A Long Life equals ???

[Johnestauffer]

We were having a discussion recently about increasing a person's life span. Suppose the average life span could be increased to 200 years. How would that effect our way of life?
Would progress slow down because older people stayed in jobs longer?
How would highly motivated individuals function in a society where they would have to wait a century to get a chance at a promotion?
What about children? How many generations would one person see?
What about the population? (Would there be fewer new births?)
How would less developed countries deal with this situation?

[Max Sinister]

Would all the people live that long naturally (then, I'd file this under ASB), or would that require a medical treatment (which I guess is what you wanted)? That depends. How expensive would that treatment be? Would people be as healthy (i.e. body, organs, and esp. regeneration of brain cells) on their 100th birthday as they're now with 40?

[David S Poepoe]

This isn't quite ASB, but definitely has heavy tints of science fiction. Max does bring up a good point, what good is the quantity of life when the quality of it is undefined.

The idea of generations, about 30 years, is changing I think. I would consider it likely that a generation now represents nearly 35-40 years with people getting married later in life.

The less developed countries will deal with the concept of longer life spans the same way they deal with it right now - they'll be dying off in the same numbers. Death rates in those third world countries will pretty much remain the same since getting by day to day is so much harder that spending a week on the street in Colorado Springs, Colorado. If we had such extended life spans now I doubt you will find many Iraqis living to their full potential today. Hostile environments shorten lifespans.

At least as suggested so far, and I'll change my mind as others post, I don't see any likelihood of a population explosion in the First World. Until we can change our genetics and can extend our childbearing years it would seem likely that the window for reproduction would still be limited to one quarter (40 years) of a potential lifespan (160-200 years).

[Xen]

But how would this deal with the history of politics too, Queen Victoria still ruling Britain in 2005? Joseph Stalin Premeir of Soviet Union. Revolutionary War soldiers still having widows and children around in present day. Want to know about the Battle of Gettysburg, ask someone who was there, theyd still be around and filling up wards at the VA hospitals. Want to know about slavery, ask a former slave, this would complicate the whole reparations issue. Would we still have Franklin Roosevelt (assuming he doesnt have his diseases) still running for and winning the office of President? Thomas Jefferson living to criticize FDR for his policies, and perhaps make a political come back in the 1930s?

Of course with long life, this might not be an issue at all.

[Diamond]

I'm reading a book right now called Pandora's Star by Peter Hamilton which deals with this issue (among many many others). In the book, people can be 'rejuvenated' over and over again as their bodies wear out. They also have a sort of 'back up memory' stored in a chip in their brain - if they die, a new body can be cloned, and the memories downloaded into it.

Some intriguing side effects of the whole thing are:

-criminal masterminds and terrorists that have been in business for decades, and police forces with equally long-lived officers. One case has been ongoing for 130 years!

-marriage no longer has the same 'finality' it has now. When you live 300 or 400 years, you go into a marriage expecting it not to last more than a few decades.

-The overall quality of life has drastically improved; people spend their first life or two securing their financial future, then just relax for the next century, living off the profits of their earlier endeavors.

-This virtual immortality goes hand in hand with the creation of a vast wormhole transit network that has allowed the growing (and growing and growing) human population to spread out across the galaxy.

-History itself doesn't have the same 'feel'. When 90% of the population was around for events that occurred two centuries back, everything becomes a sort of eternal 'present'.

This is kind of far afield of the topic, but I thought it was interesting.

[Nik]

Sorry, I think that was the title of a story where different clans bred for health, intelligence, longevity etc in back-story, and now_ATL your Family name was associated with specific attribute(s)...

Families with longevity tended to be *very* risk-averse, and paranoid about threats. Non-clan and out-breeds had normal life-spans, tended to do the daring & dangerous stuff-- they had less to lose, and more to prove.

IIRC, author made the point that in *some* fields, breakthroughs are generally made by young, fresh minds. In others, the long view is needed to grind down a problem... or spot an old problem re-surfacing.

Hmm: Perhaps in societies that *expect* 200+ yr natural spans, people will expect to switch careers. Then again, you will find life-long enthusiasts in any field...

Nik

[Grey Wolf]

120 seems to be the 'natural' life span, many things happening to curtail it especially as the body gets older and weaker

However, I would caution with a tale of cats. 16-20 is seen as OLD in cats. I knew a 24 year old year old cat who was all there mentally if a bit arthritic; he only died when his 90-plus owner died and he lost all purpose. But what is the record on recorded cat life spans ? I bet it is way beyond this.

Recorded human life spans don't really excede 120 years, but we ignore the fact that the countries which are able to reliably record start and end dates are also ones where there are MORE artificial causes of death. We also ignore records we don't like in China or Georgia etc, that seem to show individuals quite significantly in excess of this. If its not acceptable to Guiness Book of Records standards then we assume its a lie. But what if its not ? What if there ARE 150 year olds around ?

It is not unreasonable to assume that with the spread and development of medical technology it would become a norm. Take a tangental issue - cataracts. My dad just completed his second operation (it seems successfully) but in waiting he ran into a woman who remembered her grandad having the op. Back then he had to lie on his back in bed for several months to recover. Now its a same day in and out op. Medical technology has advanced.

Grey Wolf

[Diamond]

It is not unreasonable to assume that with the spread and development of medical technology it would become a norm. Take a tangental issue - cataracts. My dad just completed his second operation (it seems successfully) but in waiting he ran into a woman who remembered her grandad having the op. Back then he had to lie on his back in bed for several months to recover. Now its a same day in and out op. Medical technology has advanced.

To use another optical example - longer lifespans mean previously rare conditions, such as macular degeneration, become widespread. The disease just doesn't (except in very rare cases) begin to show up in people before they're around 70 or so. When a normal lifespan was 50 or 60, harldy anyone got mac degen.

[Count Dearborn]

We would have to change inheritance laws too.

Check out CALIPH in GURPS Alternate Earths 2. In that world, 200 years became the norm, and when you turned 100, you had to give part of your wealth to your heirs.