Age stratification in a world where people live arbitrarily long means you never have an opportunity to become a respected elder in your society; generations of more respected super-elders will be around no matter how old and wise you get.
Also, in this world, are people youthful indefinitely? I think many of the age related changes in activity choices are driven by physical aging, not maturity, e.g., choosing cocktail parties over clubbing happens not because you realize one day that cocktail parties are a richer experience, but because one day you realize you get too tired by 10pm for the club scene.
One interesting effect is an infinite time horizon over which to accrue interest, such that everyone will eventually have the ability to live on passive income, which should make any welfare system only applicable to the very young. Assuming people can have children indefinitely as well, it might be wise to have a system in place whereby you can only have children if you can fund endowments for them. This would:
eliminate the need for welfare for the young
tie the rate of population growth to the rate of economic growth (overpopulation is always a risk in inmortal societies)
ensure wealth transfers from older, richer to younger, poorer generations
build in a ‘level up’ goal (you know you’ve made it when you can afford your first child)
I think ultimately, people won’t be able to rely on a particular societal configuration to keep them amused (and I’m not sure that is good goal for society anyway) and they’ll be forced to turn inward. Meditation, or other practices (or possibly drugs) that facilitate experiencing “the now” in a powerful way will become important.
Age stratification in a world where people live arbitrarily long means you never have an opportunity to become a respected elder in your society; generations of more respected super-elders will be around no matter how old and wise you get.
For any x, you eventually get the opportunity to be in the top x% of society! And assuming that the size of a social circle/community stays roughly fixed, eventually you’ll be at the very top of your community. Maybe the more respected super-elders will be in some other galaxy, but not on your world.
Also, in this world, are people youthful indefinitely? I think many of the age related changes in activity choices are driven by physical aging, not maturity, e.g., choosing cocktail parties over clubbing happens not because you realize one day that cocktail parties are a richer experience, but because one day you realize you get too tired by 10pm for the club scene.
Yes, people would be youthful indefinitely. I think there’s a mix of reasons, but getting bored/moving on is definitely one of the main ones. Picture a jaded 40 year old in a nightclub—is the limiting factor really tiredness?
Age stratification in a world where people live arbitrarily long means you never have an opportunity to become a respected elder in your society; generations of more respected super-elders will be around no matter how old and wise you get.
Also, in this world, are people youthful indefinitely? I think many of the age related changes in activity choices are driven by physical aging, not maturity, e.g., choosing cocktail parties over clubbing happens not because you realize one day that cocktail parties are a richer experience, but because one day you realize you get too tired by 10pm for the club scene.
One interesting effect is an infinite time horizon over which to accrue interest, such that everyone will eventually have the ability to live on passive income, which should make any welfare system only applicable to the very young. Assuming people can have children indefinitely as well, it might be wise to have a system in place whereby you can only have children if you can fund endowments for them. This would:
eliminate the need for welfare for the young
tie the rate of population growth to the rate of economic growth (overpopulation is always a risk in inmortal societies)
ensure wealth transfers from older, richer to younger, poorer generations
build in a ‘level up’ goal (you know you’ve made it when you can afford your first child)
I think ultimately, people won’t be able to rely on a particular societal configuration to keep them amused (and I’m not sure that is good goal for society anyway) and they’ll be forced to turn inward. Meditation, or other practices (or possibly drugs) that facilitate experiencing “the now” in a powerful way will become important.
For any x, you eventually get the opportunity to be in the top x% of society! And assuming that the size of a social circle/community stays roughly fixed, eventually you’ll be at the very top of your community. Maybe the more respected super-elders will be in some other galaxy, but not on your world.
Yes, people would be youthful indefinitely. I think there’s a mix of reasons, but getting bored/moving on is definitely one of the main ones. Picture a jaded 40 year old in a nightclub—is the limiting factor really tiredness?