Scientist discover it is possible to live to 5000 years old.

It's useless to live 5,000 years until you can subvert dementia and the wear and tear of the body. Someone that lived for a thousand years would so far beyond our culture and belifs that they couldn't relate to us. I suspect, to us, they would appear to be a hopelessly depressed lethargic bum. But a 5000 year old one, at that.

Wow, can you imagine all of the knowledge, and all of the unique experiences that a person would accumulate over a period of 5,000 years. Einstein would probably be considered a below average person at that time. I believe someone here said who would wan't to live that long? Well, it would really just depend on what physical and mental condition that you would be in...

J.

yes as some one said your cells might stay the same but that does not render ur bones or joints or skin invulnerable, think of how many injurys one would endure in that period of time. 5000 years would be pointless the human mind in my opinon is obviously not meant to live that long, and i do agree death is an illusion....some of u should look up the theory of the "holographic universe" it is quite interesting

"Here we are....born to be kings....we're the princes of the universe....."

As cool as that would be, it would require a serious re-examining of our societal structure....likely resulting in Nazi-esque methods of determining who get's gassed so others can live to such an age....

"Carousel! Carousel!"

Well, yeah a Highlander life might be interesting for a bit. But I think we should all look at this from a real everyday point of view.

5,000 years huh... I don't think I'd allow it to go that far. When I think about it, living into my ripe old 90s or so would be more than enough for me. I'd like to get married, have a great time with the kids and grandkids and then gracefully move on. Can you imagine the implications unending life will have on us? The crowded trains and buses... the lines at the movies... there will be too many people since no one will die! Will there be enough food and water? Enough physical space? Will I have to stand on someone else's head if population growth continues and death rates stop?

Forget about other people, think about yourself. Can you really stand to watch Real World 475, The Bachelorette 509 and the 1000th Friends Spinoff? 5,000 years of telemarketing could drive you to suicide too. So could thousands of years of the daily grind and sitting in rush hour traffic.

I think I'll enjoy my fleeting century or so on earth. Count me out of the "Endless Life" Serum's bandwagon.

see the movie "zardoz." it's a cracked out 70s movie with sean connery. but it deals a lot woth people living forever and the affects it has on them. i'm sure some of you would enjoy it.

you know, that theory is gaining more and more acceptance with the scientific community, and im very glad to see others spreading the knowledge. heres a link if anyones interested
link

Quality of life would be a definite issue for anyone who lived 100's of years. I wonder how many people would want to live hundreds of years if their health had deterioted or they became handicapped. Just imagine what living hundreds of years would do to social security. The government could pay out for hundreds of years.
Change on a national and global level might slow down too. Currently people just die off and changes occur simply because the old generation is gone. I can just imagine having to send birthday cards etc. to great great great great great great grandfather and everyone in between. That doesn't sound like fun.

How do they know its possible to live 5000 years if noone has done it yet? Wouldnt that make it a theory?

Think of what a 5000 year old person would look like.

[Edited on 7-3-2004 by nobody]

How do scientists know that its 5000 years. To know that you would have to test that for 5000 years.

You know what I am thinking is that if what they said they could do by reversing the cell deteration it would mean that a 100 year old person would look no older than 20. Now that would be cool. To be able to be 100 and still be able to run around and play sports and the such.

Now I wonder if someone actually lived to be 5000 would they finally be able to comprehend what life and the human condition is all about. Would they be able to understand what we are here for would their minds evolve so to speak?

That would be quite amazing actualy. I would want to live for 5000 years just too see the advancments in technology and the evolution of our minds.

It would be interesting to see the state of society 500 years from now if not 5000. Relgions still serve a fundamental purpose in life, or if they have totaly died out.

Deep

from what I gather the cells are actually made to behave the way they did when they were younger, which would include the cells of the skin having the elasticity of young skin, so you wouldn't look old.
It wouldn't mean immortality though, you just wouldn't suffer from diseases of old age such as heart disease, but during those 5000 years I would have thought that you would be bound to come across something that would finish you off, like cancer etc.
Do you think that it would be mainly people that don't believe in an afterlife that would be the ones interested in undergoing this prolonging of their lives?

Here's an amusing thought, 4 thousand years of retirement living and looking like a 20 year old. I can see it now. Someone pulls up into the drive-through of a fast food restaurant and asks for senior citizen's discount. (after all he's over 400 years old) Then the girl at the window says "stop joking, I know you can't be over 20 something!"

[Edited on 7-3-2004 by orionthehunter]

in that time, do you think a person could learn to, or just develop to the point that they could use more of their brain?

I'm sure if most people in their 30's, 40's, 50's etc. were given a chance to look and feel much younger without having diseases, wrinkles, and age related problems that they would jump on that. However the unknowns to actually prolonging age would be enormous. Would that mean many hundreds of years through each stage of life? How would you like to live 100 hundred years as an 80 year old with arthritis etc. after 100 years as 70 something after 100 years as 60 something?

In terms of having the time to develop the mind, I'm sure wisdom and knowledge would increase. I'm not sure how one would develop and expand other mental abilities though.

Uhhh me.

Living for 5000 years would be very worth while if we had Space Exploration Capabilities. I mean, if it slows down the aging, or reverses it whichever, of a cell. Then, won't that mean the cells energy intake would be reduced that amount? And wouldn't we just slow down? Or would it just slow down the aging period but require the same amount of energy and such?

And, if I could live for 5000 years, I'd like to go fishing and build some things. And finally wash and clean out my car and do the lil things in live no one has time to do. Like for example, shake sticks at things that supposdley say more then you can shake a stick at. Then sue them for False Advertising, that's how I'd earna living too.

If they needed human guinea pigs i'd be up for it... i'd love to be the first guy to live forever... and if i died i died for the good of mankind