Who Wants to Live Forever?

ebrown_p wrote:

Let's fix this by saying that with the immortality treatment, we raise the age that you become fertile to 699,750 years old. The childbearing period could last 50 years.

Bear in mind that retarding the aging process is somewhat possible now (by consuming powerful antioxidants every day, taking ALT-711 as soon as it hits the market, and by caloric reduction) and may become much more so in the near future, but to do what you have suggested and control these other factors is not technologically close. Remember that this is not a discussion of technology that is unimaginably distant and has the aspect of fantasy, but of technology that is approaching right now.

0 Replies

heeven wrote:

I would like to be youthful until about age 50 (able to physically do well and look healthy). After 50 the wrinkles and grey hairs and stiff joints can start to come about.

I thought that I looked pretty good, even though I am pushing 50, but maybe I am deluding myself and ought to be checking out nursing homes Surprised

ebrown_p wrote:

Let's fix this by saying that with the immortality treatment, we raise the age that you become fertile to 699,750 years old. The childbearing period could last 50 years.

Of course I would want the other symptoms of puberty (sex drive etc.) to be active for most of my life.

I doubt if anyone who has lived with teenagers would enjoy a world in which there are virtually no babies or young children to play with, but puberty lasts 699,750 years! :wink:

Some other problems:

A severe increase in birth defects after a lifetime of exposure to teratogens, mutagens, cosmic and terrestrial radiation.

High risk of accidental death before reaching reproductive age.

With almost 700,000 years between generations we could easily lose the evolutionary race with germs and other noxious life forms.

Of course there are exceptions, but it has been my experience that old people are dogmatic, hypercritical (ever attend a show where the entire front middle section is taken up by grumpy old people who refuse to smile, applaud, or show any appreciation for the efforts of the performers?) resistant to change, uncreative, and downright boring.

I think it would be nice to live 150 years or so if I could remain mentally and physically healthy. Yes, it would be great to experience history over several millennia, but reincarnation seems to be our best bet.

0 Replies

If I was immortal, I would eventually outlive my creditors...that's not such a bad thought...

0 Replies

Terry wrote:

I doubt if anyone who has lived with teenagers would enjoy a world in which there are virtually no babies or young children to play with, but puberty lasts 699,750 years! :wink:

This isn't going to happen anyway - at least not in the forseeable future. What is quite possible in the immediate future is the prospect of slowing down the mechanisms of aging, perhaps enough to live a few hundred years.

0 Replies

Anyway, aging, in the sense we're talking about t here, and development really aren't the same thing.

0 Replies

Cav, that raises an interesting question.

If you had to come up with a 600,000 year investment plan (for retirement), where would you put your money?

0 Replies

ebrown_p wrote:

If you had to come up with a 600,000 year investment plan (for retirement), where would you put your money?

It wouldn't have to be very efficient to pay off after 600,000 years. The only thing to consider is that nations would rise and fall countless times during such a period, much less investment vehicles. Here's a question. If America's Founding Fathers were still alive, could even such brilliant men adapt to a world so completely different from the one they grew up in? I believe it was Neils Bohr who said that advances in science tend to come from the fact that adherents to the old theories die, rather than that evidence makes them change their minds.

0 Replies

Today's NY Times includes an article on the subject, and one scientist interviewed speculates that based on current trends in the richer countries, by 2050 people may be living until 130 more or less routinely (or as routinely, say, as people reach 95 now). All well and good, but people who attain those ages tend to look frail and sickly.

I guess getting pumped up on some of the chemicals mentioned above might help, but at what point will we have ceased to be human and become something else?

0 Replies

From what I have read (this is not my area of science), there is no reason that we have to age. Cells seem to have evolved with the aging process wired in. This is part of our species, but there is no scientific reason that we couldn't halt the aging process.

Anyway the idea is that we would stop the aging process. You could remain your current physical age indefinitely.

I have heard there are some organisms including species of turtles that do not age after a certain point. They live until they get a disease or have an accident, but they don't get old or die of old age.

That's what I have in mind -- 600,000 more years with my present not so very old or frail body.

0 Replies

I want to live forever. It's too late to have the body and other attributes of a twenty three year old for me. So, no problem. My health and mind are pretty good and that's all I ask. The only reason people give up on living, they tire of struggling against a downward spiral. If the spiral were no more, many many would want to live as long as possible. The birth rate, I am pretty sure, would adjust and possibly be self regulating.

0 Replies

Not the way things are heading....

0 Replies

A person's whole perpective would change. Who would join an army, with the threat of death hanging over? I believe it could be the same thing re the birth rate. No one knows for sure ...

0 Replies

edgarblythe wrote:

The birth rate, I am pretty sure, would adjust and possibly be self regulating.

Edgar, I tend to agree with you about most things, but not in this case. Why do you believe the birth rate would automatically fall? People like having babies.

0 Replies

edgarblythe wrote:

A person's whole perpective would change. Who would join an army, with the threat of death hanging over?

Well, you'd sure have a lot more life to protect if you lived centuries.

0 Replies

ebrown_p wrote:

From what I have read (this is not my area of science), there is no reason that we have to age. Cells seem to have evolved with the aging process wired in. This is part of our species, but there is no scientific reason that we couldn't halt the aging process.

Anyway the idea is that we would stop the aging process. You could remain your current physical age indefinitely.

It's not my area either, but I don't think that people believe the "wired in" idea anymore, except insofar as telomeres have any relevance to aging. Now people believe that there are a lot of causes of slow degradation, such as undesired chemical reactions in your body that slowly accumulate damage over time. There are repair mechanisms, but the degradation mechanisms are much faster. The theory is that you can greatly reduce the rate of the degradation effects.

0 Replies

The question of who would want to be a soldier raises the broader issue of death by injury. The fact is, trauma is the leading cause of death for people under the age of 44 or thereabouts (in the US). The science of immortality would do nothing to affect this, presumably. If anything, people might be even more reckless, thinking they'll live forever.

On the other hand, if the risk is to lose 100,000 years of life (shudder), people might be really cautious all the time.

0 Replies

I'm 71 now, been retired 20 years, my health is still good. If anti aging can make me even a bit younger, I'd like another century if it is no worse than so far. Neil

0 Replies

neil wrote:

I'm 71 now, been retired 20 years, my health is still good. If anti aging can make me even a bit younger, I'd like another century if it is no worse than so far. Neil

Studies at Tufts University's Jean Mayer clinic over the past few years have determined that of all fruits and vegetables, those highest in antioxidant activity are prunes, raisins, and blueberries. They found that giving rats purees of fruits and vegetables near the top of the list produced remarkable results, including longer life spans, reduction of age related memory problems, and restoration of motor function in aged rats. If one wanted to increase one's antioxidant intake, this might be a good place to start.

Who Wants to Live Forever?

Related Topics

Quick Links

My Account

able2know