Quote:
Originally Posted by Carl in Tampa
Trying to achieve "immortality" or significantly longer lives through science is an interesting subject.
However, living to an extremely old age has its down side, which was a subtle subtext to the movie The Green Mile, in which various characters were murdered, and legally executed.
The principal character, a jail guard, was shown to live to an age where all of his contemporary friends and acquaintances died, and generations of his new friends had died as well. These losses were painful to him. He appeared to long for death himself rather than experience more of these painful losses.
This causes one to reflect on how long a life is desirable. I have already outlived almost all of the roughly seventy-five deputy sheriffs who I worked with in the 1960s.
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That's a good point. I have read about people who outlived all their children. It does happen. But suppose scientists come up with solutions to keep people living longer. That means everyone will live longer, including your friends. But for those who have already lost their friends, there's no turning back the clock.
Actually, this has already happened. There was a time when people only lived to about age 20. Then, much later, it was age 40. Now it's about 79?
Why should we now think that we have reached the upper limit?