Physical immortality is seductive. The ancient Hindus sought it; the Greek physician Galen from the 2nd Century A.D. and the Arabic philosopher/physician Avicenna from the 11th Century A.D. believed in it. S. Jay Olshansky Read Quote
People pushing the idea that everyone can live to be 100 are perpetuating a myth that goes all the way back to the Bible. S. Jay Olshansky Read Quote
In Genesis 6:3, it says man can live to be 120, but there is no scientific basis for it. S. Jay Olshansky Read Quote
Growing new limbs, copying internal organs like a Xerox machine, exponential increases in computing power, better eyes and ears – I could read stories like this endlessly. S. Jay Olshansky Read Quote
Older people may have always existed throughout history, but they were rare. S. Jay Olshansky Read Quote
The reason we have cancer and heart disease is the same reason you can’t get rid of the wear and tear on your tires on your car: as soon as you use them, you are wearing them away. You can’t make eternal tires, and it’s the same with the human body. S. Jay Olshansky Read Quote
In centenarians and supercentenarians – people over 110 – you see a higher level of fecundity much later in life. S. Jay Olshansky Read Quote
The bodies we have are not made for extended use. We must cope with accumulated DNA damage, cell damage, muscle atrophy, bone loss, decreased muscle mass, and joints worn out from overuse during a lifetime of bipedal locomotion. It might have worked great for prehistoric humans, but it wreaks havoc on our knees and hips. S. Jay Olshansky Read Quote
Researchers have been looking for biomarkers of age for a long time and have failed. People sell tests out there to measure your biological age, and none of them work. There’s no evidence that you can measure biological age with any reliability. S. Jay Olshansky Read Quote
The modern rise of Alzheimer’s Disease in the twentieth century is not a sign of failure. It’s a sign of success. Success in living long enough to see that disease expressed. S. Jay Olshansky Read Quote
