a thought experiment: consider that one day humankind may gain the degree of control over biology necessary to mitigate cell death and prolong our lives. In this scenario, 1,000 years is the average lifespan.

what are the implications to humanity, the 'human experience'? the impact to human psychology, philosophy, religion, politics, economics? science? education?

what would such a world look like?

Just as it is now, but with alot more bored people. Also, I would imagine suicides making a rise too.

Posted by dirt Just as it is now, but with alot more bored people. Also, I would imagine suicides making a rise too.

I would have to agree with dirt there. Another problem would be the existing issue of overpopulation. That would see a considerable aggravation. Not to mention the concept of life being cheapened considerably.

Of course, we could wind up learning a lot more courtesy of an extended life span.

Personally, I'd say we should use the existing life span we have to our benefit. Extending it even farther (more than 100 years) may just be greedy.

thanks for your comments, both!

let me inject a focused comment (the topic is so broad, we could discuss any of a hundred things), and see if anyone has thoughts on it:

in this hypothetical world, society would certainly become far more rigid, and brittle, as 'leaders' became embedded in their leadership roles; the powerful hanging on to their power. imagine how progress would be slowed, when society and organizations are not continually cycling out the 'old' and replacing it with the 'new'. new vision/ideas/methods would be choked out, and bottled up at places lower in the system.

Supposing a world where politicians, corporate leaders and social influencers did not lose their faculties with age (and eventually retire). Imagine a political landscape where the same core leaders headed up their respective ideologies for hundreds of years. Imagine a world where the celebrities didn't drift out of the public view as they grew older. (think our society is prone to celebrity worship NOW?)

Also imagine the capable, ambitious innovators stuck beneath these leaders -- the younger generation whose aspirations to power and authority depend on the failure and removal of those above them, or the creation of rival organizations with hierarchial vacancies.

Simultaneously, stasis and insurrection would be significant problems in any organization within this hypothetical world.

(as an aside, it could be argued that boredom would eventually provide the renewal mechanism for organizations -- people would lose interest and seek to do something new/challenging/interesting. this might be the case for many, but the idea of losing power/status would be a strong barrier to the idea of people 'starting over' with any frequency.)

http://humanityplus.org/
http://www.robertp...com/post-human.htm
http://en.wikipedi...Human_evolution%29

You guys are on the right track, but your perspective is a bit narrow. The same technological advances that allow long lifespans will come in conjunction with other advances to keep us from being overly bored.
Plus with long life spans a 100 year space mission to a new solar system isn't that big a deal so expansion won't be a problem (hypothetically)

Immortality would most likely only be attainable by the ruling class. They would have to be assassinated.