GURPS Longevity and anagathic treatment in ancient times ( low TL )

[ravenfish]

Originally Posted by Solomon Draak

Seriously, just indefinite longevity would be such a solace. Knowing that you no longer have to die in a meagre couple of decades or even less. The problem of mortality isn't exactly the same of the problem of true eternal life.

Personally, I suspect that obtaining an expected lifespan of centuries would immediately lead to angst about not getting to live for millennia.

--

From our point of view at the moment, the only available answers to the question of how to obtain anti-aging effects (apart from "exercise and eat healthily so you don't die unnecessarily early", obviously) are "magic" or "undeveloped future technology". As a setting designer, you may choose whichever feels more appropriate.

[Solomon Draak]

An interesting little thing.
Basic manual 2, Age and Aging section, pg 444.

Even without magic or high technology, you can spend earned character
points to raise your attributes to combat aging.

So, if we allow the optional rules about training attributes like they were skills, then a character who lost an attribute point due aging may regain it through ( 10* 200 ) 2000 ( ST / HT ) or 4000 ( DX / IQ ) hours of physiotherapy, assuming being followed by a competent instructor ( or personal trainer ).

Too slow to completely counter the aging deterioration but...
it's something.


A person who follows a serious rehab / physiotheraphy regimen ( let's say, 4 hours / day, spread through the whole day ) could regain roughly a point every 2 years. I can't do the math about how many years of life it translates too but an handful years seems realistic.

[Polydamas]

Originally Posted by Solomon Draak

Beside, there is no method... so far.

The verb "is" is in the present tense and the indicative mood. All kinds of things might be invented in the future (future subjunctive) but they are not relevant to a statement about the world now and what can definitely be done because it has been done (perfect tense).

[Ulzgoroth]

Originally Posted by ravenfish

Personally, I suspect that obtaining an expected lifespan of centuries would immediately lead to angst about not getting to live for millennia.

The desire to avoid death would manifest quite differently, though, if the your expected cause of death isn't aging-related infirmity.

(Also in a modern tech-progression regime you might have reason to believe that if tech today gives you an extra century, you'll get another extra century before that one is up. This may apply less in environments where there isn't a general sense that technology marches on.)

[Johnny1A.2]

Originally Posted by Anthony

I would note that groups of people with an ambition of eternal life are totally possible at any TL; searching for eternal life has been a popular pastime as far back as we can track. It's just that all of them have failed.

That we know of. :)

That's ninety percent a joke, but if someone had succeeded as a one-off or freak event, how would we know if they didn't reveal it? Not that I think anyone did, but how would we know?

(Assuming whatever it was was a super-freak weird event.)

[Johnny1A.2]

Originally Posted by whswhs

There will never be a method of attaining eternal life. You might imaginably attain eternal youthful vigor and freedom from disease. But there will remain accidents, suicide, and violence. The probability of death can't be lowered to zero.

Bill Stoddard

IIRC, some insurance company once ran the numbers to calculate average lifespan if people stopped aging, meaning death from disease, accident, or violence became the most common cause of death. IIRC, it came out at about six centuries.

[Johnny1A.2]

Originally Posted by Solomon Draak

"I plan to live forever, of course, but barring that I'd settle for a couple thousand years. Even five hundred would be pretty nice."
— CEO Nwabudike Morgan, MorganLink 3DVision Live Interview, "Longevity Vaccine," Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri


Seriously, just indefinite longevity would be such a solace. Knowing that you no longer have to die in a meagre couple of decades or even less. The problem of mortality isn't exactly the same of the problem of true eternal life.


There's a plant, Galega officinalis, which seems to contain an active principle very similar to the one employed by the drug called Metformin.
Metformin is mabye the first truly promising anti-aging drug that we stumbled upon, so far.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4772077/

The active principle of aspirine can be found in weeping willow bark ( salicylate.... I think. Sorry, english is not my native language. ) and it's quite effective in preventing both cancer and cardiovascular diseases.

Herbalism is not a small thing... there are treasures hidden in plants, barks and flowers. If those empirical knowledges could be synthesized into a omnicomprehensive treatment, I think the ageing process could be at least slowed down.

I find funny and oddly stimulating the idea of a pre-human, truly starting from scratch, fighting the greatest challenge armed with empiric science and raw intuition.

Which would almost surely lead to nothing.

If such a person did succeed, it would likely be by sheer, blind accident. He might discover the necessary plant or whatever by chance, but almost certainly not by planned effort.

One would also have to posit a reason why nobody knew about it later. He would have to be assumed to be keeping it a secret (not unlikely, if he had any common sense at all), and probably that it was something so rare, so weird, so improbable, that it would only be found by accident.

Or...here's a nasty one: maybe the special plant only works on him, for everyone else it's poison, but he has just the right combination of genes that it extends his lifespan...and only his. Or maybe 1 person in ten million it'll work for, but most people never find out because it's known to be poison and so the people who it could benefit never try it.

If our hypothetical amortal is in that situation, he would really be well advised to keep the thing a secret!

[Rupert]

Originally Posted by Anthony

All of those things are similar to Western pursuits of things like the Philosopher's Stone. Schemes to live forever are universal. It's just that them failing to work is also universal.

Of course if they're being used by a secret elite, we'd only hear about the failures. 'They' would cover up the successes, keeping them for 'themselves'. Down the conspiracy theory rabbit hole we go...

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by Johnny1A.2

IIRC, some insurance company once ran the numbers to calculate average lifespan if people stopped aging, meaning death from disease, accident, or violence became the most common cause of death. IIRC, it came out at about six centuries.

Depends on the age at which you stopped. The age-specific death rate for age 5-14 is around 14/100,000, which works out to around 7,000 years, but if you go with age 15-24 (for actual adults) it's at 84/100,000 or about 1,200 years, age 25-34 is around 170 which works out to around 600.

[dcarson]

Farmer in his Council of Nine series has a group of nine that know the secret of longevity. There is a larger group that get the drug on a yearly? every couple of years? (been years since I read them) but don't know how to make it. The oldest two or three of the council are Neanderthal. Thye have a lot of covert power because don't do what you are told and no dose next time.