Creation Is the Only Validation of Existence

Over the last 3 days everyone in the audience must have put themselves in shoes of a doctor and questioned, “How can we extend life?”

But did anyone wonder “What kind of life do we wish to extend?”

Let’s imagine a future where our lifespans have extended beyond 150 years or maybe we have even achieved immortality.

That should not be a future where people live longer to consume more, optimizing themselves, and remain empty and passive.

That would likely cause severe economic stress, agricultural and healthcare load, and even inequality. But lets dodge them and assume we will be prepared for such predicaments.

I want to imagine a future where living longer means longer creative and enthusiastic lives. As definite optimists. More people chasing their curiosity, building, teaching, designing, founding, mentoring, researching, and leaving records of their imagination behind.

Even then, one question remains:

What will make an extended life worth living?

There is growing evidence that purpose and creative engagement are more than just “nice-to-haves” for human health. A JAMA Network Open cohort study of almost 7,000 adults over 50 found that life purpose was significantly associated with all-cause mortality. A recent UCL study using data from more than 3,500 UK adults found that arts and cultural engagement was associated with 4% slower biological ageing on several epigenetic-ageing measures.

That is why the future of longevity should move from a narrow idea of “anti-ageing” to a richer idea of creative ageing. We should add purpose, imagination, and generativity into the existing catalogue of buzzwords: anti-aging, biomarkers, and supplements.

Anti-ageing sometimes sound like we are fighting against life. Creative ageing conveys different enthusiasm and optimism. We begin considering wisdom, memory, experience, and judgment not as leftovers of youth but as the raw materials for contribution and meaning.

However, we are surrounded by institutions that push people toward a hyper-consumerist model that ranks hedonic pleasure above the difficult, fulfilling, process of building something new.

Philosophically and psychologically, creation is the ultimate validation of human existence. It adds meaning and purpose to our lives. The anthropologist Ernest Becker famously argued that humans are driven to build 'immortality projects'. These are tangible cognitive artifacts like a company, discoveries, communities, films, writings, ideas, or art. At the same time, we also improve our odds of defining our generation by building something demonstrably unique and better than the past generations.

If we want an extended life worth living, we must change our perspective.

Stagnation in later life will be solved by biologists and doctors. Meaning and purpose can only be added on your own terms.

By keeping older populations enthusiastic, engaged in learning and creation, we can move away from a passive care and towards one in which wisdom and experience are active social and economic forces. Creation of lifelong educational centres, intergenerational studios, new careers at 70 will help us do that.

So perhaps the most important question is no longer:

“How do we stop ageing?”

Perhaps it is:

Why anti-age when we can pro-age?