Imortality but at a cost.

[Icon134 0]

This may be a bit too light for the SC crowd but I was remembering back to my days in Japan when I read the book Red Mars it's a Scifi book basically suggesting the terraforming and colonization of Mars.

One of the things they come up with is a genetic procedure to effectively extend the life of expectancy of humans. My interested is not necessarily to discuss the possibility of said action.

my question and subsiquent poll is that:

If a human could be made to effectively live forever but the cost was that the person could no longer reproduce... would you take it?

i.e. live forever but never be able to have kids...

ok, discuss... I'll come back and check on y'all later...

Livin' on the Edge... sleeping with my rigger's wife...

[steveorino 7]

In this world ... no. Not because i couldn't have more kids. (I can't now, thanks to the big V) I have 4 kids & 2 grandkids.

I wouldn't want to live forever in this world as I even don't want to outlive & bury my own kids and grandkids, great grand kids, etc.

steveOrino

[niu 0]

Eternal life would be boring.

[downwardspiral 0]

HEll yeah....as long as I'm filthy rich and could end it anytime I wanted. Don't need kids and could always adopt.

www.FourWheelerHB.com

[billvon 3,070]

>Eternal life would be boring.

Something to consider though. Every year the average life expectancy gets longer. Eventually we will have very long lifespans (i.e. not infinite but close for practical purposes) and we will have to make such decisions.

[Butters 0]

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Eternal life would be boring.

Got something better to do? You may get bored but you will never be bored to death.

"That looks dangerous." Leopold Stotch

[TFFTM 1]

As with most things in the world, when you increase quantity you decrease quality. IMHO

Just because we live longer due to technological advancements doesn't mean we live better, more fruitful, gratifying lives.

(paraphrase of MM in Contact?)

BSBD
Home of the Alabama Gang

[shropshire 0]

The idea that I would have to live without kids around me..... Now that bit makes sense. But forever is a long time and this planet would seem very small after a while.

(.)Y(.)
Chivalry is not dead; it only sleeps for want of work to do. - Jerome K Jerome

[Zing 2]

If you got to live forever, you'd likely not have to remain on the planet Earth the entire time. Yeah, I'd do it.

Zing Lurks

[wmw999 2,534]

If your postulate is that everyone would live forever, and there would be no more kids, that'd probably be a bad thing, because the world would be so much less dynamic.

If, on the other hand, your asking each of us to select for ourselves, I'd go with the "have children" anyway, because, well, I already have one, and it was way worth it.

Wendy W.

There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown)

[shropshire 0]

I dont know, there'll still be loads of Skydivers, who act like kids

(.)Y(.)
Chivalry is not dead; it only sleeps for want of work to do. - Jerome K Jerome

[pfloyd 0]

Live forever = no retirement = work forever = suicide

My drinking team has a skydiving problem

[billvon 3,070]

>Just because we live longer due to technological advancements
>doesn't mean we live better, more fruitful, gratifying lives.

Actually in a literal sense we do. While the average lifespan has been creeping up slowly, the last years of people's lives are now much, much better than they have been. It used to be common to spend the last decade of one's life bedridden waiting to die. Now with better treatments for arthritis, congestive heart failure, stroke, diabetes etc people are living better for much longer.

What they _do_ with that time is up to them, of course.

[FreeflyChile 0]

it depends -- does this genetic engineering let me keep the physical condition i had when i was 20 years old forever or does my condition gradually get worse to where i spend the majority of eternity not being able to do things for myself because every part of my body not vital to keeping me alive has gotten worse as time goes on?

[Calvin19 0]

I would live forever as long as i am 19 or 22 forever. i dont need to get any older. the latest i would be imortal would probably be about 35.

[billvon 3,070]

>does this genetic engineering let me keep the physical condition i
> had when i was 20 years old forever or does my condition gradually
> get worse to where i spend the majority of eternity not being able to
> do things for myself because every part of my body not vital to
> keeping me alive has gotten worse as time goes on?

That's the point I was making above. People's "effective ages" are getting lower. 50 year olds now have a pretty good quality of life; the amount of pain they have, their mobility, their overall health etc is similar to what a 30 year old had in the 1950's. (Hence the sayings "50 is the new 30" or whatever.) And that's without any significant amount of genetic engineering. There's little doubt this trend will continue.

[rehmwa 2]

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>There's little doubt this trend will continue.

So every 56 years, a 50 year old's quality of life improves a relative 20 years......

if the trend is linear, it'll continue for 84 more years. At which point 50 year olds will have the quality of life of a newborn.

But, being fed and having your diaper changed at 50 is equivalent to being 50 in the 17th century. Thus, by 2100, we'll have backslid in quality of life by have a millenium...

The circle of life is a mystical and wonderful thing.

...
Driving is a one dimensional activity - a monkey can do it - being proud of your driving abilities is like being proud of being able to put on pants

[wmw999 2,534]

Geez Bill -- just when I think I can eat and drink at my desk you make me laugh it all out at the monitor!

Wendy W.

There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown)

[billvon 3,070]

>At which point 50 year olds will have the quality of life of a newborn.

Right. And a few years after that they will . . . you know . . . have to go sorta . . . back in.

Of course most guys try to do that for most of their lives anyway.

[FreeflyChile 0]

yeah...i was thinking more along the lines of how the curve works for that. 50 is the new 30 is fine, but 1,000,000 bein the new 500,000 doesnt work all that well if your body doesnt work well past 100 years old (speaking in current medical technology terms). given a long enough timeline, you'd have to stop aging altogether, not merely slow it down.

granted, by then you'll be able to replace all your body parts anyway so i guess its not an issue.

[Andy9o8 2]

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Eternal life would be boring.

I don't think so. There are so many things to do and experience that I'd never get bored, because as time passes, technology keeps inventing new things to do, and there's always a new crop of people to do it with. And what about Duncan McLeod, the immortal Scottish swordsman, and his immortal friends in The Highlander? Those guys were hundreds of years old, and they never got bored. And by the time I get done doing everything on Earth, technology will have progressed to the point where I can visit other planets and do stuff there. I've seen all this on TV so I know it's true.

[nathaniel 0]

Well yeah it depends on the quality of life. It'd be no fun to be a brain in a vat and technically "alive" for infinitely many years or even one. Or trapped inside a frail frame beyond rehabilitation (no offense intended to any irreparably frail people who read this) with no choices about how to conduct oneself.

But to be healthy and energetic, to be repairable might make it worthwhile. How many years would you have to work before your investments could sustain both themselves and an entertaining lifestyle? I'm guessing well less than 200 years...

My advice is to do what your parents did; get a job, sir. The bums will always lose. Do you hear me, Lebowski?

[kelpdiver 2]

Quote

Something to consider though. Every year the average life expectancy gets longer. Eventually we will have very long lifespans (i.e. not infinite but close for practical purposes) and we will have to make such decisions.

The average person lives longer now, but it doesn't seem like the high end has changed all that much. People lived into their 80s centuries ago. Just not a lot of them - lots of diseases could strike them down. We've just eliminated a lot of those elements that removed someone early.

I personally have no fear of boredom in living forever. I've got lifetimes worth of projects to do and learn. So long as my mobility is reasonable, I want to keep on trucking.

[Squeak 17]

I've been snipped and never have wanted progeny fo HELL YEAH, provided my health and sanity were amenable to said longevity

You are not now, nor will you ever be, good enough to not die in this sport (Sparky)
My Life ROCKS!
How's yours doing?

[skydemon2 0]

If I was healthy, didnt grow older and had no money worries..... HELL YA I would!!!

Beauty is only skin deep, but ugly goes clean to the bone!

I like to start my day off with a little Ray of Soulshine™!!