If it were possible to live forever...would you?

[amicus]

An early happy birthday wish, Ami.

The scope and concept of human life would certainly expand. More than that, though, it would change dramatically. Death is one of those things that keeps humans working toward a goal. With less than a century to live, we feel the pressure to do certain things at certain times (career, family, etc.). Take that away, and there would be a markedly reduced sense of urgency in much of our day-to-day routine.

I'm not saying that's a bad thing. But human lifestyles would seriously change. All endeavors could be taken to incredible levels, including the bad ones. Laziness and gluttony would certainly become titanic for some people.

I think, among some parts of the population, violence would increase. Without natural death, entire cultures would devote themselves to ensuring a violent end to those whose existence they deem is a drain. There would be caps on birth rates, perhaps even government controls upon it in some cases.

Just a few thoughts.[/QUOTE]

Why, thank you, Slyc, you be da foist.

I am an optimist and a unremitting romantic, so I never look for the 'dark' side of things. It does not particularly please me to be reminded of the reality of 'that' side of human nature, for surely it does exist.

I recently watched a Disney Film, WALL E...with the usual left wing plot that man had so badly polluted the plant that the entire human race went into space.

I don't see that ever happening even if every environmentalist keeled over from an excess of empathy overnight.()

More likely, I foresee, ( and I know I read this in a sci fi book somewhere) that only the hive like liberals remained in hermetically sealed cities and the real humans departed into the deep reaches of space.

It may have been the Foundation Series...I can easily imagine a space vessel with about ten thousand eager humans setting off for Alpha Centauri or Betelguise(sp), stopping at random asteroid belts for material to expand the size of the vessel to accomodate an always growing population.

So what if the journey took a thousand years or so?

And I cannot discount evolution, as we carry it in our genes and I suspect that mental acuity, in the form of extra sensory perceptions, probably telepathy, are just around some millenia corner waiting for us.

Now if I can just get that injection in the next few years....

Amicus

 

[Tx Tall Tales]

I think the main reason I would want to stick around would be to explore that final frontier that Star Trek promised. Strange new world, strange new cultures. To go where no man has gone before!!!!

Or to just knock around the galaxy like Lazarus Long.

That's why I would hang around.

Sign me up. Inter solar-sytem colonization would be a challenge that I'd be SO up for. At least for a few hundred years, I think.

 

[amicus]

Hello and welcome....that be two of us...



amicus

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Pleeeeze!

No self respecting member of the Moocher-Parasite Class will remain behind on Earth if the Producer Class abandons them for new worlds. Bet the farm that they'll sit on the laps of the female passengers.

 

[Weird Harold]

I recently watched a Disney Film, WALL E...with the usual left wing plot that man had so badly polluted the plant that the entire human race went into space.

I don't see that ever happening even if every environmentalist keeled over from an excess of empathy overnight.()

More likely, I foresee, ( and I know I read this in a sci fi book somewhere) that only the hive like liberals remained in hermetically sealed cities and the real humans departed into the deep reaches of space.

It may have been the Foundation Series...

Actually, the only place I remember that particular observation about the drones staying behind while the "cream of humanity" emigrates to the frontier was R. A. Heinlein and Lazarous Long.

Humanity will never completely leave Earth -- or any other developed planet in the future -- because of the "Chinese Paradox" will keep emigrants from being shipped out faster than the birth-rate replaces them. It is theoretically possible to build sufficient ships to totally evacuate humanity but the problem would be finding the energy to lift the mass of the unwashed masses into space.

It is far more likely that Wall-E would find himself alone because the stay-behind humans all died off.

 

[OhMissScarlett]

Okay, my 'nerd' night...History Channel, "That's Impossible" "Eternal Life Education, Episode 4, Originally aired 07/28/09...

Long story short: nanobots introduced into the bloodstream repair damaged cells on a continual basis, reversing the aging process and nobody has to die, immortality even better than good ole Dracula!

The process of exchanging the blood of a young mouse with an old one, rejuvenated the old mouse, so...sucking the blood of sweet young things giving eternal life ain't so far fetched after all!

Now...the big question...wait for it....would you?

Live forever...if you could?

Amicus

That sounds like a recipe for zombie apocalypse.

 

[The_Fool]

That sounds like a recipe for zombie apocalypse.

Is that a type of drink? Related to the Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster?

 

[OhMissScarlett]

Is that a type of drink? Related to the Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster?

Yes, and if you add milk, then it's a White Zombie Apocalypse.

 

[Handley_Page]

Is that a type of drink? Related to the Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster?

You just cannot get the mixture right these days.
I blame the Vogons.

 

[The_Fool]

Yes, and if you add milk, then it's a White Zombie Apocalypse.

Now you got me thinking about experimenting with drinks containing Bacardi 151, brandy and some form of dairy product. Maybe some Tia Maria, Kahlua, Bailleys, I dunno.

 

[The_Fool]

You just cannot get the mixture right these days.
I blame the Vogons.

Might as well. I already blame them for the poetry.

 

[amicus]

Pleeeeze!

No self respecting member of the Moocher-Parasite Class will remain behind on Earth if the Producer Class abandons them for new worlds. Bet the farm that they'll sit on the laps of the female passengers.

~~~

Naw, JBJ, the human race that went into space leaving the earth in the hands of the 'cleaners' the walle's. all suffered bone loss and obesity to a point they could not even walk and were tended by robots for their every need.

It could well be we send all the Moocher-Parasite Class into space so they have be immersed in a complete hive-like existence and the rest of us set about to reduce all government buildings to rubble and plant corn, and not for ethanol either.

Heh...



Ami

 

[amicus]

Actually, the only place I remember that particular observation about the drones staying behind while the "cream of humanity" emigrates to the frontier was R. A. Heinlein and Lazarous Long.

Humanity will never completely leave Earth -- or any other developed planet in the future -- because of the "Chinese Paradox" will keep emigrants from being shipped out faster than the birth-rate replaces them. It is theoretically possible to build sufficient ships to totally evacuate humanity but the problem would be finding the energy to lift the mass of the unwashed masses into space.

It is far more likely that Wall-E would find himself alone because the stay-behind humans all died off.

~~~

I thought of Heinlein and, "Time Enough For Love", if memory serves, but I question your Chinese Paradox, with the one child limit in China and western civilizations reproducing at or below replacement rates...the projections for world population in the future have stabilized and even declined according to some.

Venturing into space enmasse is, in my opinion, impractical and will always remain so unless the speed of light is exceeded, even so, either deep freeze hibernation or the reversal of aging by the nanotechnology becomes a reality.

Amicus

 

[oggbashan]

If we could all live long and useful lives like Henry Allingham, until recently the world's oldest man, who was buried with full military honours today, then it might be worthwhile living longer.

But not forever.

Og

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

~~~

Naw, JBJ, the human race that went into space leaving the earth in the hands of the 'cleaners' the walle's. all suffered bone loss and obesity to a point they could not even walk and were tended by robots for their every need.

It could well be we send all the Moocher-Parasite Class into space so they have be immersed in a complete hive-like existence and the rest of us set about to reduce all government buildings to rubble and plant corn, and not for ethanol either.

Heh...



Ami

We'll just have to start a rumor the moochers-parasites cant resist; it wont be hard as they buy almost anything that comes out if Europe or Washington. Maybe a video of Stalin, Lenin, and Eleanor Roosevelt on Mars encouraging them to commandeer a Shuttle and come up to Workers Paradise. CNN and NPR would play it.

 

[Weird Harold]

I thought of Heinlein and, "Time Enough For Love", if memory serves, but I question your Chinese Paradox, with the one child limit in China and western civilizations reproducing at or below replacement rates...the projections for world population in the future have stabilized and even declined according to some.

I don't have the math to determine just what negative birth rate would be required to avoid replenishing the population faster than we can build spaceships and stack frozen colonists into them like cordwood, but I'm pretty sure that the "Chinese Paradox" would still apply -- especially since third world nations aren't practicing population control and out-breeding the developed nations.

Those third-worlders are another big problem for total evacuation scenarios. They have neither the money nor the technology to evacuate on their own and the developed nations have no (obvious) particular reason to subsidize them (although their non-technical survival skills are likely to be needed for colonizing other earth-like planets, 'cause the devloped nations have forgotten how to live without toilet paper and electricity. )

 

[OhMissScarlett]

Now you got me thinking about experimenting with drinks containing Bacardi 151, brandy and some form of dairy product. Maybe some Tia Maria, Kahlua, Bailleys, I dunno.

Sounds yummy.

 

[CharleyH]

Okay, my 'nerd' night...History Channel, "That's Impossible" "Eternal Life Education, Episode 4, Originally aired 07/28/09...

Long story short: nanobots introduced into the bloodstream repair damaged cells on a continual basis, reversing the aging process and nobody has to die, immortality even better than good ole Dracula!

The process of exchanging the blood of a young mouse with an old one, rejuvenated the old mouse, so...sucking the blood of sweet young things giving eternal life ain't so far fetched after all!

Now...the big question...wait for it....would you?

Live forever...if you could?

Amicus

I was watching a doco last night about the black market organ trade and thought about this very same thing, but this History Channel piece you speak of sounds much more enticing and poses much less of a dilemma than asking myself, 'would I, if I needed an organ transplant, pay to save my own life at the expense of another'.

I have to say, Ami, the thought of living forever has an exotic ring to it for anyone who loves life. To be able to live through multiple future periods, cultures and history would, on the one hand be absolutely Catharine Denueve in 'The Hunger' awesome. As a history buff, I'd love to have lived in certain previous times if only to experience the reality of life in ancient Egypt, Rome, early America and even more recently the whole of the 20th century. However, and there is a however ... as much as I love and savour life and history (because I know I will die) there are some concerns I have about living forever.

First, will I lose my fascination, appreciation and passion for history if I live forever? I can't say that I have as much an appreciation for history as it is made during the time I live than I do for the past. Will living every aspect of future put me out of touch with my love of archaeology, of history? Will I become desensitized and unappreciative to what happens around me?

Second, as someone who would live forever, what sort of person would I be if everyone around me is always diing? Worse, what would I become if NO ONE around me died either.

Third, I'd still have to work to make a living (trudge the 9 to 5), or become a pack rat collecting anything and everything so that in 500 years time or 1000 years, I could sell it and be posh.

Fourth, if everyone didn't die, what would they ever fear and what kind of a culture would that produce? Would I want to live in a society with no fear?

It's a hard call, but when it comes down to it, Ami, I think I'd rather live my life and see what comes next thru death, than live my life and have to experience what life is like in a world where no one dies. Of course, on the other hand, what's wrong with living a few hundred years to figure it all out.

 

[amicus]

Good Post, CharlieH, presenting even more questions and considerations, none of which I will address, mainly cuz I think this is an individual choice thing.

I will say that I am doing a leisurely search to see if there are any 'experimental' nano-reverse aging programs looking for volunteers, hell, I may be able to continue to please Lit Patrons for another fifty years. That would please me to no end. Heh

Ami

 

[CharleyH]

Good Post, CharlieH, presenting even more questions and considerations, none of which I will address, mainly cuz I think this is an individual choice thing.

I will say that I am doing a leisurely search to see if there are any 'experimental' nano-reverse aging programs looking for volunteers, hell, I may be able to continue to please Lit Patrons for another fifty years. That would please me to no end. Heh

Ami

No Problem, Ami. It was a fun question to consider.

 

[amicus]

CharleyH, wanted to return to your post for a moment:

"...First, will I lose my fascination, appreciation and passion for history if I live forever? I can't say that I have as much an appreciation for history as it is made during the time I live than I do for the past. Will living every aspect of future put me out of touch with my love of archaeology, of history? Will I become desensitized and unappreciative to what happens around me?

Second, as someone who would live forever, what sort of person would I be if everyone around me is always diing? Worse, what would I become if NO ONE around me died either.

Third, I'd still have to work to make a living (trudge the 9 to 5), or become a pack rat collecting anything and everything so that in 500 years time or 1000 years, I could sell it and be posh.

Fourth, if everyone didn't die, what would they ever fear and what kind of a culture would that produce? Would I want to live in a society with no fear?..."

~~~

From reading a few of your stories, I understand your fascination with the past, which I fully understand as I, too, enjoy learning about the history of Humanity from all aspects. I would try to imagine several lifetimes of pursuit to satisfy your curiosity and perhaps it would never be complete...

Whether others live and die along with your span of life is a consideration and even stolid old me might question 'monogamy', as I wonder if two people could continue to find interest in each other over a thousand or so years?

Your third paragraph above was responsible for me returning to your post. Over the years on the 'geek' channels I have watched, with amazement, as machines began to take over the work formerly done by humans.

Some huge factories have a few trained computer operators guiding the entire operation from raw material to finished product and even the shipping is automated.

I watched one on a battery factory just last night, C, D, A, AA, AAA batteries being produced and the only human I saw during the entire manufacturing process was the guy narrating the show.

By that, I mean to suggest that your '9 to 5', has already become a thing of the past as people, many of them from their homes, are doing business according to a schedule they desire and often far less than an eight hour work day.

"...Fourth, if everyone didn't die, what would they ever fear and what kind of a culture would that produce? Would I want to live in a society with no fear?..."

Now there is a juicy metaphysical question to ponder.

I don't live in fear of death, never have, but I can only speak for myself. I suggest there would always be fear of pain and injury as I do not foresee a future of people in protective 'bubbles', so that 'caution' about what activities one participates in, even child birth, would still carry a measure of fear and perhaps the threat of death.

Although, again, with nano medical age reversal and manufactured organ transplants, what, "Jubal" I think, called, 'rejuvenation', unless there was brain damage to the extent of total loss of function, perhaps death would be a rarity.

Even those foolhardy, 'daring young men in their flying machines', whatever form that might take in the future, the threat of death would be almost non existent.

What would that do to society in general? Interesting to speculate upon, especially as I do not really understand the Bell Curve of intelligence and whether in can be genetically manipulated towards the higher end of the curve.

Eh?



Amicus

 

[4glory6]

I'm young enough to have the urge to always be here--but then I've had some loved ones pass on and some of them have had a rough passing, and I can genuinely see that they would prefer to die at that point. In these cases, I think it is comforting that they are at the point of welcoming death.