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Well, maybe. When I asked if it is possible in a 'broadly logical' sense - I think it is.
Would it be a good thing? I'm doubtful. There would be unforeseen consequences for sure; and what would a human DO with all those extra years? Would there be a flourishing of humanity, once the dreaded pall of mortality was lifted? Or would this forced 'evolution' just extend the lives and manner of life that we currently have?
What would YOU - whoever you are - do differently if you were given an 800 year lifespan?
I strongly lean toward the view that the curing of aging would lead to better conditions than we have now for humanity...because while I can definitely imagine disadvantages from aging being cured, those are all just potential disadvantages. The advantages are more definite.
Pro: extremely long, expensive childhoods resulting in everybody becoming more skilled at everything in general.
Con: laws become even more at odds with our biology, because the new age of consent is 45. What our species describes as "adolescence" becomes a thousand times more miserable, long, and confusing. Even if the age of consent remains where it is now...you still can't afford to have kids until you're in your eighties because of their mandatory 4 decades of medical school necessary to become a doctor and 2 decades necessary to become a teacher.
Pro: You choose when you no longer wish to exist. You don't get pulled into nonexistence by Mother Nature whether you want to or not as often.
Con: If you do die in an accident, it's considerably more tragic because you'll probably have made many more plans for the future than are necessary in modern times.
Pro: you'll have many decades to determine what career you want to go into.
Con: All the good jobs are taken by the 900 year old fogies with centuries of experience, and if you ever want to get a good job...you might need to wait 900 years.
Pro: We're all cured of what is essentially a disease called aging we're born with.
con: Youth is no longer a valuable trait to society. It's an extreme disadvantage do to the lack of experience. You're pretty much forced to live a long, long time if you ever want to feel like your existence serves some type of a purpose...because for your first fifty years you could be about as useful as a five year old.
Pro: Everybody thinks about Earth's future more.
Con: possible birthing restrictions granting you 1 child per 500 years so as to combat overpopulation.
What would YOU - whoever you are - do differently if you were given an 800 year lifespan?
I would regard this as being absolutely dreadful! Even the current nominal 80 years, even assuming reasonable health and no mental decline, is far too long. Being only middle aged, one of my chief frustrations us that I am not 20 or 30 years older. Creativity and adroit performance only last so long, even if we were fortunate to receive a good education and to land a rewarding career.
My desire is the exact opposite of this thread: that there would be a machine, where two people could be attached to it, with the donor bestowing say 5 or 10 or however many years of healthy life into the recipient. Then I could perform a desirable public service.
There is a case to be made that a child born today will live 1,000 years or more.
It goes like this: By the time that child reaches the age of 50, science will have progressed far enough that the diseases common to man will by and large be curable, extending that 50 to, perhaps 100 and healthy. In that second 50 years, science will have advanced apace and that child's life will be extended to perhaps 200 years. And then to 800 years, and so on, to what is essentially immortality.
Is it not, in a broadly logical sense, possible?
Uh huh. And these great breakthroughs are going to be distributed to every inhabitant of this sphere at no charge, right?
Nothing like being impoverished for 1,000 years.
If everyone lives 1,000 years, barring accidents, wars, or suicides, what would be an acceptable fertility rate? 1/10 of 1%?
Do you really want to work at that dead end job for hundreds of years?
Absolutely untrue. May people live beyond 100, and the life expectancy is higher than it was 50-100 years ago. For example: Sardinians and Japanese women frequently live to be near or over 100. There are many examples in Russia and India of vegetarians living to be 125.
You are not the only person living under this misconception. The truth, however, is that living to 100 or beyond is still incredibly rare, and will not get more common as time goes on. At present there are nearly 8 Billion people on the planet, but less than 500 thousand centenarians. There are only 41 people in all of recorded human history who have lived past 115, and some of them may not actually be that old, given the lack of accurate record keeping common to some parts of the world a Century ago. What are you talking about?
100 years from now everyone who is on earth now will be dead.
Not quite everyone. But pretty close.
But 100 years is a long time, and a lot can happen.
In 1859 there was a solar flare which if repeated today would decrease the population of the earth by probably 75%. Virtually everything electronic or even electric would be destroyed by a similar event. We would begin to die within days or weeks as power went out, communication went silent and even the most basic of motorized transportation ceased to function. Even modern ships at sea would drift to a stop. Forever. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_storm_of_1859
It happened again in 2012, but missed the earth. It will not miss forever.
In any event, I don't think the mystery of ageing will ever be solved.
Thus far, this thread has completely ignored a possible positive economic development of human evolution. I am reminded of the movie "Star Trek: First Contact" where a 24th Century Capt. Picard and crew travel back in time to 2063. In 2063 our planet is in shambles, and the U.S. is broken into warring factions. One warrior from that time is beamed aboard the Enterprise in orbit above Earth, and all she can manage to croak out is an amazed "how much did this thing (the starship) cost? To which a bemused Picard responds, "in the 24th Century there isn't such a thing as "cost", because there isn't money.
A recent thread imagining the horror of a 45 y.o. "age of consent" because it would take decades to become economically desirable is completely unable to imagine a future where such concepts as "wealth" or "means" are abstract. If guaranteed life extending technologies were invented with our present 'Capitalist' order, there might be 20 individuals wealthy enough to afford them.
Every single day thousands of people die from preventable illness because their economic circumstances do not enable them to purchase better health. This completely ignores the fact that, in 2016 there is precious little that afflicts humanity that can actually be cured. Most treatment protocols considered "successful" involve a regimen of medication that must be sustained for the remainder of the patients life.
Unless we can migrate from Capitalism to a system that more effectively distributes the wealth of the planet to more humans, we will be unable to evolve to any paradigm more advanced.
MOST people who are on earth now will be dead long before 100 years from now.
Heck, not even 50 years from now.
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