I wouldn't be surprised if in the next 20-50 years with all the genetic engineer going on one could live for ever. Of cause as long as you can afford it.
Whenever I find myself getting wistful about the future portrayed in science fiction, I remind myself that I am better off than all the humans before me since the dawn of our species, and also better off than the vast majority of humans on the planet right now. Future generations may look back at this as a golden age. So enjoy it!
Edit: this inspired me to write an article:
A clock will be constantly visible on your forearm and time will be the only commodity in the world, in which you'll get paid and make payments in.
After the age of 25, you'll get 1 to 75 years of "time" deposited in your account. The clock on your arm will decrement by default as time passes, and increase/decrease as you earn/spend.
When your time expires (the clock reaches zero), you die.
Most people will live day-to-day, only having 24 hours of time in any given moment. Others will have millions of years on their clocks.
Gold is only backed by the agreement of its scarcity; otherwise, it has no value (outside its physical usefulness as a material).
Fiat currency is only backed by the confidence of a nation; otherwise, it has no value.
Time is a currency that's backed by your life.
It is as real as it gets.
The scarcity of Gold on the other hand is very real. Gold is limited and while it is possible to synthesize gold, the cost of doing that is great and does not scale.
Which is why I think the world you mention is impossible: we cannot even stop the piracy of music. Artificial scarcity is not sustainable. Once all the people will be able to live forever, they will live forever. What makes you think these "clocks" will be unbreakable?
And even if the technology will be perfect, do you really want to have on your hands a huge angry mob of people with less than 24 hours to live? Good luck with that ;-)
I envision a world where ...