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Comment by fchollet | Hacker News Reader

Imagine that we figured out a remedy to aging 1000 years ago. Then 90% of the people today would be, say, 500+ years old.

What an interesting world that would be, a world where we would still be burning witches. You wouldn't be typing this on a computer musing about ending aging; computers would not exist and neither would you.

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Was it Louis CK who said he doesn't understand why this crappy generation should be the one that deserves immortality? And it's a good thing it wasn't invented last generation or we'd have a universe full of misogynists and racists living forever.

Can't find it now but it sure resonated with me. Invent immortality, kiss social change goodbye.

I think you are being far too pessimistic.

In the US we went from sexual orientation being something that was socially acceptable to ridicule or attack with violence, to widespread social acceptance and same sex marriage being law in most of the county in just 15 years - less than one than one generation.

This change wasn't brought about by killing off every over the age 30. I think as long there is some kind of reconciliation method in place for people to say "I was wrong and now I've changed" without being attacked (like Sen Matt Kirk was), then social change can be facilitated much quicker than waiting for an entire generation to die.

I'm more pessimistic. I'd say homophobes just accept that the political wind changed and learned to shut up about it. There are still prolific undercurrents of sexism, racism and homophobia in the US, and here in the UK.

It depends if social rigidity is caused by the ageing process or not. It might be that once the effects of the ageing process are removed that people become much more socially flexible.

Don't you think that's kind of a reach? I feel like you could just as easily guess that the smartest people of 1000 years ago, given an extra couple hundred years of lifetime, would have come up with computers way before we did.

Edit: Not that I consider either answer particularly likely; I have no idea what would happen.

Most people's ideas and worldview get basically frozen in time when they reach 25. Maybe not everyone, but a large enough majority that a death-free society would be effectively stagnant, socially and technologically.

> technologically

Seems many invent at an old age. Also seems that some few are responsible for great many breakthroughs, only stopping at their death beds...

"Most people's ideas and worldview get basically frozen in time when they reach 25."

Not by choice, in most cases. N.B. There's also a lot of research on restoring neural plasticity.

That's quite an assumption. I'm guessing you are young.

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