X-Message-Number: 2793
Newsgroups: sci.cryonics
From:   (Marvin Minsky)
Subject: Help: Need data on longevity
Message-ID: <>
References: <> <>
Date: Thu, 2 Jun 1994 17:09:51 GMT

I'm writing an article about immortality, and one argument is that we
can't get it by simply curing all "diseases".  This is because there
are other processes that limit lifespan, e.g., accumulation of errors
that eventually make cells not work well, or become cancerous.  

Anyway, what I need is a rough sketch of the longevity distribution in
older times and now.  Just enough to illustrate that the maximum
life-span has not increased significantly, but still drops off vary
fast in the 100-120 year age group.  The illo would show that the mean
age has pushed up toward that range, but that there's little sign of
any increase near the end of that range.

I think I've seen such a graph, but I don't know where.  This is for
Scientific American, so I don't want to do about what I usually do in
informal lectures, namely just make up illustrative data.

Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=2793