I'm afraid I'm of the "believe no future, however rosy" school when it comes to rogue "scientists" making these kind of completely unsubstantiated claims.
I mean obviously obviously a human being is going to live longer with higher living standards and better health education and eating habits.

But it's a pretty big leap of imagination as well as faith from there to project a future of stem cell implants and gene therapy that allow someone to live to 1000 when that particular bio research hasn't even begun trials on animals.

Sounds to me like this guy De Grey just wants to make some headlines for himself, to further his own career, I could be mistaken, naturally.

The ageing process can be slowed down but never stopped altogether because what causes the body to age is not only material wear & tear, it's mental material pre-programmed at time of birth. That's why a 60 year old woman with worn out cells is about to give birth to a baby infant with brand new DNA.

Some yogis in India can live past 150 but only by slowing their metabolisms right down in trance meditation for 20 hrs per day and taking very little food. But they still have to die in the end. It's just that they are spending their mental "life savings" at a slower rate than the rest of us, that's all.

You do have a very interesting blog, but could you please stop sending me updates of it as private post.

100 years will do me just fine!

I love penguins!!!

I don't mind the private posts - keep them coming! I honestly don't believe that I'd like to live that long.

Yay penguins!!!

Approximately 6000 years ago the average life expectancy of a human being was 300 years. Therefore, in theory, we may be able to get back to that level. But I doubt if we can exceed that. 1000 years would have to be a miracle. And what would be the point anyway ?

What an appalling article, for two reasons:
1. As one who is old I can tell you the prospect of living to 1000 or 100 is not appealing because as your body ages the quality of life definitely dimishes. I also can affirm this by having watched many relatives get really, really old, especially the women in my family. Yes, I know the one guy said that the aging process would be slowed down as life expectancy increased, but I doubt that it could be slowed down enough to leave one at 25 or 30 for 70 or 700 years and the thought of living with an 80 or even 60 year old body for that amount of time leads me to believe that the suicide rate would increase.
2. The birth rates now of people who consume without producing are staggering and the middle class of most industrialized countries is fast being pushed to the lower class (economically speaking) to support people who have no ability or intention of supporting themselves. Increased life expectancy without decreased reproduction would be criminal to all other creatures living on the planet. And don't hypothesize that as one lives longer one becomes more wise because that is obviously bullshit. The only comforting thing is that such futuristic techniques will only be available to the wealthy and while I don't think they are any more qualified to improve the world, there are a lot fewer of them than the poor.

One thing I always find amusing about science fiction reports such as the ones quoted here is how eager and greedy christians are to extend their lives by a moment, a day, a year, a century, just as if they don't really believe that paradise is waiting for them, populated with all their dearly loved dead relatives dancing around a god who presence provides the ultimate happiness like a never ending orgasm.