[mcgarnagle]

I don't think immortal is the right word here. You can still die from physical harm, no matter how many stem cells you consume. So in theory if someone abused the pee-ons for enough time, probably one of them would get mad enough to overthrow the power. Just like many revolutions throughout history.

[timthelion]

Most dynasties in history were overthrown by competing heirs, not the people. It is actually very rare for dictatorships to turn into democracies. Many reigns only end in death. Do you think Putin will ever be overthrown?

[narag]

It is actually very rare for dictatorships to turn into democracies.

In the last half century give or take some years, half of Europe and Latin America nations have successfully and peacefully made this transition. And only Venezuela has returned to dictatorship.

Do you think Putin will ever be overthrown?

No idea. Formal democracy is still in place, so there's hope.

[timthelion]

But recorded history in Europe goes back some 3000 years.

[narag]

Universal suffrage is as recent as 1906, and only for male voters was introduced in American and French revolutions. So with some back and forth, (modern, real) democracy has been steadly advancing since it was born two centuries ago, with a much clearer trend last half century.

[mcgarnagle]

No, because he: a) has a very high approval rating, b) minimized a lot of corruption problems for Russia where people were stealing absolutely everywhere after the soviet collapse c) does not commit humanitarian crimes

[klibertp]

I'm not involved in any way, but from the news I watch, both a) and c) claims are debatable. I guess he's not worse than what he replaced, but that doesn't make him good. At least that's the spin in the media in my country, possibly very biased for a lot of reasons.

[andrewtbham]

yeh the correct term is biological immortality.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biological_immortality