Can you find a cake to hold 1,000 candles?

A new study out of a British think tank predicts that our lifespan may well increase to a 1,000 years in the not-too-distant future.

The group provides a whole host of evidence that technology and medical advancements could expand the average lifespan of humankind to as much as 1,000 years and that perhaps - just perhaps - a child born today could live to that ripe old age.

Granted, it's nearly impossible to imagine that despite these major advancements, someone could live that long.

But you also have to accept the amazing increase in the average lifespan in just the past 100 years or so.

Here's just one example. The average lifespan has doubled from 40 to 80 just since 1900. Now granted, I doubt you could expect lifespans to double every 100 years but honestly, it's not so farfetched.

Everyone recognizes the advancements in medicine that have increased lifespan. Major diseases that wreaked havoc and brought death to earlier generations are now long forgotten.

But improvements we take for granted - like clean drinking water - have upped the average lifespan more than you can imagine.

Put in perspective, the oldest recorded age is a French woman who lived to be 122. There are other examples that surpass that mark but those cases come without much documentation for verification.

Suffice to say, we're living longer on average and without the major health obstacles that have plagued past generations.

But 1,000 years? That is clearly beyond our current imagination.

Most people agree that there are lifestyle changes you can make to expand your expected lifespan - no smoking, ample exercise, moderate diet, etc.

But science has discovered that even ancient civilizations in Egypt for example, had instances of heart disease and other "modern" ailments.

The point is that our lifestyles have an impact but some diseases have been around long before there was this push to improve our habits.

Despite these obvious obstacles, science still believes we have not nearly approached our potential lifespan. They believe that increased advancements will somehow expand the average lifespan to astronomical numbers.

Most of us - with some exceptions - would prefer a quality life over a life of quantity. But this new study says we can actually have both.

I think for the most part this study is bunk. I believe there are limitations on the human body that will limit our existence of this earth.

But I agree we have yet to reach that limit.

The obvious question is this - If you could live to be 1,000, would you want to?

For those of you reading this column today, that is undoubtedly a question we won't have to answer.

But who knows?