I was at a conference in London the other day run by the Economist Group. There was a fascinating presentation by a futurist that suggested any person born today would be expected to live until the age of 150.

Most people take a step back and think – no way!  And yet the idea is not so bizarre.  The reality is that with advances in Artificial Intelligence, robotics and genome technology, there is a general expectation that all diseases as we know them will be eliminated in next 20 years.  No cancers, no viruses, no age impacted diseases related to mental health, etc. The only challenge therefore will be to manage the skeletal structures in old age and other physical breakdowns in bodily parts.  3D printers will fix most of those issues!

It is an interesting development and certainly not without precedence, given the acceleration in life expectancy that has occurred in recent times.  The implications run beyond simple life expectancy through to taxation and pension policies.

So the challenge will be on communities that rely on managing people through their life cycles to ensure this extends into extreme old age and not just the horizons we have expected in the past.

For all of us, though, there is a deeper issue.  How do we plan, contemplate and indeed adapt to these changing horizons?  Do we put our heads in the collective sands and say this won’t happen to us?  Or do we take an active approach towards exploring the future and manage these outcomes?

I think we all have a responsibility to step up to the plate.  Regardless of whether we think change will happen sooner or later, change will happen.  This applies to healthcare in our communities or the broader perspective of climate change and in the interests of future generations we must take control of these issues NOW.