how old?

There is this advertisment for a documentary in Times this week that caught my eye. It says: "It's the year 2035 and you have the ability to live to a 140 years. Would you then be there to celebrate your grandson's 75th birthday." Other than this bold proclaimation, they also have a huge family protrait with the question: "Can a family span 8 generations?"

It is interesting that as we further our probe into science, the one this that has always been right there at the top is the search to lenghten our lifespan. It is also a coincidence that I had a similar conversation with a couple of friends over dinner two days ago. My friend brought up a point about how they managed to stop fruit flies from aging. They actually managed to stop the fruit fly from aging at about 3 weeks old. Therefore making it possible for the fly to live till death at the peak of it's lifespan. And they are trying to do this with people. Imagine yourself growing up till you are thirty, some people inject you with something, and you stop aging. My friend said they claimed tat you would be able to live forever. Of course that's provided you don't do something stupid and kill yourself.

While the first documentary says you'll live till a 140. But really is being that old really going to be that much of a bonus? In a book I just read, Q and A by Vikas Swarup, there is a character who was a Bollywood star. I wrote "was" because it is in the past. This character owns 2 pictures which she places at the head of her bed. One of the photos is of Marilyn Monroe (I hope i spelt it correctly...) and the other I cannot remember, but it is another Bolloywood actress. The reason why this over the hill star idolises these two women in the photographs, is beacuse they died young. They died in their prime when they were still bueatiful. And this is her wish as well, she doesn't want to grow old and died leaving a face of wrinkles in the minds of her fans.

So who wants to grow old? Older than we can possibly get anyways.