The Perfect Storm - Are You Ready For The Longevity Revolution
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Mind-boggling medical technologies are converging into a perfect storm. With the exponential rate of progress we are likely to see unprecedented change in terms of life expectancy. This will have a profound impact on financial planning.
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The Perfect Storm - Are You Ready For The Longevity Revolution
- 1. The perfect storm: Are your clients prepared for thelongevity revolution?
- 2. Agenda The perfect storm Life expectancy past and present Medical advances Life expectancy in future More than ever, a long term business Our solution
- 4. The blurring line between science and science-fiction
- 5. The perfect storm Exponential advances in Biotechnology Nanotechnology Robotics and AI Transformative demographic shift as baby boomers enter retirement
- 6. The law of accelerating returns
- 7. The law of accelerating returns First life forms took billions of years to evolve First technological steps - sharp edges, fire, the wheel - took tens of thousands of years 19th century saw more change than in previous 9 centuries The first 20 years of 20th century saw more change than entire 19th century The internet did not exist barely a decade ago Rate of progress now doubling every decade
- 8. “We won't experience 100 years of technological advance in the 21st century; we will witness in the order of 20 000 years of progress (by today's rate)” Ray Kurzweil, Inventor and Futurist
- 9. Life expectancy past and present
- 10. Historic life expectancy In the 20s a thousand years ago 37 in 1800 Now pushing 80 Life expectancy at birth more than doubled over the last 200 years
- 11. Life expectancy explained The expected number of life years remaining at a specific age Not just one number Life expectancy at birth vs. age 65 Varies between different countries General vs. insured population Just an average
- 12. Frequency distribution Assumptions: Male aged 40, non-smoker, best rates.
- 13. Frequency distribution Assumptions: Male aged 40, non-smoker, best rates.
- 14. Frequency distribution Assumptions: Male aged 40, non-smoker, best rates.
- 15. Frequency distribution Assumptions: Male aged 40, non-smoker, best rates.
- 16. Medical advances
- 17. Medical advances timeline Modern medicine Lung circulation 1st blood transfusion Vaccination Germ theory Aspirin 1842 1816 1870 1796 1590 910 1553 1818 420 BC 1899 1895 ID smallpox Microscope Stethoscope X-rays Anesthesia
- 18. Medical advances timeline Blood types Blood transfusion Pacemaker & polio vaccine Kidney transplant Heart transplant Penicillin 1954 1936 1928 1922 1906 1953 1952 1907 1901 1967 1963 DNA discovered Discovery of vitamins Insulin Lobotomy Lung and liver transplant
- 19. Medical advances timeline New cancer drugs CT scanner 1st artificial heart Stem cells from skin cells 1st face transplant 2008 2003 1998 1996 1980 2007 1982 1971 2010 2010 MRI scanner Dolly Human genome Robotic surgery 1st artificial life
- 20. A peek into the future Emerging technologies A few controversial possibilities In our lifetime? Prepare to be amazed!
- 21. “I spend most of my time assuming the world is not ready for the technology revolution that will be happening to them soon” Eric Schmidt, Chairman of Google
- 22. Stem cell technology Growing stem cells in a lab Disease-in-a-dish Dead brain cells? Just replace them Would you like to order a liver, a heart?
- 23. Nanotechnology Ferry across the blood-brain barrier Creating organic and synthetic nanoparticles Robots in your bloodstream Gotcha!
- 24. Genetics Human genome project Gene therapy DNA maintenance Personalised treatment Should I buy a pizza or have my genome sequenced today?
- 25. Telemedicine A one-hour cancer detector on your phone. No seriously How Intel and GE will monitor your grandma Beam me up Dr. Scotty – holograms in healthcare Cisco's virtual doctor will see you now.
- 26. Assistive devices The mouse’s days are numbered – control your laptop with your eyes Speak and I shall obey – voice commands for your home appliances Brain-computer interfaces Neurons and computers: they mix!
- 27. Amanda Boxtel, who has been in a wheelchair for 19 years, gets up and walk across a stage with the help of an exoskeleton.
- 28. Dave MacCalman, a New Zealand quadriplegic, takes his first steps in more than 30 years.
- 29. Artificial intelligence They beat us in chess Then they beat us in a quiz game Now they are taking on healthcare The next frontier? IBM’s Watson trouncing the competition in Jeopardy
- 30. The fountain of youth Slowing down aging Reverse and ultimately prevent aging? Homo Evolutis My, what long telomeres you have!
- 31. Life expectancy in future
- 32. Exponential increase in life expectancy?
- 33. The pace of change has accelerated
- 34. Life expectancy at retirement has probably changed more in the past 10 years than in the previous 100 years
- 35. See how life expectancy is bound to increase even when taking a conservative, linear view
- 36. Impact of 1.5% mortality improvement
- 37. Impact of 1.5% mortality improvement
- 38. Impact of 1.5% mortality improvement
- 39. Impact of 1.5% mortality improvement
- 40. What happens if life expectancy continues to increase at an exponential rate?
- 41. More than ever a long-term business
- 42. Changing financial planning landscape
- 43. Financial planning implications Assumed age at death in FNA? Assumed retirement age? Expiry age of risk benefits? How do you provide for living a long but costly life with an illness? How do you ensure sustainable premiums?
- 44. Changing financial planning landscape Longevity
- 45. Our solutions
- 46. Our solutions Some medical advances are to avoid disease Other advances are to aid people with disease Risk of outliving capital applies to both
- 47. Our solutions Solutions for clients who do not claim Reward for saving and protecting with us Claim event for surviving to age 80 Solutions for clients who claim Point one above, plus Critical illness solution that keeps on paying Disability benefits that protect until age 100
- 48. Conclusion Life expectancy has increased significantly Mind-boggling medical advances How much longer are we going to live? Profound implications for financial planning The solution
Editor's Notes
- Technology is doing a better job of keeping us alive. Mind-boggling advances in treatment and assistive devices mean we will live longer and cope better with impairments, but this will come with a price tag. New risk benefits provide a gateway to the latest technology.
- My talk today is about different medical technologies converging into a perfect storm - and how this is likely to lead to unprecedented change. Change in terms of how we treat disease and change in terms of how long we are going to live. We are going to look at life expectancy, past and present and then…Going to share some amazing examples of medical advancesSome are controversial; some we are already seeing todayWe will then look at how these medical advances may impact life expectancy in futureThese advances will no doubt have an impact on our industry. It will impact product development and it will challenge our current assumptions used in our financial planningI will then briefly touch on the Myriad solution, before Mark and Stephen will delve further into the impact of longevity on financial planning from a critical illness and income protection point of view
- Longevity is very topical at the momentBBC News - Is there a limit to life expectancy? http://goo.gl/RBOk8Forbes - Can Science Eliminate Disease? http://t.co/4Gxt30E > Medicine of our times going through a fundamental transformation How to Live 100 Years – TIME http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1963392_1963365,00.html
- Time articleThe headline on a recent cover of Time reads…. The article is about how exponential advances in technology may one day make us immortal. Too early in the day to go into the detail, but scientists are taking this very seriously, amongst others the CTO of the White House. The man making these predictions have a 30 year track record with virtually all his predictions so far being accurateEconomist articleAbout how man has created a living creature with no ancestors, capable of reproducing. Ladies, unfortunately it is the not the young stud you see in the picture, but the bacteria next to it2045: The Year Man Becomes Immortal. Time. http://j.mp/gUHLMSFuturology: The new overlords | The Economist http://t.co/6l4EnAZ > are we heading for a post-biological world?Will You Live Forever? Big Think http://t.co/My92HfG The End of Ouch? - TimeHealth Special: Chronic Pain http://ti.me/eN646BFountain of Youth? http://bit.ly/ihUGCt
- We are seeing exponential advances in biotechnology, nanotechnology, robotics and AIThis is coupled with probably the greatest transformative demographic shift in recent historyBig market for life extension productsBig money poring into medical research on finding cures for cancer, Alzheimer’s and heart disease
- So where are we headed? To look forward, it is useful to first look backEver since the big bang progress has been subject to the law of accelerating returnsThis basically means that rate of progress is getting faster and faster – in fact, the rate of progress is exponentialWhat does “exponential” mean?Moore’s lawStory of Chinese emperor and chess inventor
- Let’s apply the law of accelerating returns to progress The evolution of life forms required billions of years for the first steps (e.g., primitive cells); later on progress accelerated. During the Cambrian explosion, major paradigm shifts took only tens of millions of years. Later on, Humanoids developed over a period of millions of years, and Homo sapiens over a period of only hundreds of thousands of years.The first technological steps-sharp edges, fire, the wheel–took tens of thousands of years. For people living in this era, there was little noticeable technological change in even a thousand years. By 1000 A.D., progress was much faster and a paradigm shift required only a century or two. In the nineteenth century, we saw more technological change than in the nine centuries preceding it. Then in the first twenty years of the twentieth century, we saw more advancement than in all of the nineteenth century. Now, paradigm shifts occur in only a few years time. The World Wide Web did not exist in anything like its present form just a few years ago; it didn’t exist at all a decade ago.The paradigm shift rate (i.e., the overall rate of technical progress) is currently doubling (approximately) every decade; that is, paradigm shift times are halving every decade (and the rate of acceleration is itself growing exponentially). So, the technological progress in the twenty-first century will be equivalent to what would require (in the linear view) on the order of 200 centuries. Intuitive linear view
- Merely extrapolating the historic exponential rate
- We are going to look at it again later
- When our genes evolved thousands of years ago, it was not in the interests of the species for people to live past child-rearing as resources such as food were in very short supply. So human life expectancy was in the 20s a thousand years ago. It was only 37 in 1800. It is now pushing 80, and we have been adding about three months each year for the past several decades. This progression is about to go into high gear.European life expectancy rising despite obesity - Yahoo! News http://yhoo.it/f2MtcZIn United States, people expected to live longer than ever: http://j.mp/gOctYwKeys to long life: Longevity study unearths surprising answers. http://t.co/J7fNrbh
- Japan vsAfghanisanSA example
- 56% of yourbest rate clients age 40 now will live past age 85
- 56% of yourbest rate clients age 40 now will live past age 85
- 56% of yourbest rate clients age 40 now will live past age 85
- 56% of yourbest rate clients age 40 now will live past age 85
- Lung circulation1553 – Miguel Serveto describes the circulation of blood through the lungs. He is accused of heresy and burned at the stakeVaccinationEdward Jenner develops a method to protect people from smallpox by exposing them to the cowpox virus. In his famous experiment, he rubs pus from a dairymaid's cowpox postule into scratches on the arm of his gardener's 8-year-old son, and then exposes him to smallpox six weeks later (which he does not develop). The process becomes known as vaccination from the Latin vacca for cow. Vaccination with cowpox is made compulsory in Britain in 1853. Jenner is sometimes called the founding father of immunologyRead more: Medical Advances Timeline — Infoplease.comhttp://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0932661.html#ixzz1LPeWxjxHDiscovery of germsLuis Pasteur and Robert Koch establish the germ theory of disease. According to germ theory, a specific disease is caused by a specific organism. Before this discovery, most doctors believe diseases are caused by spontaneous generation. In fact, doctors would perform autopsies on people who died of infectious diseases and then care for living patients without washing their hands, not realizing that they were therefore transmitting the disease
- VaccinationEdward Jenner develops a method to protect people from smallpox by exposing them to the cowpox virus. In his famous experiment, he rubs pus from a dairymaid's cowpox postule into scratches on the arm of his gardener's 8-year-old son, and then exposes him to smallpox six weeks later (which he does not develop). The process becomes known as vaccination from the Latin vacca for cow. Vaccination with cowpox is made compulsory in Britain in 1853. Jenner is sometimes called the founding father of immunologyRead more: Medical Advances Timeline — Infoplease.comhttp://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0932661.html#ixzz1LPeWxjxHLobotomyA lobotomy is a surgery that basically removed the front part, or lobe, of the brain, causing the patient to lose the ability for higher thought and reasoning, but not be categorized as a 'vegetable‘"[P]refrontal lobotomy... has recently been having a certain vogue, probably not unconnected with the fact that it makes the custodial care of many patients easier. Let me remark in passing that killing them makes their custodial care still easier."[turned "an insane person into an idiot
- DollyThe first mammal cloned from an adult cellNew cancer drugsChanging cancer from a death sentence to a chronic diseaseHuman genome Up to this point medical advances had been a hit and miss affair, where we discovered interventions (with many side-effects) – now we design interventions.We have decoded the human body and now have techniques to turn off the genes that promote disease and agingMedicine has transformed itself into an information technology, subject to the law of accelerating returnsStem cells: our ability to repair or replace parts of our body that have become diseased or injuredOther30 years ago 5 year survival rate of SLE was 50%, today 5 year survival rate is > 95% due to new RxCancer vaccines used in prostate cancerIslet cell transplants- patients no longer need insulin
- Proof of conceptStill in test phase
- Growing stem cells in a labStem cell technology has been voted by Time as one of the top 10 ideas that will change the world. It offers the promise of a new era in medicine.So what are stem cells? Stem cells are the mother cells of the body, the cells that have the ability to build new tissue. You begin as a single cell. The genes of that one cell contains all the information needed to construct your body, from your hair to your toe nails. That information is still locked inside every cell in your body. We are now able to grow stem cells in a lab. While previously we used embryonic stem cells, we can now turn an adult cell into a stem cell. For example, we can turn a skin cell into a brain cell.Disease in a dishSo what can we do with this new technology?Firstly, we can grow whichever stem cell we want and “infect” it – so called disease in a dish. We can then rapidly test thousands of different drugs on the relevant cell to see which drugs are workingDead brain cells? Just replace themSecondly, we can replace dead cells by transplanting new onesScientists have already turned skin cells into the brain cells lost to AlzheimersOne day we would be able to transplant these cells into the human brain. We’ve already done so with mice, and the cells are functioning properlyWe have also transplanted human brain cells in paralysed rates, and amazingly enough the rats gained some function again in their limbsWould you like to order a liver, a heart?Thirdly, we can grow our own organsDuring a TED talk, a prominent surgeon recently printed a kidney on stage Not yet functioning, but we have been able to engineer and transplant a working bladder in a manScientists have also recently grown a tiny, pumping heart – only for use in animals, and not yet strong enough, but it is a proof of conceptMore examplesIn Argentina, a tuberculosis-damaged windpipe replaced by a new one grown from woman’s stem cellsIn Texas, cells harvested from hip to mend a broken arm – no need for plates and screwsStem cell injections to replace knee replacement surgeryPotential: Is your heart weakening? Build new heart tissue or even an entire heart.Lost a limb in an accident? Grow a new oneDetractors may call it science-fiction: Yeah, like space travel, nuclear power lasers and pocket-sized computersArticles and other examplesHow Stem Cells Are Changing the Way We Think About Disease - 10 Ideas That Will Change the World TIME http://t.co/UQhpXLNBig breakthrough: Induced Stem Cell Research Permits “Disease in a Dish” Research of Parkinson's http://is.gd/5zdITSIn a breakthrough that could help reverse memory loss, researchers grow cells killed by #Alzheimers: http://t.co/iOSCrsxRodent of the Week: Transplanted human stem cells help paralyzed rats move - latimes.com http://t.co/4lWcTsBMedicine meets sci-fi. Incredible TED talk including a kidney PRINTED http://on.ted.com/Atala2011Stanford teams grows tiny heart http://is.gd/JmyR5MNew Tendons Restore Hands (video) http://goo.gl/4iH69Breakthroughs in embryonic #stemcellresearch that everyone should know about: http://bit.ly/5qF60S #alzheimers#diabetes'Drugs to the brain' breakthrough http://bbc.in/fdLavh > could be vital for treating Alzheimer's, Parkinson'sStemcell transplant may help aggressive multiple sclerosis http://bit.ly/hOQDJV Stem Cells May Show Promise for People with Rapidly Progressing multiple sclerosis http://goo.gl/3v8o2Treatment of multiple sclerosis - Damage to Nerve Cells Can be Reversed http://ff.im/-AccVjPotential #stemcell therapy for age-related macular degeneration: http://bit.ly/gWpXLw Creating eye cells from #stemcells to fight macular degeneration: http://bit.ly/gfQUM2 Stemcells from placentas show potential in treating #heartdisease, #MS and more: http://bit.ly/f8wsyKPromising treatment for Muscular Dystrophy and new drug for skin cancer http://bit.ly/hkVBuLStem cell trial may offer the first hope of someday freeing paralyzed patients from their wheelchairs http://goo.gl/P6FPlMan Claims to Have Reversed Paralysis With Stem Cell Therapy - iNews Connect (press release) http://is.gd/wOSApxCan stem cell treatment help Rheumatoid Arthritis patients 'reset' their immune system? http://bit.ly/fWzlrkExtracting stem cells from fat for tissue regeneration. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-05-stem-cells-fat-tissue-regeneration.htmlStem Cell Therapy Shrinks Enlarged Hearts - US News and World Report http://goo.gl/akwlA
- Ferry across the blood-brain barrierWe can now intervene at a molecular levelScientists have successfully switched off a gene implicated in Alzheimer’s disease in the brains of mice by injecting a drug into tiny natural particles and so get past the blood-brain barrierAdvances in nanotechnology enable targeted drug delivery: http://bit.ly/hU8xIMCreating organic and synthetic nanoparticlesWe can also create our own nanoparticles with the specific properties we wantOrganic nanoparticle uses sound and heat to find and treat tumors http://bit.ly/g8rLRARobots in your bloodstreamNanobots – tiny robots in your bloodstream nipping and chipping away at your cholesterol and catching the bad guysScience fiction?Scientists cured Type 1 diabetes in rats with a device as small as a blood cellMIT have microscopic devices that can scout out cancer cells in the bloodstream and destroy themMIT's Implantable Nanotech Sensor Monitors for Cancer and Now Heart Attacks, Too (video) http://t.co/ROGGPNB Nanodrug Fights Breast Cancer From Inside Without Harming Healthy Tissue http://goo.gl/6s2l2Other examplesImatinib Normalizes Life Expectancy of patients with chronic myeloid leukemiahttp://bit.ly/eqsE3uNew injectable drug hailed as milestone in treating deadly skin cancer http://goo.gl/Gb7gt
- Human genome projectAlmost inevitable that in years to come we will be able to design life forms on our laptopsThe world’s databases are filling up with genes from every part of the tree of life. Those genes can be cut and pasted together with greater and greater easeDeveloping technologies to literally reprogram the “software” (i.e. genes) that underlie human biologyGene therapyNew ways of investigating diseases and create drugs to treat themCancer's Genome - Technology Review http://t.co/30veYFa > could change the way we treat cancerGene therapy for advanced Parkinson’s reduces symptoms http://bit.ly/dElmVXPotential: Scientists have emplaced a gene from an alga into the retinas of blind mice. The mice can now see light. Blindness may become treatableDNA maintenanceProcess discovered that regulates DNA replication and repair http://bit.ly/i2Doqe > may delay the onset of agingPersonalised treatmentPopular Mechanics article23andmeOther examples of medical advancesA Genetic Test for Organ Rejection http://bit.ly/fdjkcYLeukaemia genes' role discovered http://bbc.in/gAMbt6 > offers a potential model for the development of new drugsStudy reveals genetic clues to chronic liver disease http://bit.ly/i0t7gGIncurable Blood Cancer Genome Sequence Offers Glimmers For Therapy http://ow.ly/4lSQVSkin Cancer Breakthrough: Arthritis Drug Could Be New Weapon Against Melanoma http://nxy.in/ftn5uGene Mutations Found that Drive Acute Myeloid Leukemiahttp://tinyurl.com/4c8zqtr > might lead to new treatments to reverse it
- A one-hour cancer detector on your phoneWe all love our apps on our iPhones and BlackBerries. Want to catapult angry birds at pigs? There is an app for that. Want to screen for cancer? There is an app for that too. It will do the job in one hour – and it is more accurate than lab testsA one-hour cancer detector from your #smartphone http://t.co/DZ5lkxp > more accurate than lab tests!We are starting to see all sorts of apps and even smart shirts that monitor all the vital signs in your bodyHow Intel and GE Will Monitor Your GrandmaTalk about monitoring, there are products on the market now that can remotely monitor and diagnose you, like you see in this picture. These products are also used to constantly monitor the elderly and frail, for example their blood pressure, heart rate, sugar levels etcThis will extend independent living for these people and lead to the prevention of heart attacks, strokes and even falls.How Intel and GE Will Monitor Your Grandma--For Her Own Good http://bit.ly/gHLmo6Beam me up Dr ScottyWe are also starting to develop proper holograms like in Star Wars, so your doctor may soon come and visit you in 3D. We have also figured out how to make touchable holograms which, apart from its application in medicine, is sure to take the blow-up doll industry to a whole new level!Moving Holograms – Star Wars Technology in Health Care | Smart Phone Health Care http://t.co/Qy0TuA8Other examplesSmart shirt monitors heart rate, breathing rate and acceleration http://goo.gl/d0QgEVideo: Under Armour smart garment includes embedded sensors and on-board computer for biofeedback http://tumblr.com/x7n1prdyvpTracking Fitness and Activity on Your Smartphone http://dlvr.it/J9fFxNew test detects heart attacks at a level 4x deeper than standard blood tests. Leads to 1/3rd increase in diagnosis http://bbc.in/hfo8hLNew blood analysis chip could lead to disease diagnosis in minutes http://bit.ly/hm0mGf A Blood Test for Cancer? - TIME Healthlandhttp://healthland.time.com/2010/06/07/a-blood-test-for-cancer/Jay Sanders of Johns Hopkins on social/health benefits of #telemedicine: http://tinyurl.com/4jo88loThe Connected Patient: Charting the Vital Signs of Remote Health Monitoring - CHCF.org http://goo.gl/E75RZNew colon cancer marker identified http://goo.gl/iegd6 Could be used to diagnose earlier & possible key to stopping the cancer If diagnosed at its earliest stage, bowel cancer can be successfully treated in 9 out of 10 cases http://goo.gl/nunvLThe Future Of Breast Cancer Prevention http://goo.gl/qLYf3Sonar-Based Technology In New Device To Diagnose Stroke Quickly http://goo.gl/gvUTHNew Brain Scan Can Identify Alzheimer's. Would You Have It? - Alzheimer's http://t.co/NhVcMZC@alzheimers
- The mouse's days are numberedSo we are seeing that mice are going from strength to strength because of all the experiments being done on them. But there is one mouse whose days are numbered. We can now control computers with our eyes through eye-tracking technology. This is good news for people who are paralysed.The mouse's days are numbered. Researchers have developed laptops controlled by eye movement http://radar.oreilly.com/2011/03/computers-are-looking-back-at.htmlSpeak and I shall obeyAnd if you want to give your eyes a rest, just control your computer with your voice. There is already technology that is working pretty well, such as speech to text apps. But why stop with computers. There are already products on the market whereby you can control our household appliances with your voice and even open the curtains.Smart-homes articleBrain-computer interfacesThe most exciting development is neural interfaces where we can control computers with our minds alone.Brain-computer interface allows paralyzed patients to play music http://bit.ly/g8pV1hDriving with our brains. Is that the future I see in my rear-view mirror? http://tinyurl.com/4vnzw39New science suggests we might soon be able to mix computers and neurons http://t.co/jWzxXODOther examplesScientist teams create cyborg electronics - It's alive! http://bit.ly/f6IgPXBrain-Controlled Robot Arm: Sign Of What's To Come? http://huff.to/dH9b5EBrainGate neural interface system reaches 1,000-day performance milestone http://ow.ly/4lP8wScientists invent brain-controlled Iron Man suit | TG Daily http://goo.gl/SOn6FBlind runner uses @runkeeper to train solo, without a guide runner http://bit.ly/gmuwkjThe future is mobile. And self-driving cars - O'Reilly Radar http://t.co/FlT9kcpRoger Ebert: Writing On The Web A 'Life-Saver' http://t.co/l4HcOrp > losing his voice but finding a new one through social media "FDA clears first implantable telescope for vision.“http://bit.ly/fn0lBz
- Beautiful seeing Amanda Boxtel walking after being in a wheelchair for 19 years http://on.ted.com/exoskeletons
- The beat us in chess1997 Deep Blue beat Garry KasparovThen they beat us in a quiz gameIBM Watson beat two previous champions in Jeopardy, a quiz game with clues and wordplays even the brightest mind struggle withNow they are taking on healthcareComputer Watson is taking on health care. Fresh from 'Jeopardy!' victory, IBM's Watson to take on health care http://goo.gl/9UdtDMeet Dr. Robot TIME http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2032747_2033111,00.htmlFresh from 'Jeopardy!' victory, IBM's Watson to take on health care http://goo.gl/9UdtDMore examples / articlesComputers taking over medicine: Does health information technology dehumanize health care? http://bit.ly/e6VGFtNew insight into the brain’s ability to reorganize itself http://bit.ly/fuTZAvMassive Maps of the Brain - Technology Review http://goo.gl/Stf2Q
- Slowing down agingTelomeres are caps of protein at the end of your chromosomes. When cells reproduce by splitting, the telomeres shrink a little. Eventually they reach a critical size and the cells stop reproducing. When that happens the cell starts to die. You get the symptoms of aging: wrinkled skin, failing eyesight, etc. When enough of your cells die, you die.Reverse and ultimately prevent agingRecent experiments with lab rates have shown that aging can be reversed. By keeping the telomeres from shrinking, the rats stay youngSo it turns out size does matterNew drug on the marketHomo EvolutisWe are the first species that can direct our own evolutionPractical control over what life can be made to doSynthetic biology aims to make wholeshale changes to living things ArticlesBen Bova articleStudy blazes trail for life span extension and disease treatments -http://t.co/K5ZGypz
- Position why I am looking at this again
- ImplicationsLive longer with illness
- With longevity increasingly becoming a factor in financial planning, we have to start questioning our FNA assumptions
- Longevity has introduced a new element of uncertainty in financial planningRisk of outliving your capital
- Myriad has developed solutions to address this uncertainty
- Life expectancy has increased significantlySo we’ve seen that life expectancy has increased significantlyMind-boggling medical advancesWe’ve created lifeWe are engineering organsWe are designing interventions at a molecular levelWe are controlling computers with our mindsSo the question is, how much longer are we going to live?Even with no further increase, we already need to question our FNA assumptionsProfound implications for financial planningBut if there are indeed significant increases going forward, it will have profound implications on financial planning The solutionThere is a new element of uncertainty. Myriad is addressing this uncertainty with our Longevity Protectors and doing what life insurance is supposed to be doing – providing peace of mindBut it is also an opportunity for you. There is a new risk that needs to be addressed, and Myriad has given you a solution. This translates into more business for you.Don’t be caught with your “genes” down. The sands of time may be running in.