Americans don’t want to live to be 120—even if they could
Despite the rise of transhumanist movements and radical life-extension technologies, public sentiment remains skeptical about living to extreme ages like 120. Most Americans express little desire to pursue such longevity.
Why it matters
This reveals a cultural disconnect between the goals of Silicon Valley futurists and the actual preferences of the general population.
Radical life extension—pushing humans’ maximum age well beyond the natural average—is all the rage. Self-proclaimed futurist Ray Kurzweil wants us to hit the supplements and reset our biochemistry, while theoretical gerontologist Aubrey de Grey says one of us alive today will live 1,000 years thanks to new anti-aging techniques that…
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