介绍:
Lincoln: A recent report shows that a potential anti-aging drug is soon set to begin clinical trials to see if it can extend the human lifespan. Some tests of the drugs’ effects on worms suggest that human beings could live healthy and well to 120 years old. Now, Wu You, what exactly is going on here? Who is living to the age of 120? Who is working on this seemingly “fountain of youth” drug?
WY: “Fountain of youth” – that’s a very good name. Last year, a study of more than 180,000 people showed that those being treated for diabetes with this kind of drug lived longer than a healthy control sample. So, are you guys dreaming of having this drug that can enable you to live longer than 120 years old?
Michael: I can’t say I’ve ever dreamed of living that long. I mean, if you’re talking about living to 120, in China, the retirement age, I think, is 60. You know, you’re talking about half your life in retirement there.
WY: But if most people can live that long, the retirement age might be prolonged to 80 years old.
Michael: That’s true, you know, if you can live a fitter and healthier and happier life for longer, maybe you can work until 70 or even 80 years old.
Lincoln: Possibly spending more money, so maybe that’s more prosperous.
Michael: But, conversely – and this is especially significant in China, where there’s an aging population – if people are living until the age of 120 years old, presumably that means that people are not afflicted by as many illnesses and diseases and things like that.
WY: I mean, with the modern development of technology, in the old days, when people can only live to 40 or 50 years old, but nowadays, with the help of the medical services, and also drugs and other kinds of equipment and people are becoming more healthy, the life expectancy, on average, is 80 or 90 years old. It has already doubled the old number.
Lincoln: Yeah, and also, the more important thing is the quality of that life. Wu You, is this something that you would be interested in? Is this a drug that you would take to make it all the way to 120?
WY: Frankly speaking, I wouldn’t care if I have this drug or not, if I can live to 100 years old, or 80 years old, or 120 years, because what is really meaningful is today.
Michael: You see, the danger of living for today too much is that you kind of forget about tomorrow, My dad, for example, retired two or three years ago, and he had a plan, and he’s always been very into choral music and things like that, so he retired and he bought an organ, so in my parents’ house at the moment there’s an organ. So, he’s learning the organ, learning to play at various sorts of levels, and so, eventually, he wants to get to the stage where he can be a church organist. [WY: That’s nice!] You know, some people buy a yacht, or a sports car. My dad bought an organ.
Lincoln: My dad cleans the pool for hours on end. Everyone has their little hobbies! Wu You, what about you? Do you have members of your family who have made it that deep in the game?
WY: My grandma has lived until 94 years old. She is quite an optimistic woman, and I have to say that she smokes, she drinks a lot, and then she’s always optimistic. She once told me, “Just have fun in your daily life. Live life to its fullest.”
Michael: Is cigarettes and baijiu the officially approved plan for living until 94?!
Lincoln: Perhaps that’s the key! Perhaps we’ve all missed out.
WY: I don’t want to say that, but I think that she is satisfied, and then what is more important is that you can be satisfied with what you are doing, you love what you are doing.
Michael: I remember reading a story a little while ago about this French woman, who at the time was the oldest woman in the world – I think she was about 112 – and when asked what was the secret to her long life, her answer was something like, “cigarettes and brandy”.
Lincoln: Yeah, I think I’ll have a look at Wu You’s nan’s policy of cigarettes and baijiu. I’ll let you guys know how it goes.
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