Will it be a blessing or a curse if science finds a way to stop ageing?

Has anyone read the book "Altered Carbon?" In the book, they have this technology called "sleeving," where you can preserve your memories/personality in a little implant that then can be attached to another body (a clone?). That is how they solved the aging problem. In this society, most people can afford to get resleeved once more after their birthbody dies.

However, the incredibly rich can be resleeved over and over because they can afford to make tons of clones of themselves. These folks who have lived for centuries are called "Meths" after Methuselah (from the Bible, he lived 969 years). They are disliked because their age has allowed them to see the rise and fall of society as it continues. These folks admit that that the world -as most people see it - is irrelevant to them.

I think this is most likely if the Earth were to sustain a society without death. There would be a huge divide between those who can afford to live for centuries and those who cannot (mirroring the divide between the haves and have-nots).

I think the Earth would stagnate if death amongst those who have power ceased to exist. I think that is what is happening in government; new ideas aren't allowed. Therefore the old create a world that satisfies them and the young slave underneath them, frustrated because they cannot reach their potential.

Just think of all the cat fights...... being 37, most guys who try to go for me right now are between 19-30ish..... oh boy, there would be fights over mates if everyone stayed young looking for too long....lol.

Sometimes I wonder hope much pain and emotional distress a person can survive without going insane or ending their lives.

During my six plus decades of living I've had more material possessions, more excitement and many times more heartache than the average person.

I would not want to live another lifetime. Enough is enough.

It is comforting to know the sweet sting of death will one day release my soul for the next adventure.

No, not ready to die now but would end my life if I thought I had another 50 years to serve on earth.

I have a lifetime of memories and seven teenage grandchildren to enjoy and love. Through them I am young again.

Another five years would be nice. If I make it that long I'll be a happy human.

I believe for some it will be a blessing for others a curse.

look up immortal jellyfish in google or bing

get that dna inside you...................

or that girl thats aging incredibly slowly

again get that dna inside you, immortality is just around the corner

I am ready, are you?

So you're probably talking about "Mr. Nobody" with Jared Leto innit. Nice film, visually stunning, great ideas. I just thought it was a bit too.. melancholic. A bit like The Fountain, the mood was also very similar. I love Aronofsky's movies, but they're usually quite tragic, except for maybe Pi which was great also.

Anyway, I think the whole idea is kind of absurd. Everything dies. Why would we want to upkeep our physical bodies by force, fighting against time and decay?

It depends how you view life.. If you see your existence here as temporary, you might want to step to the great unknown. Or, you can fight against time and try to hold on to everything which is impermanent.

Probably, our lifespan will continue to extend, but physical "immortality".. would you call a person who has lived, let's say, a thousand years, immortal? Even that is just a blink of eye on the cosmic scale.

We'd need to rethink our whole view on life. Westerners see the death as some kind of punishment, many other cultures view it as liberation.

The concept of immortality is not a new one, and has often been the quests of old. It is, from all that I have seen and read, a trap unto itself. A being that lives forever, breaks the natural cycle of life. In all of nature, from the simple bacteria all of the way up to stars, planets, galaxies, everything has a begining, a middle and an end. I do not believe that as a species we have matured enough to warrent the ability to live forever, and the consequences of such would be far more diseasterous than the bennifits to all mankind at this time. Consider, if it was developed and tested, shown that they can extend the human lifespan by far greater than it is suppose to have, then what? Those who are long lived, how could they wake up every day, to see their loved ones die, and what if they are married and then the person who is also like them, decides that they no longer desire to be around them. The ages would wear heavily on a person, then there is the aspect of disease. A person who had the aging process stopped, could languish in agony for years, as disease took its toll on them. Think about it, a person who was living longer, had cancer or some other disease, having to undergo years of painful treatments and surgeries, could you handle knowing that is what you would have to look forward to for the rest of your unnatural life?
But in the future, if we can settle things down, actually cure the diseases that affect a person, and society is more mature than it is, then maybe I can see it being a blessing.

reply to post by zatara


A good question OP. In the first instance, before any of those thoughts shall arise we should demand from our governments to regulate the world's food manufacturers not to use GM foods and stop poisoning them at the same time with all those thousands of contaminants. How can we imagin to live a healthy long life with all those intentionally served poisons in our food chain - this wouldn't make sense to contemplate over the OP without solving the biggest problem of all. After that we can start thinking how we could extend our lives, bearing in mind we would also have to feed all those poor souls that currently desperately looking to fill their stomachs because they are left out by our 'highly' regarded governments. Food is enough on this planet for every one and space for urban development as well, think about it. It's all in the hands of the PTB. I will not accept any brainwashing of any kind. I don't even mind sharing my food with my brothers and sisters. The wastage of resources in favor of warfare needs to stop right now or else there will be no cookies for anyone in the first place. Enjoy your breakfast with a thought....and have a nice day

reply to post by sdcigarpig



There are discussions going on about having the right to kill yourself with a pill on docters subscription. Euthanasia...If you consider yourself mature enough to prolong your life, one should also be mature enough to end it.

Besides the deseases and the accidents that can cut your life short the fact remains that nobody can force you to live forever.

Maybe there will be no drastic effect on the world economy, food and other topics that matter when the option excists to life forever. Reading most comments in this thread I have the impression that there are as much people who do not favour to life forever as the ones that do.

Losing loved ones or seeing them age while you stay young will be a fact of life if immortality is possible. These are things that comes with the package you choose for.

By that point we'd have new technology so some of the problems we expect might disappear. Food growing tech would be better ect.

I don't think it'd be a big issue, although images of "Repo: The Genetic Opera" come to mind. It will more than likely start out in that sort of way. Can't pay for a new liver? Well there's financing for that!

It really isn't so much about expanded life as it is quality of life. If they could have the science to stop aging, I'd assume the tech to improve happiness would be fairly old by that point

[edit on 31-7-2010 by ghaleon12]

reply to post by gaurdian2012


yeah, I seem to be anti aging.... it is excillerating and scary at the same time..... I am like some teenager, that knows too much, bad combination.

A CURSE

Lived 250 years, seen 5 world war
1 limb - 95 year old.
Another limb - 105 year old.
3rd limb gone on 193th yrs old.
4th limb on 223 yrs old

250 yrs old - decide this bionic is not me (THAT THING down there gone),
I'm cursed


[edit on 31-7-2010 by RainCloud]

Originally posted by zatara
First of all...what impact would this have on the world and society when thinking about economy, energy, space and food. Must we first solve the economic and all those other related topics first before we en masse prolong our lives?

well, i personally think the natural course of evolution will only allow us to live long on this planet after we first learn how to live WITH this planet, prudently and wisely.

Will it be a blessing or a curse if science finds a way to stop ageing?

What are your thoughts about this?

after the necessary conditions are met, i think it would be a blessing.

long lives would then be most always happy and productive lives. the aches and pains that come with aging are terrible. we suffer because we get old, usually, except the lucky exception. apparently, it's not always due to lifestyle, either.

once we evolve to a certain point, as a race, spiritually, mentally, and emotionally, i think the natural progression would then be physical!

"and they lived happily ever after...."

It would be both a blessing and a curse depending on life circumstances, though the elites have easy circumstances and enjoyable, therefore they would want to live longer comfortably. On the other end of the spectrum, those with bad circumstance would not want to live longer because it was uncomfortable. In either case if one lives long enough the comfortable would know misfortune and wish they didn't live longer. And also the uncomfortable would learn to be more in comfort and wish they did live longer. So in the end it's not about living longer. What drives humans to life is not living longer, only if you life in a bubble but all bubbles burst in time, but the things in life that they are attracted to, and all of them only see the horizon but never what is beyond the horizon. I think ultimately living a little bit longer will help people see more horizons, and calm them down a little. But first there is lots of things one must get over with, like overpopulations, bad ways of living, and stupidity of shortsightedness. Basically must take responsibility for your actions...and no one likes that...not even me, its lots of work. What is the point of living longer if it means you must have more responsibility's, that seems to be a viable reason against creatures that want to be more long lived.

[edit on 1-8-2010 by galadofwarthethird]

Curse, Immortal Overlords ruling over 20 year lifespan slaves. Curse.