
Astronaut Paul Weitz has died - iamthirsty
http://www.collectspace.com/news/news-102317a-obituary-paul-weitz-astronaut.html
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datawarrior
Died at 85. Not a bad run sir, not bad at all.

~~~
melling
I stopped thinking like that as I approached 50.

While we probably won’t make big improvements in aging, once we address a few
major diseases, and devise better ways to monitor the body, it’ll be a lot
more common for people to live to 100.

Hopefully, Blue Zone research will give us some insight.

[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Zone](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Zone)

~~~
iamthirsty
> it’ll be a lot more common for people to live to 100.

Would you really _want_ to though? I'm relatively young, but after about 70 I
don't think I'd really want to live anymore.

This is mainly due to genetics, as the body and brain start to give around
that time (in my family).

I'm sure it's different for other's, but for many just the fact that their
bones are brittle enough to prevent basic things would be too much of a
constraint to handle.

~~~
cjsuk
Agree. I know two people who are in their 90s and it’s no life to live.

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melling
I guess I was assuming that it’s possible to have a good life in my 90’s. Your
sample size of the 2 people seems a bit anecdotal. Know anyone famous in their
90’s?

Jimmy Carter

Henry Kissinger

Dick Van Dyke

Stan Lee

Chuck Yeager - broke the sound barrier

Anyway, that’s your choice. I suppose if we do learn how to treat aging to
delay some of the symptoms, you can always change your mind.

~~~
cjsuk
It's more than just the two for reference. It's either dead or dying at that
age for most people. In addition, my 94 year old neighbour is housebound and
has leukaemia and just wishes someone would kill him. My grandmother is 93 and
she can't even recognise any members of her own family any more and just wants
to go to sleep forever. That's more the state of things.

The above are minor and major celebrities. They have a higher standard of
care.

If we can increase quality of life significantly, I'm all for it but until
then, shoot me when I get to 80.

