Presidents Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping were caught on a hot mic on Wednesday discussing human longevity in a brief exchange that touched on living to 150 years old and even the prospect of “immortality.”
The unscripted conversation took place right before a military parade in Beijing, which marked 80 years since Japan’s surrender in World War II, and was flagged by social media users during a state television livestream.
“With the development of biotechnology, human organs can be continuously transplanted, and people can live younger and younger, and even achieve immortality,” Putin was quoted as saying by Bloomberg, citing his interpreter.
Xi replied that in earlier times, “people rarely lived to 70, but these days at 70 years you are still a child,” before predicting that “this century, there’s a chance of also living to 150.”
The conversation, which lasted less than a minute, ended with Xi laughing at Putin’s remark, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Both men are 72 years old.
Asked later at a press conference about the exchange, Putin, who has been in power since 2000, told reporters that “modern health treatments, even surgical ones, including organ transplants, give humanity reason to hope that life expectancy will rise significantly.”
“According to UN data, by 2050, there will be more people over the age of 65 than children aged 5 or 6. This will have social, political and economic consequences. And this is something we must certainly keep in mind when we talk about life expectancy,” he said.
Putin’s comments echoed reports from last year that he has taken an interest in anti-aging and life extension technologies.
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