Cheating Death

Cheating Death: The Promise and the Future Impact of Trying to Live Forever (1997) is a nonfiction book by American author Marvin J. Cetron and British historian Owen Davies, both futurists who consider the various ways that living longer will impact society and forever alter the concept of aging and the landscape of life and death. As self-described members of the forecasting community, Cetron and Davies present their findings as a call to action, a red flag intended to generate discussion and ideas on how we can best support prolonged lifespans and more complex needs surrounding living and dying. What's coming, the authors warn, is nothing short of a revolution, and we must prepare.

Based on scientific research, the authors assert the theory that those in the baby boomer generation could likely achieve average lifespans of up to 120 years. As medical and technological advances continue to evolve, subsequent generations could very well live even longer. The result will be a "postmortal world," in which our understanding of what it means to be alive will change dramatically. Much of the current philosophy, religion, psychotherapy, and self-help revolves around the idea that all we have is the present moment, so we need to find ways to more fully and effectively inhabit it. But what if the present moment isn't all we have? What if we're given 120 years of present moments to fully inhabit? How will that adjust our expectations and the ways we live? These are big questions, and the answers will differ from one person to the next. While it is nearly impossible to predict what life will mean in a world where death isn't necessarily inevitable, what we can rely on are the concrete findings and details we currently know in order to adequately prepare and plan for a postmortal age. These details concern the economic, political, and social implications of longer lifespans.

Cetron and Davies first look at the practical effects that will most influence our day to day lives, focusing their attention mainly on American social structures and systems and how these aspects may differ from those of the rest of the world. In the United States, Social Security and other economic safety nets will need a total overhaul to accommodate recipients living longer, presumably healthier lives. The issue of politics figures into the story here, as certain political factions may be more inclined to favor and fund programs like Social Security and Medicare expansion to better support aging folks, while other factions will—almost assuredly—come out against expansion. Also, a more cooperative relationship between nations will require skilled diplomacy at the highest levels of government. Some nations are naturally going to be better equipped to meet the evolving needs of the aging. The authors imagine a fully functioning United Nations that sets certain standards when it comes to aging issues and a world in which the industrialized nations disperse funding to poorer countries as a way to stimulate their economies and to fund larger aging populations.



The medical industry, at least as it is currently set up and understood in the modern world, could become obsolete if Cetron and Davies’s life expectancy projections and medical-breakthrough forecasts are accurate. For example, memory-enhancing drugs and artificial blood are two trends the authors predict, and if just these two prognostications come to pass, they would significantly reduce the need for the services and products provided by the medical industry. If there comes a day that sees cures for the deadliest diseases and solutions to the most complex biological challenges of aging, medical intervention, Cetron and Davies suggest, will become as passé as bellbottoms and video rental shops.

Cetron and Davies also take an interest in how a longer life affects the business of daily living. They offer tips on how to get ready for a future that is perhaps more open-ended than many initially assumed it would be. From developing alternative income sources to retiring gradually in a series of stages, the authors aim to empower readers to meet financial concerns with pragmatism. They also investigate the religious and ethical issues that are inexorably bound with a longer life on this plane of existence.

Finally, Cetron and Davies detail a five-point plan for us in the "perimortal world" to undertake now, before the challenges of the future become the disasters of the present. They close out the volume with a series of appendices, again geared toward the perimortal as we ready ourselves for a lengthier future: a directory of aging-in-place and hospice care agencies; a listing of 74 American trends and 50 worldwide trends that will serve as hallmarks of a postmortal society; and a collection of statistics on aging. Cheating Death also includes an index and listing of other works by Cetron and Davies.