What's the Big Idea?

In the first segment of our interview with Sonia Arrison, the policy analyst and futurist explained how, thanks to biotechnology and the coming longevity revolution, the average person may soon celebrate over 150 birthdays. Many Big Thinkers wondered whether lifespan extension is even meaningful unless it is also accompanied by an increase in the quality of life experienced by super-centenarians. Arrison couldn't agree more.


Biology, as Arrison sees it, is an engineering project. "Just like computer programs have ones and zeroes, the human body has a code too. It’s made up of the A, C, T & G of DNA.  And scientists are learning how to reverse engineer that - things like tissue engineering, gene therapy and other types of personalized medicine that are going to allow people to live longer and healthier lives."

She cites the U.S. National Long-Term Care Survey (2006) which finds that "Chronic disability among older Americans has dropped dramatically, and the rate of decline has accelerated during the past two decades," as well as polls and research suggesting that chronic diseases are striking people at later ages than they used to. 



What's the Significance?

It's becoming increasingly clear that a longer life will probably never come in the form of a single pill, like resveratrol. Instead, the "cures" for aging and disease are interrelated. Scientific advancements like gene therapy are already making a marked difference on how we see and understand both. The problem is how long it can take any therapy to go from lab breakthrough to widespread use.

In order for technological achievements to become more than an interesting article you read and forget about - to really benefit society - doctors need to be trained in using the techniques, and regulators need to provide the frameworks for use.

"There are so many advances going on right now in biotechnology that really have a wow factor," says Arrison.  "Like gene therapy to cure cancer and tissue engineering, growing brand new tracheas in the lab, also to cure cancer or to cure damage from infection.  I mean, all these things that are going on and you see them once in the newspaper and you read it and you say, ah, that’s great and then you forget about it.  But if you look around and you take all of those stories and you put them together... you can see a real clear picture of how the future is going to change."

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