In most cases, most of those extra years are going to be spent as an elderly person with failing eyesight, hearing, strength and in some cases dementia. Unless aging is arrested, we will just have more time to be old.

I agree, longer llife extends all phases of life. A century ago people lived on average 55 years. I don't think too many 55 year olds these days feel like they're on the brink of death.

That's an interesting question.

hat does it do to some societal values such as marriage. Now since you can live to be '40' for the next 60 years, does divorce become more common even to the point of being a contract? (Yes, we have 20 years left on our 40 year marriage contract)

How about the workplace? Do people work 40 or 50 years, take 30 years off, then get back in the workpalce again for another 50 or 60 years?

How about kids? Realistically, kids will still mature at the same rate they do now (on their own by 18-21) but while you are living 300 years, and assuming your reproductive organs don't give way, it's realistic to have 6,7,8 kids? "Hey honey, Jeffrey left the next 13 years ago today, how about another litter?" Of course, you don't have the money to worry about, becuase you were DINK's for the first 80 years of your life. Heh.

You know it would probably do us all some good if we lived to about 200. we would start thinking more about the effect we have on the environment since we will still be alive when the trees in the rainforest are all gone. and we would also start thinking about the pollution that we are creating.

If i had the choice to live to 200 and my health wouldnt deteriorate, i would take it, just out of curiousity. id like to see whether ROBOTS will take over and start a war with us HUMANS. and then when humans win all my collectibles will become antiques that i could sell for thousands and thousands of dollars. anyway it would really be an interesting kind of life wouldnt it.

Interesting Concept.

No matter how long i have to live... i beleive you have to live life as though you may get hit by a tram tomorrow, you have to take those chances, and you cant have any regrets, whether you live to 22 or 222. This is my logic behind spending all my cash rather than saving

200 years is a very long time, and whilst i wouldn't complain about living that long, i would still approach everyday as i do now, i dont think it would change much at all - Edmund has a point though, i wonder if people knew that they were going to be around that long, they would conserve the environment a tad better.

If this concept were feasable in the future, i demand legislation be passed that all Geriatrics go and live in Florida... (or the Australian equivelant) 80 year olds are bad enough as it is, i dont care what anyone says - an 80 year old is never going to be spritely, imagine a 180 year old...

Too many responses coming at one TIME!

imajinit:

You could change your interests every 10 or 20 years. If you really got bored you could do those things that people never have time to do or only dream about - move to the Carribean, paint and scuba dive for ten years. Spend two or three decades researching cancer. Spend a couple decades helping rebuild a 3rd world country. Or spend 50 years building up an international company - that should be enough.

Brackard / Tangled Wishes:

What if the discovery happened "immediately" - remember the birth control pill and the sexual revolution? Remember life before AIDS? One decade, and suddenly everyone is living to 200. Society can be extraordinarily adaptive, but it seems there would be a time of HUGE upheavals. I like all your ideas except the one about having eight kids! Everyone should graduate from high-school and have 20 years to figure things out. Heck, maybe your rich 180 year old great-grandparents could support you. Imagine $1,000 invested at birth x 10% annually for 180 years. Nice "nest egg".

Endmund:

The robots are already here and they are winning. The government is just hiding the details of the war from us.

InfoGeek:

You say a lot of things in a single AWESOME post which are paradoxical and I think illustrate the struggle of being human: You want to know when you will die, so you can quickly take a delayed trip, yet at the same breath you say you don't have time, yet at the same time you say you don't want MORE TIME thru immortality. Seeing them in the same post makes the space between my ears hurt. I suggest you go rent The Game.

Muggaz:

If you live life as though you may die tomorrow, and every day your head hits the pillow fully satisfied knowing you lived life to the fullest up to that moment, then what is the hope in living even one more day!!

Hans:

I think you said it the most eloquently of anyone.

>>> To live forever...I don't know, its just too long.

When does it become too long ? 50 years? 75? 100? 500? It's hard to say isn't it? If you decided now that 100 years is enough, and then found yourself at 99 still feeling healthy and active, how would you feel about the earlier decision that 100 was "enough".

It seems to me wherever we stand, there is never enough time.

Hmm long life ( as oppsited to 100 years long life ) would bring many problems. We are not exactly free from resource demends. We need to eat, for example. If there is still consant amount of new children, but people living to be 300, or even 200 years old, population number will skyrocket, and we will need to produce enough resources, in form of food, elericity, etc to support that.

XX - I hope there is a not a constant amount of new children!!! 2 is surely plenty.

Population problems are a myth - It's simple - replace yourself.

Having an eternity to enhance ones knowledge and relationships isn't that the meaning of life?

Okay, I have to get this out of the way: Living forever is unnatural. Removing the circle of life, we'd probably doom ourselves anyways..realistically, but enough aside..this is a fansical post anyways.

I've met 20 year olds who've felt like they've lived 90...and look/act like it at times. Imagine how old you might feel at 200..especially if you had a timespan that could stretch into hundred of thousand of years. We're just not mentally hardwired to handle that much time. We'd become stagnant..Stagnation leads to ruination.

A part of being human is the not knowing when or how soon. It makes for interesting people, situations, etc.,..And especially knowing we don't have forever to live.
How many George Washingtons, Thomas Edisons, Wright Brothers, would we have..if we knew we had such a long time to live that we could "do it tomorrow"..
Our short and spontanious lives have made brilliant marks on history. Inventions, heroics, etc.,.. all come about because we KNOW we won't live further..that they may NOT be a tomorrow. We had a deadline..an expiration mark.. A reason to live! Life is a reason to live and death is all the more reason to enjoy the life you have.

Erm, let me actually write about the blog's question: I would not like to live forever. It removes uncertainty...removes fear..removes blissful expectation to finally pass away. We are whom we are because of the way we are.

Want more examples? Read some fictional fantasy books (sort of like tolkiens for all you non-fiction fans) where the lives of humans are placed against those such as elves...Where humans live realitively short lifespans compared to the vast reaches of near immortality by elves.
In a way our short life spans make us human. Why rob us of our humanity?

(Heck, read anything from ToR/WoTC from the Forgotton Realms series..or Dragonlance) Heh..