Would be willing to be forever young?

[Florian]

@Amazon:

In a sense, I actually agree with AMFV. My home country uses a bit different education system and still uses a three year formal apprenticeship on-the-job training method that produces above average results. We used to have automatic conscription to either the army or public service, but that's on hold right now.
It´s rather interesting when you compare the results of those who have gone through the apprenticeship to qualify to study with those that have gone though formal schooling for the same. Add the difference the year of conscription made in experience and outlook on top and it gets more pronounced.

I´m a company owner in the beverage production business, so I employ a wide range from unskilled labor to academics and for quite some time, I've getting the feeling that I'm getting more and more "children" on the academic side of things. Children in the sense of not being emotionally settled, no developed stress resistance and an outlook at how jobs work that could be more fitting into my little pony or something. It´s a bit eerie.

As for the previous point, mixing biological and sociological topics will practically never lead to results. That's also the downside of transhumanism, continuation of the self vs. continuation of the species.

[S@tanicoaldo]

Come on guys, watch out the jokes, we all know that the military are unacceptable targets .

[Lvl 2 Expert]

Yes, sure I bet a combatant in a foregin country experiences a lot more stress than a native of that city beign invaded.

Suffering is not a competition. On neither side of the argument. And suffering and stress in and of themselves are not much of a recipe for maturity either (at best a cure for youth), although getting taught how to deal with them can be.

I´m a company owner in the beverage production business, so I employ a wide range from unskilled labor to academics and for quite some time, I've getting the feeling that I'm getting more and more "children" on the academic side of things. Children in the sense of not being emotionally settled, no developed stress resistance and an outlook at how jobs work that could be more fitting into my little pony or something. It´s a bit eerie.

Or maybe that's just you getting old and misremembering your own past.

(There's no non-annoying way to make a text half blue I'm afraid.)

[Asmotherion]

Well, sure. I'm shallow enough in order to do so.

And I honestly believe that, whoever argues against it is a bit of a hypocrit, provided that they could easyly adjust/extend it to their fammily and friends as well.

Let's time skip the world about a 100 years. Since we would practically all be imortal youths, whoever choses to become an imortal would also chose to become sterile by-the Law. I already have a daughter, so it's a win-win situation for me.

Then, law would heavily focus on population control, and you would probably need a special licence in order to have children, by fear of overpopulation.

Since people are dumb, they would still be Wars so people would still eventually die, leaving only 20-30% of the human population alive (and we are talking about eternally young human beings here). The vast majority would be women, because it's mostly men who engage in military warfare (as foot soldiers. Again, I am talking about the majority, no offence if you happen to read this, and you are a woman soldier). I'm hypothesising this happening around 250-300 years after imortality becoming a reality.

[GrayDeath]

Yeah, I'mma get onboard the "needs clarification" bandwagon here. We've got to define "forever" and "young."

Forever: Does that mean you can't die? Because, gonna be honest, would start to suck. Does it mean you don't age, but at a certain point just snuff it? Because that would probably still be preferable to what we have now. Does it mean you don't age, don't die of natural causes, but can still die? Because that's golden.

Young: How young? Because, honestly, my current age isn't ideal, but I also wouldn't want to be, y'know, eternally prepubescent. Say, prime of your life, mid-20s? That works for me. Also: Is it you at that age, or you at an idealized that age? I wasn't exactly the picture of fitness in my 20s; I wouldn't mind being a healthier me. And although you don't age, can you change? One poster mentioned the idea of developing your knowledge and skills; I want to know if my body will also change, despite not "aging." Like, would I be stuck as an overweight 20-something? Could I stay fit despite poor habits? Could I develop muscle memory?

So yeah. If the prompt is, say, that you remain a fit, healthy you, in the prime of your youth and strength, until your death, that's a pretty sweet gig, honestly. But the details matter.

Ok so let's get some clarifications.

-It's eternal youth, not immortality.
-You won't get cancer since you still get new cells, they just won't deteriorate.
-You still die at some random point when… I dunno the energy used to keep your body from aging catchs up and the whole body enter in collapse and instantly stops working.
-It's a painless form of death.
-You still learn.
-For the sake of arguments let's say it's far in the future and we already developed colonies in other planets.
-The process increases your life spam but don't make you immortal.
-It's painless.
-Not everyone does it so there are still old people as reference.
-You can revert to at any time to any age until your 18 birthday the “legal age”.
-Your body is not "lock" from there on you can gain or lose fat and muscle mass.
-The only "bad" thing is that the process is not revertible, once lock in an age you are stuck with it.
-Doing it late on life after experiencing old age is possible and common and can actually prolong your life spam twice the expected amount.

OK, with the caveat of Colonies existing, and the Tech being safe and not needing Virgin Sacrifices (or similar stuff) I am going for a big and obvious YES.
Sounds like what we all want if you ask me.

However for this I am assuming average improvements in our society system and it not costing a lot (as I am neither rich nor aprticularly influental, sadly) so that you could go to the colony you wanted to, and keep living, learning and evolving until you die.

Sounds great to me.

[Xyril]

First off, using the term eternal youth implies immortality. But that's a nitpick.

Hate to nitpick your nitpick, but that's not really true. Eternal youth, at best, implies only the potential for immortality--that is, the removal of those potentially fatal conditions that come directly as a result of aging. It doesn't inherently imply immunity from those potentially fatal diseases that can strike even the young; it certainly doesn't imply invincibility against death by violence or some other misadventure.

If what you mean is that when they hear "eternal youth," most people infer immortality, then you would be correct. In fact, some of my favorite fictional twists have been centered around the idea of someone incorrectly inferring too much when they were offered "eternal youth."


I would be all for eternal youth, whether or not it came with immortality. I don't think I'll be unhappy getting older--if I became frail and sedentary tomorrow, I could still make a decent living, and I would be perfectly content spending even more time than I do now arguing with people on the internet, playing games, and doing completely non-physical activities with my friends. That being said, most of my other hobbies are pretty physical. Some I can probably keep up with well past middle age, so long as I make allowances for aging. The others are basically unheard of for older people because they become pretty dangerous once your balance and flexibility start to decline with age. If I can keep doing the things I love until I either die or finally get bored with them, why wouldn't I want that option?

As for the clarification bandwagon, I'm going to hipster it up and remain conspicuously off of it. Whether or not it's really forever and whether or not forever can be cut short are important details if you want to debate the wider impact on society--and certainly that could be a fun debate--but I don't really see it as all that important to my answer. While we haven't had a shift as sudden or to such a degree as gaining eternal youth overnight, we've had numerous shifts of a like kind--increasing or decreasing life expectancy, radically changing early life mortality rates. While they certainly impact society, they haven't had a uniquely large impact in part because they don't intrinsically benefit some people over others.

While it is certainly true that access to clean water, food, and medical care is highly uneven, it isn't uneven because medical advances are inherently unequal. Rather, the way these advances are implemented merely reflect the institutions and cultural values that already existed, shaped primarily by other, arguably more powerful events. In a world where medicine can grant eternal youth, the least privileged will have the least access; even in a world where eternal youth were a sudden, universal phenomenon, the powerful would benefit more because they'd have more opportunity to spend their wealth and exercise their power. But that can be said of almost any purely technological or scientific advancement. I'm not going to worry about the potentially increasing gap between the haves and the have-nots because that gap had already existed and it won't stop existed merely because we prevented some sort of general advancement. The same can be said for violence, bigotry, ignorance, and myriad other problems. None of these problems will be substantially changed--for better or worse--by making everyone eternally young, or immortal, or richer, or by making everyone equally poor and less healthy.

[Frozen_Feet]

People infer too much in general about any sort of immortality.

Typical track of thought goes something like immortality = eternal youth = invulnerability = invincibility. When logically, none of these necessarily entail from one another.

Even more specifically, people seem to think immortality means infinite opportunities, or infine memory, or infinite ability to create matter, or infinite ability to withstand suffering. These are even more disjointed from the actual concept.

Of course, many people infer equally absurd negative traits, such as complete inability to move on, or develop in any way as a person. These too are highly particular and need not be true for any given form of immortality, let alone eternal youth.

[Lvl 2 Expert]

Hate to nitpick your nitpick, but that's not really true. Eternal youth, at best, implies only the potential for immortality--that is, the removal of those potentially fatal conditions that come directly as a result of aging.

It does. Except in this case the OP's second post specifies it does not. This form of eternal youth will prevent you from suffering from a heart condition for 30 years, just not from dropping dead from it.

If anything realistically people might die sooner because they never get a warning for what's eventually going to kill them. But let's ignore that for now. You just die the same day you would have died, unless eternal youth makes you play in traffic. So it's more like 80 years of youth.


This is not that weird a question because people are testing anti-aging medication right now. Anything we can cook up within our lifetimes can probably not combat all mechanisms of aging, so you might gain a few decades, but not more than that. The main effect we can hope for is staying 50 all the way to our 80's. For instance: there is a drug in the works that will help clean up old inactive cells that take up space and bind messenger molecules, preventing nearby stem cells from dividing as often as they used to. This treatment would lead to more cell division and thus a more youthful body, but it doesn't do anything for the lifespan of the cells, the total amount of times they can divide before their telomeres run out and the DNA starts getting damaged. If you start the medication early it might even shorten your life. (Which is speculation on my part, but speculation founded in theory.) But hey, if you can live to 60 fit as when you were 20, that alone could be worth it to at least a good subset of people...

We might have some idea of what the stuff does about 40 years from now, because while market approval is a long way off some people have already started self-medicating in secret.




On another note, it just hit me how paranoid parents would become in this scenario, with Twilight-esque 60 year olds locked in as late teenagers going around trying to manipulate 15 year olds into things loverboys style.

[Zmeoaice]

Put me in the body of my 10 year old self please. That would ultimately be ideal.

[Potato_Priest]

Put me in the body of my 10 year old self please. That would ultimately be ideal.

If you'll pardon my curiosity, why is your 10 year old body preferable to your current body or your 18 year old one?

In general, 10 year olds tend to be weaker, smaller, and less intelligent (simply because of developmental stuff) than their older counterparts.

[S@tanicoaldo]

If you'll pardon my curiosity, why is your 10 year old body preferable to your current body or your 18 year old one?

In general, 10 year olds tend to be weaker, smaller, and less intelligent (simply because of developmental stuff) than their older counterparts.

Probably nostalgia.

[hq27]

no reason why - ITS A TRAPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP xO) dont be fooled everything gets old eventually even being young

[NontheistCleric]

If you'll pardon my curiosity, why is your 10 year old body preferable to your current body or your 18 year old one?

In general, 10 year olds tend to be weaker, smaller, and less intelligent (simply because of developmental stuff) than their older counterparts.

Perhaps he has been a professional thief since age 10 and misses how he used to be able to squeeze through small spaces and act the young, innocent, child.

[veti]

I've had enough experience of aging to know how it feels. Sign me up.

It's not just a matter of accumulating more and more damage over time. It's how the body responds to that damage.

When I was in my 20s, I could stay up all night and not feel particularly bad the next day. I could drink hard, play hard, and even at worst I'd only lose one or two days to feeling grotty afterwards.

In my 30s, I was surprised at how my body started to rebel against this kind of treatment. The things I could do in my 20s - just didn't work any more.

In my 40s, the decay set in. Minor cuts and scrapes that I'd have shrugged off once upon a time - start to really hurt. I started to think about words like "infection", which never really worried me before even though of course I knew about them. I could get cold by being out in the rain, I could get tired by walking just an hour or so. I could make myself ill just by eating bad food (and for clarity, "bad" doesn't mean "rotten" or "dirty", just - McDonalds'). One time I fell on my back, and had to spend the next two weeks pretty much lying flat on the floor.

My body is, simply, not what it was.

I wouldn't want to be immortal, unless everyone else was too. But if I could keep the strength and stamina of my, let's say 30-year-old self, I'd take it.

[thorgrim29]

I feel like peak physical shape is probably mid twenties. You look like an adult, your hormones are under control, and you mostly haven't started ageing (your reflexes are probably a tad slower than at 16 based on when pro gamers tend to wash out but that's fairly minor). So yeah, why wouldn't I want to stay at that age? I'm only 28 now and I'm starting to get some recurrent back and knee pain and I bounce back from hangovers much slower then I used to. Also living is fun, so why wouldn't I want to go on in peak physical condition for as long as I'm still enjoying it? And even then everything we think we know about what the "optimal" lifespan is is based on the fact that most of us (barring technological breakthoughs) won't see 100 and will probably spend our last few decades in assisted living, take that away who knows what a physically young 90 or 150 year old would be like?

The main problem I see from my perspective is that engineering of objectively superior kids is going to be a thing in the near future, so even if we stay young the "naturals" will be pretty much obsolete living fossils in a few hundred years, dumber, uglier and slower than our descendants. That mkight not be as fun...

[Honest Tiefling]

But I love the idea of getting old, it means I'll finally be allowed to be an unapologetic ******* to everyone.

Sweetie, we need to teach you the ways of being passive-aggressive. If people don't know you've insulted them, you've won!

I've seen a guy stay young (seeming) into his '80's until a motorcycle accident turn him as old as his age, and I've seen other guys with work injuries turn old in their early 30's.

Yeah, apparently playing chicken while on a motorcycle is why 1) My uncle went bald during his 20's and 2) my parents can never complain about my behavior ever again.

So basically, we'd be elves.

Why did you have to go and ruin it!?!?!

Pretty much on the no train. Immortality is essentially the end of development, in every meaningful sense of the word. Imagine Galileo trying to overcome the authority of Aristotle to his face...

I dunno. Maybe I have a different view of scientists, but I think there would be plenty willing to knock someone off of their pedestal while mooning them or while performing a victory dance. Different people, I suppose. Through if you have people from several centuries ago around, you might be less impressed with them. I mean, think of all of the embarrassing comments they'll make during dinner. 'In my time, we didn't treat slaves like people unless we wanted to!' 'DAD THAT IS THE WAITRESS OMG'

If I do it, would I have to do it alone? If yes, then no. If no, then yes. I mean, it would be such an interesting discovery so someone should probably do it just in the name of science. There would be problems if everyone did it, but perhaps there could be ways around that, so why fear the unknown?

[S@tanicoaldo]

Sweetie, we need to teach you the ways of being passive-aggressive. If people don't know you've insulted them, you've won!

Bu that's the whole point! I want them to know, I want to be an unapologetic jerk and they will just go like "Ah,she's old just let her do her thing" that's my dream ^^

EDIT: Like for exemple, at my mom's house there are a bunch of kids who everyday ring the bell at the same time, so when day I got a bucked of cold water waited for them to show up and then just trowed the cold water at them.

My mom looked at me and said: "What are you? Mr scrooge? Just let the kids have fun, I swear god you are an old lady soul traped in a young lady body."

So I just want my body to match my soul

If I didi that as an old womkan I would look grumpy not crazy.

[AMFV]

Bu that's the whole point! I want them to know, I want to be an unapologetic jerk and they will just go like "Ah,she's old just let her do her thing" that's my dream ^^

EDIT: Like for exemple, at my mom's house there are a bunch of kids who everyday ring the bell at the same time, so when day I got a bucked of cold water waited for them to show up and then just trowed the cold water at them.

My mom looked at me and said: "What are you? Mr scrooge? Just let the kids have fun, I swear god you are an old lady soul traped in a young lady body."

So I just want my body to match my soul

If I didi that as an old womkan I would look grumpy not crazy.

But that also means that people won't give any weight to your insults, or your *******ness. They'll just think it's dementia, and so you won't actually get the satisfaction from it.

[S@tanicoaldo]

But that also means that people won't give any weight to your insults, or your *******ness. They'll just think it's dementia, and so you won't actually get the satisfaction from it.

I'm fine with that.

[roseheart]

I am more powerful in my current form.

An immortal disguised as a mortal.

Your offer would be a limitation, even a trap.

[Spanish_Paladin]

I am more powerful in my current form.

An immortal disguised as a mortal.

Your offer would be a limitation, even a trap.

Ahh, you can see through the Maya, my friend... You are indeed powerful :)

[Jay R]

A. Most such offers turn out to be really bad, in literature and in real life. If an offer sounds too good to be true, it generally turns out to be just that.

B. At age 62, I no longer feel any need to accept stupid dares or compete with the younger people. Don't take away my excuse.

C. Is there something after death? I don't claim to know, but I won't turn down my chance to find out.

[Spanish_Paladin]

C. Is there something after death? I don't claim to know, but I won't turn down my chance to find out.

This!, i want to embark in some moment in that last adventure. The worst thing can happen is nothing and that is not bad at all.

[Xyril]

B. At age 62, I no longer feel any need to accept stupid dares or compete with the younger people. Don't take away my excuse.

I would hope that at age 62, I would no longer need to accept stupid dares mostly out of a sense of wisdom and maturity gained from living for so long, and not because "Sorry kids, my prostate's acting up again" suddenly becomes a catch all excuse, and that if I suddenly became young again, I'd lose the enlarged prostate but not the wisdom and maturity.

[Potato_Priest]

B. At age 62, I no longer feel any need to accept stupid dares or compete with the younger people. Don't take away my excuse.

At age 10 I never felt any need to accept stupid dares or enter competitions I didn't think I could win. People called me a chicken, and I would say something along the lines of "yes I am a chicken, but I'm still not going to jump off the roof". This is thus not an obstacle to me staying forever young.

[Liquor Box]

At age 10 I never felt any need to accept stupid dares or enter competitions I didn't think I could win. People called me a chicken, and I would say something along the lines of "yes I am a chicken, but I'm still not going to jump off the roof". This is thus not an obstacle to me staying forever young.

Because you would get another chance at the fun of accepting (and making) dares and competing in silly competitions, and also the acceptance of your peers?

[2D8HP]

Because you would get another chance at the fun of accepting (and making) dares and competing in silly competitions, and also the acceptance of your peers?

With a young body, you'd have a young persons brain and brain chemistry (IIRC it's by the age of 26 that you get an "adult" brain), so you'd learn things faster, but also probably have the strong emotions, impulsiveness, and craving for novelty of youth.

It be nice to be without the physical pain of age, but I wouldn't want the heartaches of youth again.

[factotum]

With a young body, you'd have a young persons brain and brain chemistry (IIRC it's by the age of 26 that you get an "adult" brain), so you'd learn things faster, but also probably have the strong emotions, impulsiveness, and craving for novelty of youth.

It be nice to be without the physical pain of age, but I wouldn't want the heartaches of youth again.

So why assume that "young" here means a teenager? Dunno about you, but 26 is still plenty young as far as I'm concerned.

[2D8HP]

So why assume that "young" here means a teenager? Dunno about you, but 26 is still plenty young as far as I'm concerned.

True, but at 26 I was already cursed with work caused back, knee, and wrist pain, so I was already starting to feel old (though it was at 33 years old that I most felt my age).

[Suttle]

True, but at 26 I was already cursed with work caused back, knee, and wrist pain, so I was already starting to feel old (though it was at 33 years old that I most felt my age).

How old would you eb willing to get if this hypothetical scenario real?