New longevity-focused science will soon allow us to live healthy lives far beyond the current 80 or 90 years. Dr. Michael Roizen describes this new science in The Great Age Reboot: Cracking the Longevity Code for a Younger Tomorrow . Roizen discusses an emerging science that we know is working in a variety of animal exper- iments. Scientists are reversing the aging process and turning older animals into much younger, health- ier, and more energetic animals. Roizen estimates that an average 25-year-old today was projected to live to 79 at the time of birth, but with all the imminent breakthroughs in longevity research, that person’s lifespan will probably be 125. In other words, scientific breakthroughs will have added 46 years to the average lifespan. Furthermore, Roizen asserts that people will be dramatically healthier and have far greater capa- bilities as they grow older. He calls the concept “real age” and argues that our real age will become much younger than our actual years. If health is the area of greatest break- through for our current lives, the potential to take our longer, health- ier lives and go into space is going to increase dramatically. In the late 1980s, Congressman Bob Walker and I fought to get NASA to build a reusable rocket. Despite allocating $400 million, they just couldn’t get it to work. Fifteen years later, a private sector entrepreneur, Elon Musk, began developing reus- able rockets. Last year, his company, Space X, had 92 successful orbital launches — more than any company
had ever achieved. Now he is build- ing Starship. This is the largest rocket ever built, with 33 engines. It will carry 150 tons of cargo in the reusable version. It will also be able to carry 100 passengers as far as Mars. As usual, once a technology is devel- oped, others can learn and match it. In addition to Starship, there will be Blue Origin’s New Glenn and Relativ- ity Space’s Terran-R reusable heavy lift vehicles. There are also experi- ments underway to see nuclear power in space, which could cut the time for getting to Mars from 7 months to 45 days. The emergence of practical access to space will create a new sense of optimism and excitement about the future. Energy is the third great area of breakthroughs. New developments have been made in small modular nuclear reactors. We have witnessed dramatic improvements in the use of geothermal power, and fusion capa- bilities appear to be rapidly improv- ing. All these developments turn the world away from energy scarcity toward a new, more abundant future with declining costs. Jobs, transporta- tion, and quality of life will all improve as energy production once again achieves an upward trajectory. BMW recently announced that it has robots helping to build its cars. Every five hours, these robots walk over to an electricity source and plug them- selves in to charge. This is a hint at the widespread use of robots in the next generation. Many physical aspects, such as taking care of Alzheimer’s patients at home, will be made much
easier by specialty robots. The robot- ics industry has been steadily increas- ing for the last half century. When robotics are combined with artificial intelligence, we will experience a striking improvement in our lives as repetitive and physically demanding activities are increasingly being done by intelligent machines. Finally, the most extraordinary improvement in the future is going to be the application of artificial intel- ligence — and in particular artificial general intelligence. Artificial intel- ligence is the application of large information systems’ “thinking” to specific activities. For example, the Federal Aviation Agency uses AI to monitor commercial flights in Amer- ican air space. Artificial general intel- ligence is less developed but will be revolutionary when it occurs. AGI is the development of the ability for systems to learn whatever they need to learn without being contained to one topic or area. This is just a sample of the amazing developments which are going to make the 2030s and beyond a period of extraordinary advancement, pros- perity, and opportunity. Now we just need to develop a news media and politics of optimism, hope, and enthusiasm. As President Ronald Reagan liked to say, “You ain’t seen nothing yet” and “America’s best days are ahead not behind.”
For more commentary from Newt Gingrich , visit Gingrich360.com. Also, subscribe to the Newt’s World podcast.
Volume 18 Issue 2 • 09
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