Corrupted Longevity [Horror]

[Celjabba]

Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl

Or an extra 150 CP. It might get to the point where any form of longevity becomes suspect unless accompanied by proof of psychological stability. While there would still be those who seek immortality, they would be considered lunatics because most people would be reluctant to sacrifice their psychological stability for physical immortality. After all, would an extra two centuries of life be worthwhile if it accompanied an extra 150 CP (50 CP for the second century of life and 100 CP for the third century of life).

I think you are accumulating corruption too fast and going straight to collapse. A slighty slower corruption may get a lasting "horrific" society.

Moorcock Granbretan would be a good example for this, I think.

[AlexanderHowl]

That is what the regular psychological counseling is for. As long as people receive the psychological counseling, they do not accumulate Corruption.

[Michele]

Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl

That is what the regular psychological counseling is for. As long as people receive the psychological counseling, they do not accumulate Corruption.

Assuming the shrink is successful in their skill roll, naturally. And I say that every Disadvantage already gained through Corruption should accrue a -1 penalty.

[Gumby Bush]

2 possibilities:

1. FDA does not approve this treatment

2. Daily psychotherapy becomes compulsory past a certain age

Probably the latter... but can the bureaucracy really track this? And is the number of quality therapists sufficient to keep up with demand? You might well end up with compulsory cut offs from the longevity treatment after a time, simply because the therapeutic logistics cannot keep up, which will, in turn, likely produce a black market for longevity treatments.

[AlexanderHowl]

Remember that the psychotherapy requirement is weekly for biological intelligences in the stated scenario. It is possible that the wealthy would be the only people capable of affording the services, unless you could create a psychotherapy program that would be sufficiently complex to keep people from diverging too much. Either way, this would be part of the horror aspect of the setting.

[maximara]

Originally Posted by Celjabba

Partial amnesia is an obvious potential mental disadvantage, and possibly a way to escape worse ones.

In Robinson Mars trilogy you have a chilling passage when a character, after a couple (?) century of longevity, come across the picture of a long dead character who once was extremely important to him, and remark "look nice. Who is she ?"

Sounds like "Me" in Doctor Who's "The Woman Who Lived" who has become much like the Doctor's first incarnation. She keeps a library/diary of her memories ripping out those she doesn't want to remember. Her empathy to the "mayflies" as she calls normal human has dwindled

Jonathan Swift's Struldbruggs are another nasty form of immortality as they keep aging. Their memories effectively stop when the reach 80 and the society notes them as "Legally Dead" at that age.

Per Swift this is because "avarice is the necessary consequence of old age, those immortals would in time become proprietors of the whole nation, and engross the civil power, which, for want of abilities to manage, must end in the ruin of the public."

There was an EC story where people who reach a certain age are given a choice to stop being immortal as some people just don't "adjust".

In another story the Twilight Zonish ending is that the child the couple has been taking care of is actual a robot they have leased for this purpose as there are no more children.

[ericthered]

Originally Posted by Flyndaran

Virtually no one wants to live forever if you ask them. But virtually no one wants to die today. And what's 1 year if not just 365 todays?

Huh? I haven't heard that claim. If you tie in enough consequences in like "you will live but your body will become a helpless and painful shell" or costs like "You must consume the souls of others to live" then sure, the odds change.

But I'm not so sure that "virtually no one" will say yes to eternal middle age. It doesn't sound bad to me at all. Am I an outlier?

[AlexanderHowl]

Eternal middle age? No thank you, there is too much pain. Now, if you are talking about being physically 25 forever, that is a completely different story.

[RedMattis]

Originally Posted by ericthered

Huh? I haven't heard that claim. If you tie in enough consequences in like "you will live but your body will become a helpless and painful shell" or costs like "You must consume the souls of others to live" then sure, the odds change.

But I'm not so sure that "virtually no one" will say yes to eternal middle age. It doesn't sound bad to me at all. Am I an outlier?

I think most people think living forever would be great. Telling themselves otherwise is more of a coping mechanism.

"Oh, I imagine how horrible it would, you'd get sooo bored!"

"Uh, no? There is if anything an endless ocean of things to do and not enough time to do it"

"Imagine seeing all your friends die. That would be dreadful"

"Life moves on, and even most teenagers have lost a puppy or kitten. Besides isn't everyone else ALSO unaging?"

Eternal middle age? No thank you, there is too much pain. Now, if you are talking about being physically 25 forever, that is a completely different story.

Getting old hurts. It isn't the end of the world though, and there is much else to live for. Besides, a lot of those pains can to varying extents be avoided by being healthy.

[AlexanderHowl]

I have to disagree. My back pain comes from spinal arthritis, so good living can only do so much. While medication and stretching makes it manageable, I would much rather have my 25 year old body than my 40+ year old body.