Living forever

[Luisrah]

I suppose that since the beggining of humanity, Man has always wanted to live forever.

But religion quieted this feeling, and still does, with it's promises of eternal life.
However, religion isn't as strong as it was 200 or even 100 years ago.
And I predict that it may continue to lose strength, due to more and more talk about science.

Forever probably isn't possible, but some more time seems certain (at least to some)
Science develops new ways of making our life last longer, by the healthy way. Reducing disease, malnutrition etc.

Point 1 (that I want you to debate) - Do you think that science will one day make us live really longer? (like something you get that makes your cells multiply faster, or age slower?)
If so, how long do you think it will take?

Assuming that it will, I suppose we all agree that most (atleast a lot of) people would want it.
Because if everyone lives 200 years for example, I can't imagine someone being willing to live only 80 years, just because they want to be natural. (Though maybe some hippie vegan animal and nature defenders [that's just a stereotype, it's not to offend anyone], those guys that hug a tree so that it won't get cut)

Lets assume that when that miraculous thing is developped and safe to use, we haven't reached global socialism or communism.
I've lately been thinking that Capitalism (the bourgeoisie actually) stays on a fine line in terms of world population.
The more people there are out there, the more unemployment there is, the more poor there are, thus, the more people that will take super-exploitative (sp?) jobs.
But the same reasons (when in ''excess'') + communists/socialists/anarchists doing propaganda = discontent and god forbid :rolleyes:, a socialist revolution.

Plus, such thing would probably cost a lot of money (point 2.1), or maybe not (point 2.2). But in that case, that could mean a lot o population around.

And we reach...
Point 2 - Could this hypothetical scenario be the biggest atrocity that the bourgeoisie would ever do?
Imagine a society where only the bourgeois live up to 200 years, and we to 80, because we have either no money to buy it (because it's expensive) or the bourgeoisie finds a way of us not having it (in order to control population in the world)

I suppose that in a Communist society this would probably mean happiness to everyone. Everyone (I suppose) would take it and live a lot longer, and if the population got big, we'd just expand to other planets (should that be possible) or something.


(Sorry for any english errors :))
Discuss people! I'm very interested in your opinions.

[Pogue]

I don't wanna live forever, I wanna die when I want to die and how I want to die.

[Pirate Utopian]

I wanna live for a long vital time but not forever.

[Luisrah]

I didn't mean forever.
That probably will never be possible.

But I mean a prolongation of life. Maybe living until you're 200, who knows.

[New Tet]

Your debate premise is a bit one sided. In nature death is necessary and desirable for many reasons, not the least of which is making space for others behind us.

All of nature, including us, is bound by that inexorable rule: Mortality is inevitable for all material things, including powerful stars that adorn and illuminate our sky. Our Sun is projected to die out in billions of years after you, me and this here stool are nothing more than atoms dispersed throughout the void.

Also, imagine that for 100 years of your 200 year lifespan you're capable of reproducing children. It'll take one hundred more years for you to abandon this Earth. Meanwhile, new, growing offspring are also taking up space and consuming the limited resources on the planet. The math is pretty simple. Before one thousand years are past, we will have eaten ourselves out of a planet; the species along with everything else that lives in the planet would be obliterated, leaving the roaches and ants to carve up their new, dying world out of the ashes of the old.

Excessive longevity and fertility of species that cannot migrate from its original habitat to new, untouched lands leads to extinction. I presume biologists and paleontologists have a word or phrase to describe that situation or phenomenon.

Intergalactic discovery and travel are still mostly the province of Astronomy and Sci-fi fantasy. So mass migration to another fertile planet is pretty much out of the question for at least another thousand years of potential discovery and development. So I hope we can dispose of fantasies of space-faring Noahs landing their Arc on Titan.

[Manifesto]

Well the age for retirement would probably go up a plus for the bourgeoisie but the living up to 200 would be nice if the aging process was slowed but it would be expensive as hell most likely and going to another planet would be hard since we have not done it yet.

[Luisrah]

I'm just trying to think how would society react to something like that.

If scientists suddenly found a way to make people live until they were 200 years old. How would things work?

Would the bourgeoisie hide it? Would they sell it at high prices? (making this what I speculate, the biggest atrocity that they could commit)

Would there be really people that didn't take it?

With the development of science, I think it's valid to predict such a thing.
Science together with medicine is always looking for new ways of making our lives longer.

[Revy]

I'm just trying to think how would society react to something like that.

If scientists suddenly found a way to make people live until they were 200 years old. How would things work?

Would the bourgeoisie hide it? Would they sell it at high prices? (making this what I speculate, the biggest atrocity that they could commit)

Would there be really people that didn't take it?

With the development of science, I think it's valid to predict such a thing.
Science together with medicine is always looking for new ways of making our lives longer.

Have you ever heard of Resveratrol? It's supposed to help extend lifespan. At least that's what they're speculating about. There's a lot of hype about it.

I think it will be advances in medical technology that really boost human lifespans to that level.

Who wouldn't want to live for centuries? Especially if you're interested in the future and stuff like space exploration. The only other way is cryonics - and who knows if that really is going to work.

[Axle]

Medical breakthroughs that let us live twice as long would have to be coupled with strict birth control measures to avoid catastrophic overpopulation.

[jake williams]

I straight up want to live forever. If someone made me choose now, you can die (at any given time) or you can live forever, I'm picking live forever. I REALLY don't like the thought of dying.

[Revy]

I straight up want to live forever. If someone made me choose now, you can die (at any given time) or you can live forever, I'm picking live forever. I REALLY don't like the thought of dying.

Yeah....as long as I don't age, and I can heal myself, I'd choose living forever too.
:thumbup:

[Luisrah]

Yeah....as long as I don't age, and I can heal myself, I'd choose living forever too.
:thumbup:
I'm guessing we 3 are all young. Heh, usually grown ups don't think like this.

And though I would say yes to living forever, I doubt I would accept it if I didn't have to option to kill myself when I wanted.
I mean, you'd get sick of it one day for sure.

[red cat]

An interesting link.


http://abcnews.go.com/2020/Health/story?id=7880954&page=1

[Pirate turtle the 11th]

Living forever would be fucking shit and I would only want a prolonged life is my health didn't get unbearably rubbish.