Maximum human lifespan could far exceed 115 years – new research | Hacker News Reader

Maximum human lifespan could far exceed 115 years – new research

theguardian.com

26 pointskafkaesq4 comments

Only 3 men have ever lived past their 115th birthday in recorded history.

It certainly feels like there's some sort of a hard biological cap. Otherwise you'd think there'd at least be the occasional outlier due to statistical chance. Mortality increases extremely quickly from age 90 to 110.

The most likely culprit, IMO is the anti-cancer function of the immune system. You take cell damage at a relatively predictable rate (at least, on the low end), and once enough damaged cells have been destroyed by the immune system you start to run out in vital areas.

tl;dr

  Prof Jim Vaupel, a specialist in ageing 
  at the Max Planck Institute for Demographic 
  Research in Germany [is outraged at the idea 
  that statistics might be used to infer clues
  regarding commonplace realities about the 
  natural world as it exists, based on typical
  observations of everyday circumstance.]

It's irrational to get angry at the use of statistical figures as a utility, in order to gauge the appropriate manner of approach to natural barriers emergent in phenomena found in the wild.

Just because we come across a rocky outcropping, doesn't mean it can't be climbed, just as much as it may mean it can't be easily climbed.

This looks like a hard problem, which very likely means that if one gets "old" before it starts to look like an easy problem, it may come true that one might be rendered unrescuable or pass away altogether before life-extending therapies can improve a person's life span.

http://biblehub.com/genesis/6-3.htm

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