Interesting article about the search for longevity here:
http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2009/03/can-humans-live.html
Living to 1000 doesn’t really appeal to me but it might if I could reverse the aging process and my body felt like it was 21 again.
I have often wondered how a persons’ mind would hold up for that long. Physically, they may be able to reverse the aging process or even put it on hold, but could a persons’ mind really hold up for that long without snapping? Think about all the awful things you see every day and even though one may not think about them, a prolonged exposure to that has to take it’s toll. I just wonder how much of that a person can push further and further into their subconscious before then snap.
I’d go for it. There’s just so much out there that I’d love to do, see, and learn that there’s no way I could fit it all in in less than 100 years.
No.
I kinda like the way the lifespans are set up in this reality… 80 years or so is good, with plenty of ways to get yourself killed before then. I personally wouldn’t mind living to be 1000, but I’d hate to see what the greedy power hungry bastards would do to the world if they could live that long…
Only if I could spend all that time with a super hot guy… or 3.
Yes, but I would probablly just waste 920 years of it.
This a classic glass half empty/half full arguement. Sure, there are bad things. But there are just as many if not more wonderful things in life. I would think it all comes down to how you view life. If you are a half empty person, sure, after a few hundred years you might be batshit crazy. On the other hand, if you are a half full person, you might have a hell of alot of joy and wisdom.
Personally, I am kinda in the middle but tend to lean half full. I would therefore go for it. How many times do people say if I only know then, what I know now? Well personally I would like to know what I would know if I was around for 1000 years.
A thousand-year lifespan, huh??? Throw in an adamantium skeleton, animal instincts, and a self-regenerating body AND I’M IN!!!
Conditions:
Yes, definitely. I don’t expect to live to 1000, but I definitely expect to benefit from life-extension technologies in the decades to come and to live well past the century mark. Among anti-aging researchers, it is widely believed that some technologies will almost certainly extend the lives of the youngest among us today, although they will arrive too late for the oldest. In-between is the “cusp” generation–that is, my own cohort (I was born in 1948). For individuals in my generation, whether or not we will share in these benefits will depend in part on how well we take care of ourselves now, so that is a very high priority in my own life. I think that financial preparedness will also play a role, since the most advanced technologies will not be available through national health care, and they may in fact require travelling abroad at one’s own expense.
The article raises this question: “Why do we as humans strive so hard to prolong our lives in the first place? Maybe growing old, getting sick and dying is just a natural, inevitable part of the circle of life, and we may as well accept it.” Of course, one could argue just as readily that human beings weren’t meant to fly in planes, that being ground-bound is a natural, inevitable part of life. Once the technology arrives, such objections are quickly forgotten. There is at least one thing, however, that I do think is natural to human beings: the desire to increase the quality and quantity of their lives. That desire has fostered progress through the centuries, and life extension will only be another manifestation of that historical trend.
It is important to emphasize that we’re not talking about extending old age, at least not as we think of it with all its weaknesses and infirmities. We’re talking about renewing the vitality in our bodies, including our brains. Yes, we’re even talking about a world in which supercentenarians will be performing at a high level in triathlons.
A couple of good websites on this topic:
This a classic glass half empty/half full arguement. Sure, there are bad things. But there are just as many if not more wonderful things in life. I would think it all comes down to how you view life. If you are a half empty person, sure, after a few hundred years you might be batshit crazy. On the other hand, if you are a half full person, you might have a hell of alot of joy and wisdom.
Personally, I am kinda in the middle but tend to lean half full. I would therefore go for it. How many times do people say if I only know then, what I know now? Well personally I would like to know what I would know if I was around for 1000 years.
True, but it would be the accumulation over all time. There is only so much you can push to the back of your mind. I have seen some awful stuff over time. I certainly don’t think about it constantly but every so often, the images will flash into my head. Over an extended period of time, I don’t think I could handle it. No matter how many great things I see.
M~
sure I’d do it. ages 400 to 500 would be middle age. Maybe then I’d finally win my age group in a race!
You mean I’m NOT going to live to be 1000? Shit, I’d better get busy then. I’ve been just hanging out figuring I had another 900some years to go.
Races will suck when 100,000 are allowed in.
“whether they realize it or not, barring accidents and suicide, most people now 40 years or younger can expect to live for centuries”
The technology may be invented before I grow old…but can most of us afford it? I doubt it. If someone invents the cure for “old”, I would imagine such an item will not come cheaply. And what would it do to the health care industry? How will costs raise if people will be draining the system for not just 60, 70, 80, 90 years…but for CENTURIES? How would you afford to pay to LIVE for centuries? WIll the cost of goods and services and living raise?
The ramifications go far beyond simply curing death and living forever–there are huge societal and economic implications that, i think, in the end would just prove far too insurmountable for it to be a feasible thing.
just the other day I calculated an estimate of how many times I have to cut my toenails yet in my life, I’ll be damned if I have to recalculate it.
“If someone invents the cure for ‘old,’ I would imagine such an item will not come cheaply.”
The usual pattern in technological innovation is that an initial version of a new technology comes on the market, which is terribly expensive and doesn’t work very well. A few short years later, a moderately priced version that works decently comes to market. Finally, not long afterward, a version that almost anyone can afford and that works very well comes out. It’s the early adopters (the much despised “filthy” rich) who expand the market and pave the way for the rest of us in this development.
Nevertheless, as I indicated in my earlier post, I believe that those who really want to extend their lives should be planning ahead now to shell out some big bucks later.
“there are huge societal and economic implications that, i think, in the end would just prove far too insurmountable for it to be a feasible thing.”
There are also some huge potential economic benefits, particularly if realistic adjustments to retirement ages are made. At present, the loss of knowledge resulting from relatively early deaths (also early senility) has a devastating economic impact.
In any case, it doesn’t really matter whether you or I welcome this change, because it will happen anyway–if not in the US at first, then elsewhere.
***HELL NO! *** I didn’t read the article but my body is so broken down at 32 I can’t imagine what it would be like even as I approach 100. Hopefully I’ll never find out.
If I could maintain my health at its optimum (or regenerate) - mental as well as physical, still no. Especially if it was just me and not everyone I know and love. Fuck that shit. I don’t want to watch everyone around me die. That would suck.
If everyone on the planet could pull off this same trick? No way! The only way that would be sustainable is if births were then only possible every 300-400 years… The sheer mass of humanity would quickly overrun the planet and we’d all choke out and die.
Screw that noise.
Perhaps Freddie Mercury said it best: Who wants to live forever anyway…
Getting passed by a guy with M150 on his calf will really suck.
Nah…we’ll run out of calf space at that age 
.