Quantity vs. Quality: Study shows we’re divided on a longer lifespan
Aug 7, 2013, 11:50 AM | Updated: Aug 11, 2013, 5:22 am
John Curley says the bigger question is not how many years you want to live, but what kind of quality do you want to have while you live those years. Would you want to hang around longer if meant you were trapped in a hospital bed? (AP Photo/File)
(AP Photo/File)
A new scientific study poses the question: How long do you want to live? Every six years the average U.S. lifespan expands by a year, according to the U.S. Census.
“It’s a very complicated topic,” says KIRO Radio host John Curley.
When asking a sample group if they would like to live 100 more years than their life expectancy, 56 percent of people said no, while 41 percent said yes.
Enormous advances in genetics might allow us to live 100 more years.
“The bigger question is not how many years, but what kind of quality do you want to have with those years,” says Curley. There’s no point in living longer if it’s not a quality lifestyle.
“My wife wants me to pull the plug on her if she’s a vegetable,” says KIRO Radio host Tom Tangney. “I don’t want her to pull the plug on me. Somebody could invent something that could cure me or you’re going to find out who won the World Series.”
Curley thinks that’s a selfish request from Tangney. Is the World Series really worth staying a vegetable?
Curley, who thinks life is all about quality, says he has a death date for himself: a 10-year expiration date.
Report by MyNorthwest.com intern Hannah Kadletz
