Timothy Salthouse is the dean of researchers on cognitive changes over the course of human lifespan.[1] So Hacker News readers who would like to know more about their futures (we already know we are getting older, not younger, as the years go by) would do well to read some of his publications[2] to find out what's inevitable and what's not inevitable as we all age. Most of us can readily count on living a lot more years, as human life expectancy at adult ages (like mine) is steadily increasing around the world.

Girls born since 2000 in the developed world are more likely than not to reach the age of 100, with boys likely to enjoy lifespans almost as long. The article "The Biodemography of Human Ageing" by James Vaupel,[3] originally published in the journal Nature in 2010, is a good current reference on the subject. Vaupel is one of the leading scholars on the demography of aging and how to adjust for time trends in life expectancy. His striking finding is "Humans are living longer than ever before. In fact, newborn children in high-income countries can expect to live to more than 100 years. Starting in the mid-1800s, human longevity has increased dramatically and life expectancy is increasing by an average of six hours a day."[4]

An article in a series on Slate, "Why Are You Not Dead Yet? Life expectancy doubled in past 150 years. Here’s why"[5] Provides some of the background.

Life expectancy at age 40, at age 60, and at even higher ages is still rising throughout the developed countries of the world.[6]

P.S. Some of the specific lifestyle observations and tips in this article are immediately useful for me and other middle-aged people, so the submitted article is well worth a read.

[1] http://faculty.virginia.edu/cogage/lab-members/director/

[2] http://faculty.virginia.edu/cogage/links/publications/

[3] http://www.demographic-challenge.com/files/downloads/2eb51e2...

[4] http://www.prb.org/Journalists/Webcasts/2010/humanlongevity....

[5] http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science_of_...

[6] http://www.nature.com/scientificamerican/journal/v307/n3/box...