Prolonging lifespans

[hoppimike]

Right! This is something I'm tremendously interested in, particularly as an atheist. As I do not believe I will have a life after this one, I want to make this one as loooooong as possible!

So, I would like to discuss this with my fellow atheists who may also be interested in the idea of living as long as they can!

Anyone else have an interest in this?

Cheers dudes,

Mike

[Napoléon]

I'd only be interested in living long enough to see where the human race goes and what we accomplish in the grand scheme of the universe, if we accomplish anything at all.

I don't see the point in living forever, seems fucking boring to me.

[KichigaiNeko]

Don't care... I will live as long as I need to. To "prolong" my life is stupid as I have seen far too many people wanting this and not actually 'living'.

Nah.... I'll be happy to die when it is time for me to do so.

[Adjusted Sanity]

If science can upload my brain to a computer when I'm old, that would be pretty awesome. It most likely wouldn't actually be me, unless my beliefs are correct(unlikely). But it would be pretty cool to send a copy of my self into the future before I die.

I want as live as long as my mind can take it. Then I want to die.

[Mister Agenda]

I would be interested in seeing more of the future than my lifespan allows for. I imagine I would tire of it eventually, but I'd like more than another 50 years if I could have it in relatively good health and sound mind.

If getting 'vitrified' and being animated maybe one year out of fifty, was an option, I'd sign up for it. I think cumulative future shock would eventually put me off of it, though.

Sometimes a longer story is worth reading, but they all have to end sometime.

[The Grand Nudger]

You should take a look at telomere shortening/lengthening. There was a point at which it seemed like this might have some potential (and it still does) but there are some interesting trade-offs that they discovered. Reminds me of a greek myth to which I am unable to recall the exact details. A person asks for eternal life, but forgetful as we are, doesn't ask for eternal health or youth.

[SleepingDemon]

Sometimes I feel that I was born a thousand years too soon, and I would rather like to see mankind venture into space, eradicate war and famine, bigotry and greed. Most days however I haven't a clue what to do with my life for the next 50 or so odd years, how could I keep myself occupied for 1000? On the flip side, what if you were immortal, and everyone else on the planet died next year? What would you do then?

I think that because our life is finite, it makes the moments we have more important.

There is a book series called The Commonwealth saga by Peter F. Hamilton in which through a process called Rejuvenation, human beings can live forever, and if you die tragically, your consciousness is downloaded into a clone. It's interesting because you have people on their 3rd or 4th life with new spouses, new families, new careers etc. For those of us who are married, it raises questions on whether or not we would remarry the same person after beginning our lives again.

Something else you have to consider, if science was able to extend human lifespans to say 250 years, at what age would people retire? Jobs that open upon retirement wouldn't be open for centuries, leaving people who are 20 SOL. Can you imagine Supreme Court Justices who lived that long? Fuck me in my beard, that would suck.

[Ace Otana]

Right! This is something I'm tremendously interested in, particularly as an atheist. As I do not believe I will have a life after this one, I want to make this one as loooooong as possible!

So, I would like to discuss this with my fellow atheists who may also be interested in the idea of living as long as they can!

Anyone else have an interest in this?

Cheers dudes,

Mike

Well there's good news around the corner. Scientists are currently working on extending the human lifespan. Apparently, it's possible (with the available knowledge) we could extend our lifespan to 600 years if we wanted.
I know a few experiments have been done, one had a nasty side effect while the other was more promising. They've managed to double the lifespan of a typical earth worm.
I can't remember the experiments but one other technique apparently works but greatly increased the risk of cancer. It somehow affected the immune system.

Give it a few more years and we may be able to reverse the ageing process. A few more decades with the advancement of science and we may become in a sense........immortal.

You never know, we may find an ancient alien station with the knowledge to unlock immortality.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYwjHrpCoso

[Mister Agenda]

Something else you have to consider, if science was able to extend human lifespans to say 250 years, at what age would people retire? Jobs that open upon retirement wouldn't be open for centuries, leaving people who are 20 SOL. Can you imagine Supreme Court Justices who lived that long? Fuck me in my beard, that would suck.

Fifty years ought to be long enough for most people to retire on in a 401K type arrangement, although we might have to give Justices term limits. I'll take early retirement if I can afford it, I don't want to keep doing the same job for another ten years, let alone thirty. I think it will turn out to be a non-issue for the most part, although I'm sure there will be isolated cases of people who fill the same slot decade after decade; but how many of us even work in jobs that existed fifty years ago? If I stay in my job ten more years, I expect it to change so much that it will hardly be recognizable as the same job (I manage a Data Entry department for a government contract). I expect my division will not need as many managers and if they can't pare it down by attrition, eventually they'll have to let some of us go. The job world is dynamic, and technology is likely to change more in the next thirty years than it did in the last hundred. I think the most viable model is for as many people to sock enough money away so they can have a reasonable secure retirement, and then do whatever they really want to do until they've done enough and are ready to die.

Caveat: I have optimistic tendencies.

[SleepingDemon]

That's with the current model Mister Agenda. But if people lived longer, they would have to work longer. There would be a finite number of jobs available, at some point, the 150 year old guy working a machine press is in a position that someone younger could fill. The only way to balance this would be through massive human expansion. We also have to consider the obvious effect of people living longer, over-population.