Indefinite Lifespan

Yeah I noticed my argument was similar tow hat you were getting at. I was just more concerned with class warfare, even moreso than overpopulation. I don't think it's something that would go away if everyone was virtually immortal. Even if eventually with time such treatments were available to everyone, there'd be always be ways it could be abused to make sure those at top stay on top. Even if such treatments became readily available to everyone, I don't see a bunch of immortal ridiculously rich gazillionares being to keen with having to suddenly share their lofty lifestyle with everyone else. And heck, by then the divide between rich and poor would be so abysmal, who's to say those in power will even let anyone receive such treatments? Who's going to make them? The poor would literally be at the mercy of the rich.

And yeah I am being pessimistic. I just don't see a lot of problems in human society going away if people lived longer. In fact, I'd say it would actually aggravate a lot of our current problems. Like you hinted at yourself, with a society of immortals, there's very little room to introduce change. At least with the way things are now, we have death as the Great Equalizer and there's always a chance that assholes can be replaced with someone more benign.

But what do I know? Maybe Selena's on to something. Maybe, given enough time, people will chill the fuck out and stop being dicks to each other.

Before I let this thread fade to black...

And yeah I am being pessimistic. I just don't see a lot of problems in human society going away if people lived longer. In fact, I'd say it would actually aggravate a lot of our current problems. Like you hinted at yourself, with a society of immortals, there's very little room to introduce change. At least with the way things are now, we have death as the Great Equalizer and there's always a chance that assholes can be replaced with someone more benign.

Well, a big part of our culture (because it assumes aging and death) is that we have ALL KINDS of seniority systems. Indefinite life? Politicians would *NEED* rather strict term limits, as would corporations...any position of note you wouldn't be able to hold for too long.

Of course, the cultural definition of "long" is relative, but the idea of people needing to change occupation periodically doesn't sound like a bad idea. That, and if the lifespan is very long, but predictable (rather than an average life being 70 years, it's 70,000, for instance) then you've not really changed HOW things need to work so much as made every part of human life three orders of magnitude longer.

Other predators, natural hazards, and shotguns to the face (especially with the poached big cats) are sort of big factors.

Stress? Modern hunter-gatherers have significantly fewer working hours, and more relaxation hours, than 'typical' humans do. The modern human lifestyle is entirely fueled by stress. From grade school homework to college finals, office deadlines, keeping up on the mortgage, paying off uni debt, disciplining the hellspawn, sending those hellspawn to school, funding retirement, and even arranging your own funeral before you finally kick the bucket. Modern life is constant stress. "Wild" counterparts -- both human and animal -- have better base-level health due to exercise, relaxation, and the lack of empty calorie junk food. They just die sooner due to their environment and lack of medical attention when something bad happens. Domesticated humans and animals may live longer, but seldom reach the same levels of physical or mental health.

But I think expanding our lifespan could actually help with that. It's not that the modern lifestyle is inherently bad - it's that we're trying to do too much in so little time. We spend the first quarter of our lives - and the years of our best physical health - locked up in school pulling all nighters and eating top ramen. We spend our middle years locked in a cubicle stressing out over company deadlines so we can make ends meet... or even spend a lot of that period simply looking for a proper full-time job. We spend our twilight years stressing out about retirement and whether we can even afford it or not, because bam, it's suddenly there faster than we anticipated.

People revert back to primitive behavior -- like hunting or backpacking -- to relax.

By stretching things out, we might not feel like we're in such a damn rush all the time, reducing stress levels.

Can't say that I disagree on too many places, but there's also more going on than "environmental factors" killing wild animals off.

Take feral cats, for instance (I just happen to know the numbers). If these environmental factors were the only force killing feral cats, you would expect a very low average lifespan (most die as kittens shortly after leaving their mother) and a huge standard deviation to account for the few who learn to survive and breed. What do we actually have? Average lifespan 4.7 years, standard deviation 0.87 years. Practically all feral cats live at least three years, and almost none make it to eight. That's an awful tight cluster for environment being the only force.

The only interpretation I can come up with is that they literally become exhausted from the stress after about four years, and succumb to the environmental factors. When the spirit hits it's limit, the body just falls apart. Same thing's probably true with our own culture; sure we have horrible diets and tend to not exercise, but the quantity of stress in our lives hasn't changed since antiquity (although the type has) and after about 70 years, things come apart.

The only reason backpacking is relaxing is because there's no longer any pressure involved in it, at least not the kind that our ancestors had to face: find food or starve. Conversely, they never had to negotiate with middle-management, either. There's more to stress than just hours involved; it also includes intensity.

#31 SOAP

#32 Wolf O'Donnell

#33 SOAP

#34 Egann

#35 Kisseena