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MagicMoonlightyesterday at 10:06 AM8 repliesview on HN

I’m starting to realise we don’t really want a cure to aging.

Imagine a world where people like Stalin never die. People like bill gates never have to pretend to be a nice person…

If there’s no chance of death, there will never be any progress in society. People in power would just establish a tighter and tighter grip. All the boomers would be immune to death and disease, but the treatment would be banned for the young because they haven’t done enough to earn it.


Replies

WhyNotHugoyesterday at 3:06 PM

You'll enjoy "Altered Carbon", which focuses (partially) on this topic: if we get rid of death, then the worst of the aristocracy never dies.

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ricardo81yesterday at 10:53 AM

Reminds me of the film 'In Time' where the rich can be immortal.

It does seem that nature has it 'programmed in' that we are to die due to telomere shortening and for natural selection to take place. Our modern and constantly changing society likely means that any kind of evolutionary adaptation doesn't have long enough to prove itself.

Interestingly how people would handle immortality could change that.

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1970-01-01yesterday at 5:48 PM

You need both sides of the coin. Yes your Emperor is forever young but so are the heroes among us. Eisenhower turns 135, Hitler 136.

mlrtimeyesterday at 1:16 PM

90% will say this until they are faced with death and then they just want 1 more minute.

derektankyesterday at 10:50 AM

If your thesis was correct, we would presumably not treat children for cancer. Since that’s evidently not the case, I’m not sure how you’re coming to this conclusion

maipenyesterday at 10:26 AM

Dictators die all the time and most often not of old age. As we get older our flexibility to adapt to change also starts to diminish. You will eventually be outperformed. We can’t account for what we don’t know.

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EugeneOZyesterday at 10:36 AM

People like Einstein would find a solution.

FpUseryesterday at 1:24 PM

>"I’m starting to realise we don’t really want a cure to aging."

YOU realize that WE do not need. How convenient of you to tell me what I need. I think this is how Stalin's of the world start.