In most cases, most of those extra years are going to be spent as an elderly person with failing eyesight, hearing, strength and in some cases dementia. Unless aging is arrested, we will just have more time to be old.

The assumption is that health related problems are related to aging, so that any therapy would in fact cause us to be healthy and strong - say like a 40 year old - into our late hundreds. Of course if you are sitting in a bed for 200 years, there is no point in extending life.

This assumption is not too far off from several avenues of research being done. Flys which are normally sexually active for 20 days, after treatment are chasing girl flys for 40, 50, 60 days. Flys are not humans, but of course the research must start somewhere.

I agree, longer llife extends all phases of life. A century ago people lived on average 55 years. I don't think too many 55 year olds these days feel like they're on the brink of death.

I've thought about this question from time to time, as a result to listening to Queen's "Who wants to live forever" ... I've always thought that if i lived forever, i'd sure have plenty of time to master my chess game.

To me, the things that would make a long life worth living include a hobby that is worth pursuing for years on end (like playing chess), a good life mate, good family and friends, and higher education. It's unfortunate that becoming a "subject matter expert" on any one topic takes so long and costs so much.

The problem with living forever, is that the evil people of the world would have access to the same technology. Can you imagine another 100 years of _deleted_ trying to make us all feel bad about ourselves?

I don't want to live more than about 80 or 90 years. And if i live that long, i hope that i'll still have my wits about me. I want to be a college professor when i get old, fat and gray, so hopefully i'll still have the mental capacity to challenge my students.

That's an interesting question.

hat does it do to some societal values such as marriage. Now since you can live to be '40' for the next 60 years, does divorce become more common even to the point of being a contract? (Yes, we have 20 years left on our 40 year marriage contract)

How about the workplace? Do people work 40 or 50 years, take 30 years off, then get back in the workpalce again for another 50 or 60 years?

How about kids? Realistically, kids will still mature at the same rate they do now (on their own by 18-21) but while you are living 300 years, and assuming your reproductive organs don't give way, it's realistic to have 6,7,8 kids? "Hey honey, Jeffrey left the next 13 years ago today, how about another litter?" Of course, you don't have the money to worry about, becuase you were DINK's for the first 80 years of your life. Heh.

Perhaps you don't start getting married until you're 50, 100, so you're free to spend the first quarter to third of your life exploring things other than love and marriage.
I don't know if I would want to live forever, or for at least 200 hundred years. Luckily I don't have to make that choice!
Would I be able to stand to be married to someone for that long? They'd have to change the anniversary gifts... Instead of 50 being golden, they would have to make it 200!! And what about school? Would we have to go to school for longer? Or later in life? I think it would be nice to have an extra 5, 10 years of our youth, to explore and play outside. Ha! Wouldn't it be nice to not have to worry about attending school but being able to have your drivers' license? That would be wonderful... You could go to the beach any time you wanted, and make sand castles, and go swimming, and all of that cool stuff.
I think that if I were able to start over in the future, I would enjoy living for much longer if youth was much longer. I liked elementary school. But that would mean more adolescence (sp?!?!?!), and that would be terrible. Maybe everyone would be on antidepressants, then...

You know it would probably do us all some good if we lived to about 200. we would start thinking more about the effect we have on the environment since we will still be alive when the trees in the rainforest are all gone. and we would also start thinking about the pollution that we are creating.

If i had the choice to live to 200 and my health wouldnt deteriorate, i would take it, just out of curiousity. id like to see whether ROBOTS will take over and start a war with us HUMANS. and then when humans win all my collectibles will become antiques that i could sell for thousands and thousands of dollars. anyway it would really be an interesting kind of life wouldnt it.

George Carlin had a bit about the unknown stage of death called the "two minute warning". The person would get a message: "Two minutes, get your sh*t together." It was an interesting idea, no I do not want to live forever, but if after a certain number of years, when you are mature enough to handle it, I think it might be nice to know, when. Sort of like planning for a trip. You know your departure date, you get your affairs in order and go.
I don't what to know how, just when. That trip you put off because you want to save for the future, that trip to see your family that you put off until you can find the time.
My wife and I are planning a trip to Europe when I retire. I really would like to take it. Can't do it now, not enough time.

Now, yes, I know there are negatives, and some people have trouble dealing with their mortality. It's just an interesting thought.

Jalbert

Interesting Concept.

No matter how long i have to live... i beleive you have to live life as though you may get hit by a tram tomorrow, you have to take those chances, and you cant have any regrets, whether you live to 22 or 222. This is my logic behind spending all my cash rather than saving

200 years is a very long time, and whilst i wouldn't complain about living that long, i would still approach everyday as i do now, i dont think it would change much at all - Edmund has a point though, i wonder if people knew that they were going to be around that long, they would conserve the environment a tad better.

If this concept were feasable in the future, i demand legislation be passed that all Geriatrics go and live in Florida... (or the Australian equivelant) 80 year olds are bad enough as it is, i dont care what anyone says - an 80 year old is never going to be spritely, imagine a 180 year old...

To live forever...I don't know, its just too long. This planet is not design to hold a lot of people. Neither is the resources is enough to feed all these alive and kicking people. Imagine, no one dies or live twice or thrice longer than a century back. If everyone could live twice longer, this planet has twice as many people to keep and feed. Sooner than later, we are breathing the next guy's exhales.

I guess I better live whatever life that I have, and make the better and more, out of it. Suddenly, you have a much better perspective of what to do, in the short time we have. It's not how long you live but how better you live.

Too many responses coming at one TIME!

imajinit:

You could change your interests every 10 or 20 years. If you really got bored you could do those things that people never have time to do or only dream about - move to the Carribean, paint and scuba dive for ten years. Spend two or three decades researching cancer. Spend a couple decades helping rebuild a 3rd world country. Or spend 50 years building up an international company - that should be enough.

Brackard / Tangled Wishes:

What if the discovery happened "immediately" - remember the birth control pill and the sexual revolution? Remember life before AIDS? One decade, and suddenly everyone is living to 200. Society can be extraordinarily adaptive, but it seems there would be a time of HUGE upheavals. I like all your ideas except the one about having eight kids! Everyone should graduate from high-school and have 20 years to figure things out. Heck, maybe your rich 180 year old great-grandparents could support you. Imagine $1,000 invested at birth x 10% annually for 180 years. Nice "nest egg".

Endmund:

The robots are already here and they are winning. The government is just hiding the details of the war from us.

InfoGeek:

You say a lot of things in a single AWESOME post which are paradoxical and I think illustrate the struggle of being human: You want to know when you will die, so you can quickly take a delayed trip, yet at the same breath you say you don't have time, yet at the same time you say you don't want MORE TIME thru immortality. Seeing them in the same post makes the space between my ears hurt. I suggest you go rent The Game.

Muggaz:

If you live life as though you may die tomorrow, and every day your head hits the pillow fully satisfied knowing you lived life to the fullest up to that moment, then what is the hope in living even one more day!!

Hans:

I think you said it the most eloquently of anyone.

>>> To live forever...I don't know, its just too long.

When does it become too long ? 50 years? 75? 100? 500? It's hard to say isn't it? If you decided now that 100 years is enough, and then found yourself at 99 still feeling healthy and active, how would you feel about the earlier decision that 100 was "enough".

It seems to me wherever we stand, there is never enough time.

There could be a lot of problems as Hans point. There's one that I find difficult, how the idea are going to evolved when people can live forever. It will probably lead in lot of conservatism with a lot of old and few young, imagine living in a society that doesn't want to change. It sounds horrible, like Muggaz said carpe diem...

Hmm long life ( as oppsited to 100 years long life ) would bring many problems. We are not exactly free from resource demends. We need to eat, for example. If there is still consant amount of new children, but people living to be 300, or even 200 years old, population number will skyrocket, and we will need to produce enough resources, in form of food, elericity, etc to support that.

Muggaz:

If you live life as though you may die tomorrow, and every day your head hits the pillow fully satisfied knowing you lived life to the fullest up to that moment, then what is the hope in living even one more day!!


Hehe... thats easy... you might get more sex tomorrow...

XX - I hope there is a not a constant amount of new children!!! 2 is surely plenty.

Population problems are a myth - It's simple - replace yourself.