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Comment by MichaelRo | Hacker News Reader

After reading a couple of articles on fraud or just sloppy record keeping almost always behind centenarians, now I'm extremely skeptical on claims of people having past 100 years of age.

While there are a few people who seemed to be nearly immortal, as in "being around since forever", like the Queen Of England or recently deceased https://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ion_Iliescu ... they didn't actually push past 100.

With all the care and life standard, seems to be a hard limit in our genes, so until something is done about that, better get realistic expectations.

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My grandfather made it to 98, but holy cow he was frail. The last few years of his life he couldn’t move much. Shuffle walked only a few inches. Drooled on every meal in front of him. I loved my grandfather but watching him in that state, we were all relieved for him when he passed.

He smoked only during WW2, was an army corp of engineers colonel when he retired from the military, came from a dirt farm in Michigan, engineered all kinds of civil and military projects. In the end, he still managed to engineer a smile. He absolutely loved maps/atlases/GIS.

My wife grandmother made it to 102 and when she died (from an infection)it was a surprise as she was still very active and was walking everyday. Genetics and luck play also a big role.

You don't know that. It's just hypothesis.

I knew a woman that had 101 years when she died. She was vital until 99 or so, not even wearing glasses. She had a very hard life, including the fact that both her husband, only son died. So, I guess, luck is out of question for this case.

Its anybodies guess why she was living that long. Genetics for sure do not exist in vacuum and environment may activate or do nothing to your genes. You can also brute force specific genetic dissorders by taking copious amounts of vitamins.

You can be lucky in some areas and not others, when people say this in the context of health they are strictly speaking about health

> I'm extremely skeptical on claims of people having past 100 years of age.

People do live past 100.

Look at a chart of how old people are when they die and you’ll see a consistent distribution with a downward curve. There really are people in the tail of that curve.

There is no hard cutoff in the body that can precisely track time passed over 36,500 days and then shut it all down.

Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother lived to 102, and her date of birth was fully attested.

Many others lived past 100.

Last Civil War veteran: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Woolson another example.

Not only are random people on the internet and a few select media outlets aware of the problem, but governments are also aware. Since the problem is costing governments money, usually in the form of retirement benefits, they have been working to eliminate the problem. In fact some governments have been working reducing and eliminating the problem for decades.

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