HarperCollinsPublishers
1 London Bridge Street
London SE1 9GF
First published by HarperCollinsPublishers 2019
FIRST EDITION
Text © Camilla Cavendish 2019
Illustrations © HarperCollinsPublishers 2019
Cover design by Steve Leard © HarperCollinsPublishers 2019
Cover photograph © Shutterstock.com
A catalogue record of this book is available from the British Library
Camilla Cavendish asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
Find out about HarperCollins and the environment at www.harpercollins.co.uk/green
Source ISBN: 9780008295158
Ebook Edition © May 2019 ISBN: 9780008295189
Version 2019-04-25
Contents
Demography tips the balance of power
The stages of life are changing
If exercise and diet was a pill, we’d all be taking it
Old brains can learn new tricks – and they must, to keep in shape
Immortality isn’t here yet, but anti-ageing drugs are on the way
Everyone needs a neighbourhood
Robots care for you, humans care about you
In memory of Richard Cavendish,
1930–2016
The New World of Extra Time
IN 2018, A DUTCHMAN began a court battle to make himself legally 20 years younger. Emile Ratelband, 69, told a court in Arnhem in the Netherlands that he did not feel ‘comfortable’ with his official chronological age, which did not reflect his emotional state – and was preventing him from finding work, or love online. He wanted to change his date of birth from 11 March 1949 to 11 March 1969.
Doctors had told him that his body was that of a 45-year-old, Ratelband argued. ‘When I’m 69,’ he said, ‘I am limited. If I’m 49, I can take up more work. When I’m on Tinder and it says I’m 69, I’m outdated.’ His friends had urged him to lie, he claimed, but ‘if you lie, you have to remember everything you say’.
Ratelband compared his quest to be identified as younger with that of people who wish to be identified as transgender – implying that age should be fluid. He said