Obviously different for everyone and I guessed that's where you were coming from.
For my old boss, his work was everything. Two days before he died, we agreed to final edits on a book we co-authored. He was working right up to the end despite being in a wheelchair after his brain hemorrhage.
That said, the brain hemorrhage left him with poor vision and unable to walk. Reading, writing, lecturing and teaching were his reasons for being. I say he was researching up to the end, but at the end he needed someone to read to him. So the final drafts of our book, he edited by listening as our rough drafts were read aloud to him.
Anyway, all that to say that those last years of poor health were actually fairly productive for him (most people never publish a book even in their best years). But I think he regretted them. He told me often that he was depressed and didn't see the point anymore if he couldn't read and couldn't walk. Of course it's not for me to make that decision for someone else, but I think in retrospect, he may have preferred that the homorrhage had killed him.
I could give up a lot in life and be happy. I'm sort of looking forward to being a crotchety old guy who can bust the chops of the kids (i.e. anyone under, say, 70) and get away with it. My grandmother once told me her 80s were her best and happiest years and I can see there are many pleasures in life and don't mean to deny it.
But Emmanuel's article is definitely interesting food for thought especially for those of us already into (or well into) middle age. I don't believe science is going to save us. Today's two year-old may in fact be healthy and productive for 120 years. I think our life spans, though, will be much like our parents and having seen family die slowly and die quickly, I will choose younger and quicker any day if I can. But like Littleman, as long as I'm reasonably healthy and can make myself a thorn in the side of youth without being a burden to them, I'll keep kicking.
