Happy 150th Birthday!(List) ('100 Plus: How the Coming Age of Longevity Will Change Everything, from Careers and Relationships to Family and Faith') (Brief article)

In her new book 100 Plus: How the Coming Age of Longevity Will Change Everything, From Careers and Relationships to Family and Faith (Basic), Pacific Research Institute senior fellow Sonia Arrison predicts that living more than a century will soon become common--and she's thrilled about it. But to some, the idea of a 150th birthday is nothing to celebrate. reason asked Arrison to address three common fears about radical life extension.

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1 It's unnatural. During the Cro-Magnon era, life expectancy was 18 years. By the time of the European Renaissance, it was 30 years, and by 1850 that number had risen to 43. Today those born in Western societies can expect close to 80 birthdays. Which of those numbers--18, 30, 43, or 80--is natural? What is natural is the human drive for longer life spans.

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