# How long could a public figure live without aging past 35 before "the government" got involved? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 23, 2012, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-could-a-public-figure-live-without-aging-past-35-before-the-government-got-involved/619666 "2012-04-23T04:19:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2012, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-could-a-public-figure-live-without-aging-past-35-before-the-government-got-involved/619666/41 "2012-04-24T03:46:36Z")
> [@Alan\_Smithee](#): > > Sure, but even so, immortality is so fantastically unlikely that no rational person would consider it seriously. . Jesus. Make it long damn time then. Like hundreds of years rather than 80 give or take. You don’t think most of the planet wouldn’t freak out realizing its possible to live to at least a few hundred (and looking/feeling 35) the whole time? :rolleyes: Hell, I’d freak out realizing I could possibly live to 80 feeling 35 till the end. You guy’s are really good at sucking out the interesting aspects of a hypothectical OP. ---
**Author:** ![Alan\_Smithee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2acd7d/32.png) [@Alan\_Smithee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alan_Smithee)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2012, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-could-a-public-figure-live-without-aging-past-35-before-the-government-got-involved/619666/42 "2012-04-24T03:53:30Z")
_AND_, of course, what you are almost guaranteed to find after you complete your research on the kidnapped immortal Mr. Newman, is that his lack of aging (so far) is due to an extremely complex set of factors including many, many genes, and probably numerous (and possibly unknowable) environmental factors as well (or a genie). So what do you do then? Do you pay to keep him locked in a cage in secret _forever_? Even though there is no need and it will slow the rate of future research immeasurably (arguably making you the worst mass-murderer in history for failing to allow society to develop the countless medical advances _short of_ immortality that could nevertheless prevent untold amounts of suffering worldwide)? Do you ask him very nicely to forgive you and let him go? Do you murder him and deprive not only society but yourself of any possible future knowledge that coud be gleaned from him? ---
**Author:** ![Alan\_Smithee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2acd7d/32.png) [@Alan\_Smithee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alan_Smithee)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2012, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-could-a-public-figure-live-without-aging-past-35-before-the-government-got-involved/619666/43 "2012-04-24T03:55:18Z")
> [@billfish678](#): > > Jesus. Make it long damn time then. Like hundreds of years rather than 80 give or take. You don’t think most of the planet wouldn’t freak out realizing its possible to live to at least a few hundred (and looking/feeling 35) the whole time? > > :rolleyes: > > Hell, I’d freak out realizing I could possibly live to 80 feeling 35 till the end. > > You guy’s are really good at sucking out the interesting aspects of a hypothectical OP. It doesn’t matter. The point is that it takes hundreds of years to know that someone can live for hundreds of years. Until then all you can know is that someone can look really good at 60. And ten years later that they can look really good at 70. And ten years later . . . . ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2012, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-could-a-public-figure-live-without-aging-past-35-before-the-government-got-involved/619666/44 "2012-04-24T04:02:47Z")
> [@Alan\_Smithee](#): > > It doesn’t matter. The point is that it takes hundreds of years to know that someone can live for hundreds of years. Until then all you can know is that someone can look really good at 60. And ten years later that they can look really good at 70. And ten years later . . . . It DOES matter. Yeah it’s just a number. But at some point that number and the fact they still look 35 becomes a big deal. If you want to argue WHERE that point is fine. You want to argue that because that point isn’t a well defined line then it can never be reached then :rolleyes::dubious: Yeah, old Bob is 5000 years old but looks and feels 35. I guess he is just really lucky. Good fucking grief. ---
**Author:** ![Alan\_Smithee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2acd7d/32.png) [@Alan\_Smithee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alan_Smithee)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2012, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-could-a-public-figure-live-without-aging-past-35-before-the-government-got-involved/619666/45 "2012-04-24T04:16:13Z")
Good grief yourself! You think I’m just shitting on your topic, but I think this is what makes the topic interesting! There IS no clear line, and by the time Bob is 5000, people will have had 5000 years to get used to it. Actually, once everyone alive has been born after Bob was improbably old, they’ll all pretty much be used to it anyway, having known nothing else. But it’s only at around that point, IMO, that Bob **really** become interesting, as opposed to a mere curiosity. _That’s what makes this an interesting scenario to me._ There is, at best, a very narrow window between the point in time at which anyone, including Bob himself, could possibly realize how significant he is and act on it, and the point in time at which he will already have become too well known and established to _secretly_ do anything about it. And in all probability, there is in fact no such window at all. ---
**Author:** ![drastic\_quench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e36b37/32.png) [@drastic\_quench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drastic_quench)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2012, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-could-a-public-figure-live-without-aging-past-35-before-the-government-got-involved/619666/46 "2012-04-24T04:42:53Z")
> [@Alan\_Smithee](#): > > _AND_, of course, what you are almost guaranteed to find after you complete your research on the kidnapped immortal Mr. Newman, is that his lack of aging (so far) is due to an extremely complex set of factors including many, many genes, and probably numerous (and possibly unknowable) environmental factors as well (or a genie). So what do you do then? Do you pay to keep him locked in a cage in secret _forever_? Even though there is no need and it will slow the rate of future research immeasurably (arguably making you the worst mass-murderer in history for failing to allow society to develop the countless medical advances _short of_ immortality that could nevertheless prevent untold amounts of suffering worldwide)? Do you ask him very nicely to forgive you and let him go? Do you murder him and deprive not only society but yourself of any possible future knowledge that coud be gleaned from him? It’s a reverse-Typhoid Mary in my mind. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2012, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-could-a-public-figure-live-without-aging-past-35-before-the-government-got-involved/619666/47 "2012-04-26T06:34:53Z")
> [@billfish678](#): > > It DOES matter. Yeah it’s just a number. But at some point that number and the fact they still look 35 becomes a big deal. If you want to argue WHERE that point is fine. You want to argue that because that point isn’t a well defined line then it can never be reached then :rolleyes::dubious: > > Yeah, old Bob is 5000 years old but looks and feels 35. I guess he is just really lucky. Good fucking grief. I think Alan Smithee’s point is well taken in the face of the arm waving “OMG! OMG! It’s huge!” response. While it might be an interesting human physical mutation for someone to potentially be able to live hundreds of years their near immortality really has almost no real immediate utility for either the state or individuals except in the most extended sense of potentially preserving that person’s genome as a scientific curiosity. It would be like kidnapping and sequestering someone who is super intelligent just because they are very smart. In fact being long lived is arguable of less use to anyone (or the state) than someone who is super smart. Remember that Star Trek show from TOS where these humanoid people live hundreds of years and the bad guy is chasing their secret and in the end it’s just because they are genetically predisposed to live that long? It’s like that. What is the real use of a genetic near immortal to the state? What is the immediate real world threat of a genetic near immortal to the state? ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2012, 9:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-could-a-public-figure-live-without-aging-past-35-before-the-government-got-involved/619666/48 "2012-04-26T09:38:28Z")
> [@astro](#): > > What is the real use of a genetic near immortal to the state? Trying to find out what caused it, and replicate it. Tons of people would like to live forever. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2012, 9:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-could-a-public-figure-live-without-aging-past-35-before-the-government-got-involved/619666/49 "2012-04-26T09:47:06Z")
It would be incredibly easy to regularly keep away from people who’d potentially suspect anything. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2012, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-could-a-public-figure-live-without-aging-past-35-before-the-government-got-involved/619666/50 "2012-04-26T14:11:45Z")
> [@SciFiSam](#): > > Trying to find out what caused it, and replicate it. Tons of people would like to live forever. Again we (in this instance) are talking about the state’s interest in this. Let’s assume it was simply a genetic mutation. Other than breeding super long lived humans, which is a plan of dubious utility and questionable legality for the state, I’m not seeing a ton of upside for the state. State: So you’re going to live hundreds, maybe thousands of years, and this is just the way you are genetically? There’s no practical way to extend anyone else’s life span who is currently alive? Immortal: Yep, although maybe I could make long lived babies with the right woman. State: Well good for you, sounds like you’ll have quite a life! Now excuse me I’ve got these budget projections I’ve got to get out this afternoon. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2012, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-could-a-public-figure-live-without-aging-past-35-before-the-government-got-involved/619666/51 "2012-04-26T14:22:31Z")
> [@astro](#): > > Again we (in this instance) are talking about the state’s interest in this. Let’s assume it was simply a genetic mutation. Other than breeding super long lived humans, which is a plan of dubious utility and questionable legality for the state, I’m not seeing a ton of upside for the state. > > State: So you’re going to live hundreds, maybe thousands of years, and this is just the way you are genetically? There’s no practical way to extend anyone else’s life span who is currently alive? > > Immortal: Yep, although maybe I could make long lived babies with the right woman. > > State: Well good for you, sounds like you’ll have quite a life! Now excuse me I’ve got these budget projections I’ve got to get out this afternoon. The OP simply asked if the government would get involved, and you’re also talking about the government getting involved. However, I can imagine some tests for immortality being rather painful - do your fingers grow back? Does your skin grow back looking young after being cut or burnt? - and some would risk your death. ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2012, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-could-a-public-figure-live-without-aging-past-35-before-the-government-got-involved/619666/52 "2012-04-26T14:30:12Z")
> [@astro](#): > > Again we (in this instance) are talking about the state’s interest in this. Let’s assume it was simply a genetic mutation. Other than breeding super long lived humans, which is a plan of dubious utility and questionable legality for the state, I’m not seeing a ton of upside for the state. > > State: So you’re going to live hundreds, maybe thousands of years, and this is just the way you are genetically? There’s no practical way to extend anyone else’s life span who is currently alive? > > Immortal: Yep, although maybe I could make long lived babies with the right woman. > > State: Well good for you, sounds like you’ll have quite a life! Now excuse me I’ve got these budget projections I’ve got to get out this afternoon. Seems like a serious lack of imagination. What makes you think that a genetic mutation is beyond replication? You don’t think the government wouldn’t want a few immortal geniuses working on weapons/rockets/genetics/robotics/economics? ---
**Author:** ![StGermain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stgermain/32/2868_2.png) [@StGermain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StGermain)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2012, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-could-a-public-figure-live-without-aging-past-35-before-the-government-got-involved/619666/53 "2012-04-26T15:03:14Z")
My namesake, the vampire Saint Germain is a literary character by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro. After about 3-4000 years of life, he’d mastered the art of living as a relatively wealthy person who reinvents himself every 20 years or so. He keeps “family” homes in many different places in the world and shows up as his own grandson after many years. As a well-to-do person, he’s not living under the radar, but he’s not exactly a public figure. A story set in the '80’s has him talking about how much more difficult it is at that point to reinvent oneself, and how (because he can’t be photographed) he has a waxworks figure to stand in for passport photos. He also has the problem that, when he died he was condiered a tall man. In modern times he’s short, and even has built-up shoes to give him a bit more height. StG ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2012, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-could-a-public-figure-live-without-aging-past-35-before-the-government-got-involved/619666/54 "2012-04-26T17:47:11Z")
> [@CarnalK](#): > > Seems like a serious lack of imagination. What makes you think that a genetic mutation is beyond replication? You don’t think the government wouldn’t want a few immortal geniuses working on weapons/rockets/genetics/robotics/economics? This is now getting completely into comic book territory. You think the state is going to spend billions (at a minimum) in scarce dollars chasing the hard to accomplish and highly unlikely prospect of breeding an immortal genius so that the state can illegally force them to work on stuff for extended periods of time vs getting fresh young geniuses with new ideas every few years? I don’t want to burst anyone’s bubble, but if you look at it objectively there’s really not that many real life, real world benefits to the state for people to live a really, really long time. It’s most assuredly scientifically interesting, but for someone to live hundreds of years or longer barring accident is sort of meaningless unless that immortality can propagate through the population by some means other than making babies. ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2012, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-could-a-public-figure-live-without-aging-past-35-before-the-government-got-involved/619666/55 "2012-04-26T17:57:42Z")
> [@astro](#): > > This is now getting completely into comic book territory. You think the state is going to spend billions (at a minimum) in scarce dollars chasing the hard to accomplish and highly unlikely prospect of breeding an immortal genius so that the state can illegally force them to work on stuff for extended periods of time vs getting fresh young geniuses with new ideas every few years? > > I don’t want to burst anyone’s bubble, but if you look at it objectively there’s really not that many real life, real world benefits to the state for people to live a really, really long time. It’s most assuredly scientifically interesting, but for someone to live hundreds of years or longer barring accident is sort of meaningless unless that immortality can propagate through the population by some means other than making babies. Billions at a minimum? Have you not heard of gene therapy? They could try supplanting the immortal gene on current geniuses, not breed them. It _may_ not be possible, but it’s not just comic books anymore, my friend. eta: immortality may bring more problems than benefits but I don’t think that would keep people away from trying it ---
**Author:** ![drastic\_quench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e36b37/32.png) [@drastic\_quench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drastic_quench)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2012, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-could-a-public-figure-live-without-aging-past-35-before-the-government-got-involved/619666/56 "2012-04-26T18:18:21Z")
We invented the atomic bomb and walked on the moon in a few short decades by choice rather than necessity. ---
**Author:** ![phreesh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9fc29f/32.png) [@phreesh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phreesh)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2012, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-could-a-public-figure-live-without-aging-past-35-before-the-government-got-involved/619666/57 "2012-04-26T18:48:36Z")
Also keep in mind that you never know if the person is truly immortal. Maybe something CAN kill him. Do you shoot him to test? Do you cut off an arm to see if it grows back? You can never know if there’s a thing out there that can kill him, but hasn’t. I’m curious what the conspiracy theorists believe is the threat to the government. What are they afraid of? What do they need with this ‘immortal’ that they can’t get if he’s not under lock and key? And as far as the media, once somebody breaks a record, the furor dies down. Ray Allen has made the most three-pointers in NBA history. Every single one of his three pointers is a new record. Nobody cares. Once our dude becomes 122 or whatever, people will stop caring. maybe every year they might care, but probably only every ten years. The ‘something that was already happening is still happening!’ news just doesn’t sell. Who checks on that lightbulb in that firehouse that’s been burning for 80 years or whatever? This guy would be an oddball and marginally famous, but I just can’t envison a world where people fear him or feel the need to hide him from the world. ---
**Author:** ![drastic\_quench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e36b37/32.png) [@drastic\_quench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drastic_quench)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2012, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-could-a-public-figure-live-without-aging-past-35-before-the-government-got-involved/619666/58 "2012-04-26T18:54:37Z")
> [@phreesh](#): > > Also keep in mind that you never know if the person is truly immortal. Maybe something CAN kill him. Do you shoot him to test? Do you cut off an arm to see if it grows back? You can never know if there’s a thing out there that can kill him, but hasn’t. > > I’m curious what the conspiracy theorists believe is the threat to the government. What are they afraid of? What do they need with this ‘immortal’ that they can’t get if he’s not under lock and key? > > And as far as the media, once somebody breaks a record, the furor dies down. Ray Allen has made the most three-pointers in NBA history. Every single one of his three pointers is a new record. Nobody cares. Once our dude becomes 122 or whatever, people will stop caring. maybe every year they might care, but probably only every ten years. > > The ‘something that was already happening is still happening!’ news just doesn’t sell. Who checks on that lightbulb in that firehouse that’s been burning for 80 years or whatever? > > This guy would be an oddball and marginally famous, but I just can’t envison a world where people fear him or feel the need to hide him from the world. But at 125 he looks exactly 35. I can’t fathom people thinking that was no big deal. ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2012, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-could-a-public-figure-live-without-aging-past-35-before-the-government-got-involved/619666/59 "2012-04-26T19:46:10Z")
> [@drastic\_quench](#): > > But at 125 he looks exactly 35. I can’t fathom people thinking that was no big deal. So? That’s just like some guy who gets the most 3-pointers for 125 years. Everyone will stop noticing eventually. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![phreesh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9fc29f/32.png) [@phreesh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phreesh)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2012, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-could-a-public-figure-live-without-aging-past-35-before-the-government-got-involved/619666/60 "2012-04-26T20:22:11Z")
If today somebody showed up and was 125 looking 35, that would be crazy, but what if that dude was recognized at, what, 70, 80, 90? After 50 years of knowing about this guy the fifty-first year would be nothing special. Do you still marvel that we can fly in airplanes? Dude, people are fucking flying!!! That’s crazy! No. It’s totally normal now. Same with some random old dude. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-could-a-public-figure-live-without-aging-past-35-before-the-government-got-involved/619666.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-could-a-public-figure-live-without-aging-past-35-before-the-government-got-involved/619666.md?page=4)