For millennia, people have been conditioned to accept that growing older and eventually dying are inherent aspects of the human condition. That seems to be the one universal law of nature – or is it? In recent years, scientists have reconsidered the inevitability of the aging process, and we’re now at the point where many have concluded that the physical conditions of aging are actually diseases that can be addressed and even cured, rather than realities we must accept. So, the question becomes: can we extend life by slowing down or even stopping the aging process?

Certainly, Dr. David Sinclair seems to think we’re now on that path. In his new book Lifespan: Why We Age and Why We Don’t Have To, Dr. Sinclair makes the case that we are at a crucial moment in human history. He believes we are on the cusp of having the tools to slow down aging and even “solve the problem” of aging from a biological perspective. While his ideas are provocative, his research has led to some remarkable breakthroughs in the scientific world and many aspects of his thinking could easily be incorporated into your own current life. Care to know more? Read about Sinclair and his book here and click here for a short excerpt from his book.

But are we ready for significantly longer life spans or even the Silicon Valley transhumanist fantasy of immortality? A recent video from The Atlantic posed the question of whether and how immortality would change the way we live and how we obtain meaning in life if we live much longer than we do now. If you knew your life extended indefinitely, would you organize your relationships and activities differently? Those may seem like far off questions but the reality is we already have lives transformed by longevity over recent decades, and scholars are now proposing a reconsideration of how we currently organize and categorize periods of life. In a recent op-ed in The Washington Post, Dr. Laura Carstensen, director of the Stanford Center on Longevity, proposed that we now need to envision a century-long life when we think about ways to satisfy, engage and provide meaning throughout a person’s life span. For example, we can no longer accept educational systems that conclude formal education in the early 20s but rather we need to develop an educational model that follows you over the course of your life. In essence, we’re relying on 19th or 20th-century social constructs to live our elongated 21st-century lives, and that just won’t work. Find out more about her ideas by clicking here. And finally, there are already plenty of centenarians happy to share their wisdom with those of us on track to living to 100 or more. For their insights, set your own sights here.