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