be the reward for a moral life and an indication of God’s favour. ‘Follow the whole instruction the Lord your God has commanded you, so that you may live, prosper, and have a long life in the land you will possess.’ ‘Ye shall harken diligently unto my commandments that your days may be multiplied, and that of your children,’ says God in Deuteronomy. And in Proverbs: ‘The fear of the Lord prolongeth days: but the years of the wicked shall be shortened.’
There are, nevertheless, claims in the Bible for very very long lives: Adam lives for 930, Noah 950 and Methuselah 969 years. Methuselah was a Hebrew patriarch and the grandfather of Noah; not much is known about him other than his extraordinary lifespan. There is also a figure from medieval Christian folklore whose legend began to spread in Europe in the thirteenth century, the case of Ahasverus, a Jewish cobbler, who told Christ to move on when he was carrying his cross and needed help. Christ told him that he would move on, but condemned Ahasverus to wander the earth and for his clothes to remain intact till Christ returned. And every 10 years he would be rejuvenated. There were reports that this Wandering Jew had been identified in 1252 at the Abbey of St Albans, and then again in Hamburg in 1642.
Many Indian fables and tales concern the ability to jump into another body—performed by advanced Yogis in order to live a longer life. There are also entire Hindu sects, the Naths and the Aghoras, devoted to the attainment of physical immortality by various methods. Long before modern science made such speculation unreasonable, people wishing to escape death turned to the supernatural world for answers. Examples include Chinese Taoists and the medieval alchemists and their search for the Philosopher’s Stone.
Denial of ageing can be very common, and longevity myths have been around for as long as humanity. Many of these legends involve places where people are reputed to live long. While it is true that people in certain cultures do not suffer many chronic illnesses while ageing, the lifespans of people in these places are hard to verify. As the
There were claims that Thomas Parr was the oldest man who ever lived, surviving till 152 years. He was said to have been born in 1483 near Shrewsbury. He did not marry until he was 80 years old and had two children, a son and a daughter, both of whom died in infancy. He attributed his long life to his vegetarian diet and moral temperance, although when he was around a hundred years old he allegedly had an affair, and a child born out of wedlock. As news of his age spread, ‘Old Parr’ became a national celebrity and was painted by Rubens and Van Dyke. In 1635 he was brought to London to meet Charles I. In London he was treated as a spectacle, but the change in food and environment apparently caused his death. Charles I arranged for him to be buried in
