Dare to Be 100: 11 Decades

I am fixated on knowing how many years you, I and we may live. I am obsessed by this prophecy. One of my most important collaborators in this effort was Steve Coles, professor of medicine at UCLA. Tragically he died recently from pancreatic cancer, but before he died he lectured for me at Stanford. I hope to have his lecture available on the web sometime soon. It is riveting, two hours of unbelievable reportage.

I have just established contact with John Adams who has assumed Steve’s job as director of the Gerontology Research Group (GRG). This vital organization has taken on the critical task of tracking the world’s oldest people. Their most important cohort is the Super-Centenarians, those over 110 years of age. Now they have 80 persons (78 females) on their roster. Their sidebar observes that the true total is probably somewhere around 300-350, those who have “not yet come out”, or are as yet not registered.

he GRG is meticulous in its methodology. Inherent in its effort is teasing out the spotty quality of the reports. Almost all lay reports are exaggerations. This tendency goes a long way back in history, remember Methuselah (it ain’t necessarily so). People seem addicted to age exaggeration claiming to be older than they really are, the Rosy Ruiz’s of age reporting. Until recently documentation of actual birthday was an unreliable feature. Only in the last decade are nations worldwide paying real attention to these vital statistics.

The last American census lists 53,364 Americans over 100, of whom 5921 live in my home state of California. But every day 10,000 Americans turn 65 implying that these soon will be climbing upwards. Worldwide the number of persons over 100 has doubled every decade since 1950. By the end of this century CNN estimates there will be 18 million centenarians worldwide.
Are you and I ready to live to 100? At 85, I still have 15 years yet to go. I’m planning on it. Every one invited. Keep March 20, 2030 open!

Dare to be 100!