Human lifespan in the Star Trek universe

[Nyotarules]

According to Memory Beta the human lifespan is 150 years in the 'normal' universe and 120 years in the Terran empire universe. I know MB is not canon, but most of the novelverse follows this longer lived humans in their plots, and in canon Dr McCoy was still around in 24th century looking like a 90 year old man in a 137 year old body. So does this mean:-
1. Humans work longer and retire when they reach 100 years old
2. Humans genetically manipulated their DNA to live longer and be fairly agile in old age (leftovers from the Augment virus)
3. Humans slow down their ageing process, so an average 80 year old human in the Star Trek universe looks like an average 50 year old human in RL
4. Retirement homes are an even bigger business in the Star Trek universe

 

[Sophie74656]

Likely it is due to advancement in medical technology. Most illness seems to be curable. Cancer is not an issue an more for them or most other illness that people may die from today. It also seems like people are overall healthier, that may be a factor as well.

 

[Tenacity]

12 years in the Terran empire universe

Wow, that must be from a high infant mortality.

They obviously have adults.

 

[Nyotarules]

Wow, that must be from a high infant mortality.

They obviously have adults.

oops a typo! should be 120!

 

[Nyotarules]

Likely it is due to advancement in medical technology. Most illness seems to be curable. Cancer is not an issue an more for them or most other illness that people may die from today. It also seems like people are overall healthier, that may be a factor as well.

So for humans,100 is the new 60!

 

[Sophie74656]

oops a typo! should be 120!

Well that makes a lot more sense lol. They probably lead much more dangerous lives

 

[Sophie74656]

So for humans,100 is the new 60!

Something like that i guess.

 

[Kor]

Aging seems to proceed normally. It's just that once they reach the final stages of human life, they stay alive in that aged condition for decades.

Kor

 

[Leviathan]

ST lifespan depends largely on the color shirt worn.

 

[Longinus]

I'm sure the live longer and effectively age slower due much better medical technology, though 150 years average life span seems too high. Makes more sense as an effective maximum life span. BTW Picard was about a decade older than Stewart and didn't seem to be planning to retire any time soon.

 

[Nyotarules]

Aging seems to proceed normally. It's just that once they reach the final stages of human life, they stay alive in that aged condition for decades.

Kor

I think they stop ageing once they reach 80, with the aid of Khanox II vitamins.

 

[Nyotarules]

I'm sure the live longer and effectively age slower due much better medical technology, though 150 years average life span seems too high. Makes more sense as an effective maximum life span. BTW Picard was about a decade older than Stewart and didn't seem to be planning to retire any time soon.

Cos he had another 100 years of natural life to better himself.

 

[F. King Daniel]

According to "The Counter Clock Incident", Starfleet had a mandatory retirement age of 75 in the 23rd century.

I assume it was just for humans, since Vulcans and whatnot that'd be terribly unfair.

 

[Sophie74656]

According to "The Counter Clock Incident", Starfleet had a mandatory retirement age of 75 in the 23rd century.

I assume it was just for humans, since Vulcans and whatnot that'd be terribly unfair.

Well it was said that Tuvok rejoined starfleet when he was at least 100, so yeah that doesn't apply to Vulcans

 

[Shawnster]

Now it's not clear how much genetic manipulation is legal vs. Illegal in the Federation. Bashir is an example of illegal genetic manipulation.

 

[Kronos]

Maybe everyone is a robot, being controlled form somewhere else, this would explain away the gravity problems.

 

[C.E. Evans]

I might be in the minority, but I always felt that McCoy at 137 was far more the exception than the rule and that it was rare for a Human to live that long, even in the 24th-Century, I could see 120 being the average Human lifespan, though, so McCoy being as old as he was wasn't impossible, just not the norm, IMO.

 

[Tim Thomason]

I think 140 is a "ripe, old age" in Trek times, per Dax's statement in "To the Death" on when she expected O'Brien to die. You wouldn't comfort someone saying "I think you're going to die in bed, surrounded by friends and family, at the age of 53."

140 neatly ties in with McCoy's age. He was kind of a health nut, so I can see him bucking the trend and being a healthier 137 than most (like those 95-year-olds today who walk around and engage with people day-to-day despite advanced age).

 

[Shawnster]

How do you get that McCoy was a health nut?

 

[t_smitts]

I actually started a thread on this a couple of years back. It's hard to judge, since McCoy's really the only example of human longevity, apart from though extraordinary means like Zefram Cochrane and the Companion, or some sort of near-immoral like Flint (I really wish "Enterprise" had made an episode with him that would've explained that).

For the record, the longest confirmed lifespan in real life is Jeanne Calment, a French woman who died in 1997 at the age of 122. No other person has been proven to reach 120 or 121 years of age. Obviously, McCoy's age is fifteen years longer than that, and "Encounter at Farpoint" was produced a decade before Calment had reached that age.

Obviously, treating diseases, not to mention hunger and war, would shoot life expectancy way up and give people a better shot at extreme lifespans, but I agree with C.E. Evans that it's hard to imagine lifespans of that length being common, even 350 years from now, when no one's come close to it. The novels stretch it even further by seeming to have every TOS and movie-era human character living into the TNG era (such as Nilz Baris and Carol Marcus), as well as having McCoy himself living at least another decade.

It would be interesting to know what the human longevity record in the 24th century would be (again, not counting characters like Flint, Cochrane, or Scotty). Is there some lady in a retirement home somewhere, in the high end of her second century, who can recount meeting President Archer, Ambassador T'Pol, or Fleet Captain Pike?