Life at 140? Longer life spans up for debate

[28 November 2006 - CNN] Imagine a world with no cancer, Alzheimer's disease or diabetes, where people routinely live to be 140 years old. Although outside conventional medical opinion, that world may be just a couple of decades away, according to James Canton, author of a new book, "The Extreme Future: The Top Trends That Will Reshape the World for the Next 5, 10, and 20 Years." Canton, who has served as a consultant on future trends for clients including Motorola and the White House, said advances in information technology, biotechnology, neuroscience, and nanotechnology will allow for radical advances in medicine and the treatment of diseases. "Once medicine becomes boldly proactive, then you're talking about eliminating 70, 80 percent of diseases," Canton said in an interview. "We're just on the edge of this. It's going to happen very shortly." More