Would you take an Immortality drug?

[KRSESQ]

The trailer for The Fountain brought a question to mind...

Modern medical science has completed the mapping of the human genome and researchers are closing in on the biological causes of aging. If the Methuselah Mouse Project comes to fruition and the technique is adapted to humans, extending the human lifespan indefinately (and, for the sake of argument, restoring the patient to the relative health and vigor of a 20-something year-old), would you take the drug? What if it becomes a relatively common geriatric treatment, resulting in hundreds of thousands of people worldwide defying the Grim Reaper? Needless to say it would result in some serious changes to our society.

What if the only way to recieve the drug was to join the military or an interplanetary colonization program?

Writer Larry Niven, in his stories, routinely treats such a treatment as an inevitability. I personally think ours may be either the first generation to enjoy the benefits of such a treatment, or the last to suffer the ravages of death by old age.

I and most of the men I've asked say yes, in a hot second. The women are more circumspect. What do you think?

Kevin

[schmosef]

yep, I'd take it.

And you're right, SciFi does have a lot of varied takes on the subject.

[Dr Mordrid]

Yup, as long as it was reversable

[Sasq]

can i have a version that lets me live to 100, with the body of a 30yo until i go?

Immortality would get boring

[Jessterw]

Nope. I don't want to live forever. I'd gladly tack on 50 or so years, maybe 100 at the max, as long as there was also a promise of being able to live through most of it with good health (within reason). Of course 'most' when you're dealing with that length of time could leave you suffering from an ailment for many more years than you would now. Then again, if it was truly an immortality drug then you wouldn't have to worry about such things...

It definitely would change how we live our lives. There would be some interesting social consequences with it as well. Imagine it becoming a common, accepted practice for couples to change partners after x number of decades/centuries... What we view as short-term, failed marriages would look even worse...

[KvHagedorn]

geez.. it would lose the novelty if EVERYONE did it..

But then, if only the rich got to, there would be a whole underclass of aging people who would probably be so angry that they would just put a bullet in the offending rich 150yo bastard with the body of a 20yo..

Hell, yes, I would do it.

[Podfrog]

it doesn't mean you would live forever, only that you won't age. that said, sign me up!

[Jon P. Inghram]

On first thought: No
Second thought: Like sasq said
Third and final thought: I'd prefer to just be healthy while still aging normally.

Maybe I'm just weird, but I'm not personally bothered by the idea of dying.

[Sasq]

On first thought: No
Second thought: Like sasq said
Third and final thought: I'd prefer to just be healthy while still aging normally.

Maybe I'm just weird, but I'm not personally bothered by the idea of dying.

Death doesn't bother me, its the last 10 years in adult diapers that does

I would prefer to be healthy and active and then go quickly.

[Rakido]

Death doesn't bother me, its the last 10 years in adult diapers that does

I would prefer to be healthy and active and then go quickly.

full ack to what Sasq said. I'm not afraid of getting old, but i would like to have my own life until it's over.


R.

[Brian Ellis]

Death would certainly be a welcome alternative to suffering either a painful (e.g., some cancers) and long agony or a debilitating (e.g., Alzheimer's) disease. I'm not afraid of death, but I'm afraid of dying under some circumstances. The ideal would simply be to go to sleep one evening and never to wake up. Immortality pill? Never! The world cannot support an increased population. However, that gipsy did tell me I'd live to be 100, when I would be shot by a jealous husband.

Just think if Maggie Thatcher, Tony Blair, Al Gore, Bill & Hilary Clinton, Jimmy Carter, Richard Nixon, Dick Cheney and GWB (not to mention Saddam and Osama) were to live for ever.

[Dr Mordrid]

Just Al Gore, Bill & Hillary are enough to give one nightmares

[TransformX]

I'll have two please, if life will be *THAT* unbearable, I could always either terminate it myself, or in a worse case, leave specific instructions for when and how to do so for me, in case I'm incapable.

Only thing slightly bothering me with that is this, most men love younger women/girls, would you still fancy that teen hottie, knowing she's 70 years old?
On second thought, I don't think I'd be that bothered, there are quite a few actresses that were amazingly beautiful when movies were still in black and white, that given a chance most men wouldn't refuse.

[Dr Mordrid]

If she still looks/acts like a teen hottie who the hell cares what her paperwork says? With a young bod & all that experience she'd probably be the immortality pills antidote

[Umfriend]

As long as it is nothing that a gun to the head can't circumvent, yep, I'd take it.

If the 3,293 yo women looks like a 23 yo hottie, bring em on!