[supercon]

Mixed feelings. On one hand I can imagine situations where longetivity and its development might really be useful, for example when (if ever) we enter the human space travel era, where the human lifespan will eventually start to factor in. On the other, its hard to not consider the deeper meaning of such pursuits. After all, death is what gives life meaning and pushing it further raises lots of possible negatives e.g. 1) less sense of urgency 2) traumatic death will be even more traumautic, especially in the early years of life… I do wish I can live healthily to the end of my days, but its really a sort of miracle in todays world if the reaper doesn’t collect you before aging runs it course.

[rwmj]

The real problem is that it will even further empower the gerontocracy. Imagine older people accumulating more and more wealth and being an ever larger voting bloc. Now you could imagine a world in which lifespan is extended and these issues are also resolved and we don't get stasis where nothing can be built and huge inequality, but it's unlikely to happen in a democracy.

[newsbinator]

> death is what gives life meaning

citation needed

[supercon]

For me this statement is a logical conclusion to the thought experiment ”imagine if everyone lived forever”. But I realize maybe for some it isn’t, so lets categorize this as an opinion.

[newsbinator]

Well there's probably no version of everyone living forever. Societies will still fail. Natural disasters will still happen, not to mention wars and terrorism.

Functionally there'll still be an end-date for most "human" lives.

But there's plenty of meaning to be found in 10,000 or 100,000 years of life, without disease and death lurking around the corner every day.

[rohit89]

> death lurking around the corner every day.

It will still be lurking around the corner and it will change your risk calculus completely. Today, if you go out and get hit by a bus, at worst, you lost 70 years of your life. In the future, you're risking 10-100k years of your life. What's worse is having to accept this risk for your loved ones.

A better question to consider would be, what would people do if they had only 1/5/10 years to live.

[supercon]

Sure. I’m not saying death is the sole provider of meaning, but still a major one, no matter how far we push it. As long as an inevitable end exists, we will adjust our life and actions with it.

[xvector]

> death is what gives life meaning

We define the meaning of life, not death. I would find my life perfectly meaningful without death.