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Geist

Prophet of Truth
Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
4,579
People always seem to have negative reactions to the idea of immortality, and I've never understood it.

I forget the name of it, but there's a short story about a world where everyone gets eaten by a dragon when they reach a certain age. No one can defeat the dragon so they accept it. As the centuries go by, and technology advances, some people realise they might be able to kill the dragon. Most people think the idea is ridiculous, that you shouldn't mess with the natural order, so there is no funding for dragon killing projects. Eventually the monarchy does fund the dragon killing project, and when it's dead they are wracked with guilt over all the generations that died needlessly.

I think we're currently in the "insufficient funding for dragon killing projects" phase.
That's been my experience everytime I bring it up in conversation. Hell, I don't even really care about living forever, but if I can live however long I'm alive without becoming old and decrepit I want that.

There's definitely a sense of pessimistic acceptance regarding old age and death ingrained in human society in general. Hard to know if we'll ever get passed that.
 

voOsh

Member
Apr 5, 2018
1,665
I've been hearing of the benefits of metformin for a few years now. Seems like a drug a large % of the population would benefit from.
 

Mulciber

Member
Aug 22, 2018
5,217
I've been convinced for ages now that I'm going to be like 85 and frail and see on the news that scientists have stopped the aging process, and just scream with rage into the void.
 

balgajo

Self-requested ban
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
1,251
I love the idea of living forever. Though at the same time I don't care about it if by the time it's accessible I'm old with a body in a bad condition. I'm 31 right now, they have 20 years to discover something that interests me.

I've been convinced for ages now that I'm going to be like 85 and frail and see on the news that scientists have stopped the aging process, and just scream with rage into the void.
That's a fucking nightmare. You will mantain the body of 85 for 200 years until someone discover something that reverses your age...XD
 

Contramann

Member
Oct 27, 2017
2,404
tenor.gif
underrated post.

Anyways, maybe long-living rich people will actually stop trying to destroy the planet before they die.
 

Mulciber

Member
Aug 22, 2018
5,217
That's a fucking nightmare. You will mantain the body of 85 for 200 years until someone discover something that reverses your age...XD
And as time goes on, you'll become more and more of a weird abnormality. (As older-aged people die of other natural causes.)

Two hundred years later, you'll be the lone elderly person walking through a world of 25 year olds.
 

balgajo

Self-requested ban
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
1,251
And as time goes on, you'll become more and more of a weird abnormality. (As older-aged people die of other natural causes.)

Two hundred years later, you'll be the lone elderly person walking through a world of 25 year olds.
Yep. Thinking better about it people won't have motivation enough to research a process to reverse age as the old human will be only from this era. And the majority of young people will be only from the next generation because this new condition will probably lead to forced birth control. Only the people that dies can be substituted by a newborn. Now I wish I was born at least 20 years later.
 

Deleted member 6056

Oct 25, 2017
7,240
Give me.a way to reverse the clock and I might go back into wrestling.
 

ameleco

The Fallen
Nov 2, 2017
975
Been following this research (in general) for awhile. There's a subreddit (longevity) that has tons of information, etc. It's definitely exciting! It could be possible that in our lifetime, we will be able to repair age related damage faster than we accrue it. Also, it seems far more difficult to prevent aging currently than it does to just repair the damage after the fact.
 

Froli

Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,653
Philippines
I kinda felt happy and hopeful reading this. I just want to live more and see how the world advance in technology and medical science.
 

Stooge

Member
Oct 29, 2017
11,138
I think people living to 200 is an inevitability. Maybe not for a few hundred more years.

It's gonna be such a shit show though.
 

Josh5890

I'm Your Favorite Poster's Favorite Poster
The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
23,179
Didn't everyone see Rise of Planet of the Apes? Bad things happen when you mess with nature.
 

Vex

Member
Oct 25, 2017
22,213
I kinda felt happy and hopeful reading this. I just want to live more and see how the world advance in technology and medical science.
This was my first thought. Even if I do not somehow contribute to the technological advancements of Earth's citizens, I want to witness it. I also am hoping that this would allow me to live to see space TRULY explored.

Then I started to think how bad things could get......
 

Stryder

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
1,530
US
I don't know how I feel about staying alive longer than the average human lifespan. Every day we get closer to a cyberpunk hellscape imagined decades ago
 

Titik

Member
Oct 25, 2017
7,490
Pack up the thread, everyone. It's old news according to this guy. "I mean, duh, of course you can live forever!"
Don't appreciate the snark but my point still stands. I won't be surprised if most of these anti aging research is focused on the many effects observed during fasting. Won't be surprised if they start looking at BDNF (brain derived neurotrophic factor) next when it comes to keeping the mind and brain younger as well.
 

Deleted member 18360

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
2,844
Death is good and necessary.

I don't think it's very bold to say that life extension technologies aren't going to produce beings that are literally eternal. Death will still exist, it will just happen a lot less because of age related degenerative illnesses, the social costs and benefits of which will largely depend on the ways we organize and structure our societies.
 

Awesome Kev

Banned
Jan 10, 2018
1,670
imagine a future where immortality is real and it's also a thing for people to eventually just opt out of living. they make it into a big celebration or event or whatever. so and so's death party.
 

samoscratch

Member
Nov 25, 2017
2,838
I never want people to be able to live extended lives or live forever, death is the great equalizer and it should always remain that way.
 

samoyed

Banned
Oct 26, 2017
15,191
People always seem to have negative reactions to the idea of immortality, and I've never understood it.
We can barely solve our current social problems of distribution and equality with lifespans of ~85.

Living to 200 will make it just that worse as the richest people in the world accumulate even more of the world (they "own" half the world, maybe they can go for 90%?).

I'd rather solve the equality problem before the immortality problem because immortality makes equality that much more difficult. Or we can just have 1 billion immortals and kill the other 6.5 billion people via exploitation or neglect, that works as well. Everyone thinks they're going to be the ones who get to be immortal, and not the ones who get thrown to the wolves.
 
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UltraMagnus

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
15,670
Extended life spans was really to me always a question of when moreso than "if". I think it's inevitable.

What I would like to see would be greater quality of life for people in their 70s/80s/90s ... that would reduce medical costs considerably.
 

Anth0ny

Member
Oct 25, 2017
46,830
yeeeeeeee immortality confirmed

i'll be there for gta 10

(assuming the planet holds up)
 

Titik

Member
Oct 25, 2017
7,490
imagine a future where immortality is real and it's also a thing for people to eventually just opt out of living. they make it into a big celebration or event or whatever. so and so's death party.
Already kinda happens. I believe There is a girl in California that has a terminal disease throw her own death party weekend. She invited everyone close to her as if it was a wedding or a big birthday.

She was planning of taking her life that weekend with a cocktail of drugs, iirc.
 

Maxina

Banned
Oct 28, 2017
3,308
Nothing good will come from terrible people cheating death. Death is gonna have to up its game if it wants to keep balance in the cosmos.
 

samoyed

Banned
Oct 26, 2017
15,191
If we discover immortality, under our current world structure, it'd just be another form of this:
gb1-864x535.jpg


Get ready to work forever for your immortal boss.
 

samoyed

Banned
Oct 26, 2017
15,191
I mean the bosses won't be immune to being cornered by an angry mob. Eventually.
We just need to look our current circumstances to see how this would play out in real life. You'd have 50-100 years of oppression and exploitation then maybe a chance at a violent insurrection all while the comfortable immortal moderates tut tut at you about civility and violence, and ask you to go through the proper channels if you want to overthrow your immortal boss.

That is assuming, as umop said, they don't have automated drones to gun you down, or an army of immortal drone pilots to gun you down.