# How would an immortal human remain undetected in modern society? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 26, 2002, 9:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-an-immortal-human-remain-undetected-in-modern-society/144954 "2002-12-26T09:14:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![stargazer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eb8c5e/32.png) [@stargazer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stargazer)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2003, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-an-immortal-human-remain-undetected-in-modern-society/144954/61 "2003-01-03T17:17:14Z")
Seems to me that all of these “lifestyle choices” that have been suggested would leave the immortal person feeling terribly lonely. Always moving, never developing ties to communities or people, never having real friends… I’d rather just tell people. They’ll get over it. I’d rather live where I live, keep whatever documentation of my life I can, for official purposes, and have a life. Er, lives. Well, whatever. But I think it would make the rest of my long life terribly bleak without having friends and other people in it. That’s what makes this world interesting – the people. And you would sure get to meet a lot of interesting people throughout the ages! Side note: if we’re using the “never-aging” version of immortality, when does that immortality begin? You couldn’t be _born_ immortal like that, because to be born, you have to age. And you couldn’t even get to the 18-to-25 age range, right? So you couldn’t have immortal kids, even if you managed to find an immortal spouse. okay, I’m going to stop now, because my brain hurts. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2003, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-an-immortal-human-remain-undetected-in-modern-society/144954/62 "2003-01-04T01:49:49Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Sam Hell \* > \*\*My question is, why bother to hide yourself? Who’s gonna notice? As long as you keep paying your taxes, so what if someone says “He’s not getting older.” No one will believe them, and even if they do, it’s not illegal. The goverment couldn’t do anything, especially if you have been busy setting up safeguards. > > “Hey, we’re with the NSA and we’d like you to take a few biological tests in New Mexico at a facility we have there. It’s for national security. Will you come this way please?” > > “I have 500 years of wealth, helped elect 4 presidents of both parties and FOUNDED the NSA. Go away little man, you bother me.” \*\* Damnit that’s exactly what I was gonna say. Hell, in this day and age you might be able to market the fact that you were immortal. That or you would be so rich that you wouldn’t need to. Remember, history repeats itself and you would’ve seen hundreds of mistakes firsthand and not fall for them the next time around. You would’ve gotten really really rich from the late 90’s tech boom. ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2003, 8:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-an-immortal-human-remain-undetected-in-modern-society/144954/63 "2003-01-04T08:46:22Z")
Somehow I’m assuming you couldn’t get money by buying a ton of Life Insurance on yourself, faking your own death and then coming forward as your own kid to claim the cash… ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2003, 9:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-an-immortal-human-remain-undetected-in-modern-society/144954/64 "2003-01-04T09:16:45Z")
IDK if this precludes relationships. Other than my family, I have one acquaintance from 28 years ago, desultory relationships with a couple of high school friends, and college friends who are starting to up and die on me even though I’m not immortal [there, I’ve said it]. I’m guessing that 50 or 60 years is the outside limit on my relationships, anyway. That generally seems like a god long time. Perhaps by the 20th iteration it would seem lonely. I got carded buying wine for my 40th birthday party, so I think there’s a pretty big range in which an immortal with a 20ish-40ish look could function easily. If I wanted to look older, all I’d have to do is streak the hair at my temples [not like Cruela DeVille, mind you]. Lazarus Long generally just got bored, right? ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2003, 9:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-an-immortal-human-remain-undetected-in-modern-society/144954/65 "2003-01-04T09:17:46Z")
I mean, other than going back in time and sleeping with his mom. ---
**Author:** ![Harry\_Lime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/82dd89/32.png) [@Harry\_Lime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harry_Lime)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2003, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-an-immortal-human-remain-undetected-in-modern-society/144954/66 "2003-01-04T11:41:09Z")
There is a really excellent story by Fredric Brown called _Letter to a Phoenix_ that addresses this. That guy wasn’t immortal, he had a reaction to a chemical or nuclear weapon (shades of The Hulk!) and his aging process slowed down dramatically. He aged the same as an orthodox person would in a day, every eleven years. His strategies generally involved acquiring enough wealth to live comfortably (as he wrote, if you’ve done it a few times, it becomes easy, no matter what the society.) You also need to find a place to sleep safely and comfortably, because that lasts for several years, as well. You also have to live out a span with your wife, and then ditch her after @ 30 years (because everyone starts to notice that you look fresh, while she don’t look so hot anymore…) His basic idea was to law low until the next civilization destroyed itself and then you’d have to get really creative. It’s a terrific story, worth looking for. ---
**Author:** ![Krisfer\_the\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Krisfer\_the\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Krisfer_the_Cat)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2003, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-an-immortal-human-remain-undetected-in-modern-society/144954/67 "2003-01-05T21:15:25Z")
I agree with the "why hide it"folks. My brother in law insisted he was a vampire for ages… we all knew he was just whacko… So if someone came up to me in the street and flashed tiny fangs and said they were a vampire or ( insert your favorite immortal here) I would respond : 1. Who is your shrink? 2. Who is your gamemaster? Where do you play? 3. How much did those teeth cost you? the one thing I wouldn’t do is run off screamin clutching my rosary… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-an-immortal-human-remain-undetected-in-modern-society/144954.md?page=3)