Joel Garreau spends some time with Aubrey de Grey, prophet of the 1000 year lifespan, for the Washington Post:

“Another thing that’s going to have to change completely is retirement. For the moment, when you retire, you retire forever. We’re sorry for old people because they’re going downhill. There will be no real moral or sociological requirement to do that. Sure, there is going to be a need for Social Security as a safety net just as there is now. But retirement will be a periodic thing. You’ll be a journalist for 40 years or whatever and then you’ll be sick of it and you’ll retire on your savings or on a state pension, depending on what the system is. So after 20 years, golf will have lost its novelty value, and you’ll want to do something else with your life. You’ll get more retraining and education, and go and be a rock star for 40 years, and then retire again and so on.”

The mind reels. Will we want to be married to the same person for a thousand years? Will we need religion anymore? Will the planet fill to overflowing?

But first — why are these questions coming up now? And why are we listening to answers from Aubrey de Grey?

Garreau — who’s done a fair share of thinking about these topics — concludes that de Grey may be a little crazy — but, you know, in that paradigm-shifting good way. (Others aren’t so sure.)

-Greg Dahlmann