Statistically Speaking

Stopping ageing and eliminating all diseases would not allow one to live forever; at least according to statistics. Each year, American adults have overall, a 1-in-1,743 chance of dying in an accident. That means that even without ageing and diseases, unless science managed to make us invulnerable and "unbreakable", we would on average live for about 1,743 years.

But of course that is for America, I am sure one can live longer in some other countries where the rate of accident is lower. According to the article that I got the statistics from, at least in America, you can lower your chance of accidental death to about 1 in 10,000 if you avoid work and driving. Implication is, if you can somehow have an immortal health, the next thing you should do is to be a sloth (and yes, keep clear of the roads too). For the less you do, the less room for mistakes you have, and by logical induction, if you do really nothing, you can extend your life as long as you want. But then perhaps not. Who can predict really freakish accidents like a plane crashing into your house? Is there even a calculated probability for something like that? 1 in 1 zillion perhaps?

Anyway, living for 1,743 years is already not so bad. Let's see... If I am 1,743 years old now and expecting to die anytime this year, I would have to be born in 264 AD. Hey, that would mean if I was in Europe, very likely, I could be a citizen of the Roman Empire. I would have witnessed the rise and fall of many civilizations, seen some of the greatest achievements of mankind and our worst sins. And if I am to count 1,743 years from now to the future, that would be 3750 AD! Perhaps I would be killed in an accident on the Moon or some other far flung planet that we Earthlings have colonized. Or maybe before that happens, mankind would be wiped out by a gigantic asteroid hitting the Earth that we couldn't stop (isn't there a probability for that as well)? I suppose at the end of the day, not much point to spend so much time mulling on the meaning of all these statistics except just for fun.