# Permanently young and healthy body........how long before "life fatigue" sets in? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 22, 2021, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/permanently-young-and-healthy-body-how-long-before-life-fatigue-sets-in/938443 "2021-03-22T17:12:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2021, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/permanently-young-and-healthy-body-how-long-before-life-fatigue-sets-in/938443/21 "2021-03-23T19:06:41Z")
> [@Brayne\_Ded](#): > > The problem is that things could change and you no longer have enough money. Savings plans depend on reasonably good interest rates, and we don’t have them now. And, as the current situation shows, it can be very hard to save. Savings doesn’t rely on interest rates, it relies on market return rates. And we certainly do have them now. Short of a collapse of civilization, any smartly devised portfolio should grow over the long run. Once you have enough in it that its growth more than covers your needs, then you are able to retire. If you want some buffer, put another decade or two into it. > [@Brayne\_Ded](#): > > Both are very true, but I think the biggest problem is the accumulation of grief. For some, maybe. I’ve had quite a number of family, friends, and pets die on me. It sucks, but it doesn’t really “accumulate”. I mean, seeing your kids die would probably suck, but in return, you get to see your grandchildren and great grandchildren that you never would have met. > [@Brayne\_Ded](#): > > That is not my idea of the best way to go. There is no _best way_ to go. Once you are gone, that’s it. It’s what you did while you were here that matters. > [@Brayne\_Ded](#): > > And adrenaline junkies tend to be youngish, and not merely because of the risks they take. Yeah, but in this hypothetical, we are youngish as well. > [@Brayne\_Ded](#): > > You mean exciting things? Well, yes, but there could be a point where you feel you have seen it all and done it all. Obviously, you cannot, but it is a question of a mental state that develops over time. Yes, that’s what I meant, but I meant it as in more dangerous. You don’t have to deliberately kill yourself to simply increase the odds of a fatal accident as you do more and more “exciting” things. It may well be that there are those who are more predisposed to living an extended life than other. It does seem as though there are those who see it as a hell, and others who see it as, well not exactly heaven, but as close as one can get without an afterlife. I’m mostly in the latter group. Immortality may not be for everyone, and I wouldn’t force it on anyone who didn’t want it. For me, though, I don’t think that I would develop such a mental state, I don’t think that I would ever get to where I would enjoy oblivion more than another sunrise. For those who do think that such an extended life would be such a hell, do they actually wish for shorter lives than they currently look forward to? Is living no more than a hospice to them, just trying to stay comfortable until they finally die? > [@Brayne\_Ded](#): > > Maybe the hardest part of a Methuselan lifespan is seeing people make the same mistakes over and over, and seeing the politicians come and go, but always with the same big promises that are always broken. You can get that over just a regular lifetime. If you read history, then you can vicariously get even more. But, as they say, history never repeats, but it does rhyme. I’ve never been big on poetry myself, but it would be interesting to hang around for the next meter. > [@Brayne\_Ded](#): > > Can you die of cynicism? No, I don’t think so. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2021, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/permanently-young-and-healthy-body-how-long-before-life-fatigue-sets-in/938443/22 "2021-03-23T19:28:22Z")
> [@Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](#): > > How long before you have trouble relating to the world when your formative years were so different? Your formative years come before you begin the rest of your life. Since you never begin the rest of your life, you can always be in your formative years. > [@Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](#): > > Ever notice old people having trouble with modern culture, technology, societal norms, etc? No. I have seen _some_ people older people who do. I also see older people who have no trouble at all. I think that the former group have just given up, and don’t see why they should put in an effort that they don’t think will pay off in the time they have left. > [@Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](#): > > Ever find _yourself_ thinking about how things have changed since you were young, and not all for the better? Yes, but then I also think about all the things that have changed _for the better_. There are some ways that the world isn’t as good as it was 40 years ago, and then there are quite a number of ways it is far, far better. > [@Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](#): > > Hell, I still listen to classic rock, I probably won’t be loving music made in 2300, not unless they bring back the guitar solo 😃 . I listen to classic rock, too. But I also listen to classical. People still write classical music. I also listen to more contemporary music, and the main reason that I find the old stuff to be preferable is that the vestiges of time haven’t been able to work their magic to weed out the crap and uplift the memorable. I’m sure that in 2300, or 23000, or even 230000, there will be something new and interesting to listen to. > [@Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](#): > > Think about how movies have changed. Look at movies from the 40’s and 50’s, even the 70’s, and compare them to movies in the past 20 years. I can only say that they have gotten better. In pretty much every way. Sure, there’s some classics, but once again, that’s just the winnowing of time clearing away the chaff. For every “Casablanca”, there’s several "The Mad Monster"s. > [@Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](#): > > What changes will come to entertainment, and will you be accepting, or will you find yourself uninterested or unable to relate to them? People who are not immortal, who are peers of an age, disagree on what entertains them, and that’s fine. I can only imagine that the options for entertainment will become more varied, and it would be very unlikely that you would not find _something_ to your liking. > [@Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](#): > > After a couple hundred years, I think I’d start to feel like an alien among my own people. I don’t think I would. I mean, in some ways, I already do, since I don’t really like a whole host of things that many of my age group enjoy, but I don’t think that that would become any more so. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2021, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/permanently-young-and-healthy-body-how-long-before-life-fatigue-sets-in/938443/23 "2021-03-23T19:29:30Z")
> [@mmmiiikkkeee](#): > > I don’t know if “life fatigue” as we mortals know it would ever set in… getting tired of the stresses of life as your body gradually fails but your desires largely remain. If you never physically degenerate and your education/kids/career/etc that normally suck the life from you come then go and you get to keep going at 50 as though you’re still 25 and you don’t have to worry about doing things before you get old? I think it might be worse. Getting tired of the stresses of life but knowing that you will continue going on forever. Or having to deal with the same crap over and over again. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2021, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/permanently-young-and-healthy-body-how-long-before-life-fatigue-sets-in/938443/24 "2021-03-23T19:32:43Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > Getting tired of the stresses of life but knowing that you will continue going on forever. My main stress in life is that of not having the time to do all the things that I want to do, and I stress a bit about the opportunity cost of the time choices that I make. > [@msmith537](#): > > Or having to deal with the same crap over and over again. I don’t know why you would do that. Why not try something else? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2021, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/permanently-young-and-healthy-body-how-long-before-life-fatigue-sets-in/938443/25 "2021-03-23T19:39:54Z")
> [@Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](#): > > After a couple hundred years, I think I’d start to feel like an alien among my own people. This is what I was thinking. I’d be more concerned about how the world was changing around me than I would about any mental fatigue. Imagine a person born just a thousand years ago trying to function in modern society, even if they had lived through all of the changes in those years. I feel a person forms a lot of their personality in childhood and those traits are fixed for life; so this hypothetical person still has a medieval mindset, which is in conflict with the world he lives in. ---
**Author:** ![Oredigger77](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oredigger77/32/3181_2.png) [@Oredigger77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oredigger77)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2021, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/permanently-young-and-healthy-body-how-long-before-life-fatigue-sets-in/938443/26 "2021-03-23T20:46:26Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > Or having to deal with the same crap over and over again. While eventually I think you’d see some repetition, I would guess if you see the same crap over and over again you’re doing it wrong. After your wife and kids die why wouldn’t you move to the other side of the world. Even if you show up penniless in a century or two you’d be a local with a whole pile of money and friends. Sure people are people but the cultural issues of living in Tibet are very different from the issues you would face living in Mexico city. ---
**Author:** ![Brayne\_Ded](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Brayne\_Ded](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brayne_Ded)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2021, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/permanently-young-and-healthy-body-how-long-before-life-fatigue-sets-in/938443/27 "2021-03-23T21:08:52Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > Savings doesn’t rely on interest rates, it relies on market return rates. And we certainly do have them now. It depends how you invest your money. And historically we have seen many a financial meltdown that destroyed savings. > For some, maybe. I’ve had quite a number of family, friends, and pets die on me. It sucks, but it doesn’t really “accumulate”. Over time I think it would. We are talking centuries here, and that is outside our experience. > There is no _best way_ to go. Once you are gone, that’s it. It’s what you did while you were here that matters. There are many ways I would prefer _not_ to go. > For those who do think that such an extended life would be such a hell, do they actually wish for shorter lives than they currently look forward to? Is living no more than a hospice to them, just trying to stay comfortable until they finally die? Look at the fourth part of Gulliver’s travels and the Strullbruggs. That deals with the question of immortals. However, given that the premise of the discussion was extended life rather than immortality, I rather think that there are some limits somewhere, and things that are simply not survivable. > You can get that over just a regular lifetime. If you read history, then you can vicariously get even more. Yup. [Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo) > Imagine a person born just a thousand years ago trying to function in modern society, even if they had lived through all of the changes in those years. No problem if they lived through that time, we can adjust. The real problem is a Rip Van Winkle jump into the future. ---
**Author:** ![Oredigger77](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oredigger77/32/3181_2.png) [@Oredigger77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oredigger77)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2021, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/permanently-young-and-healthy-body-how-long-before-life-fatigue-sets-in/938443/28 "2021-03-23T21:15:57Z")
> [@Brayne\_Ded](#): > > No problem if they lived through that time, we can adjust. The real problem is a Rip Van Winkle jump into the future. See, I think the Rip jumps would be more interesting. It’s one reason I’d want to check out of society for a century every couple hundred of years. Incremental change can be hard to notice but the struggle of adjusting to a completely different world every so often would keep you engaged and alleviate so if the burn out of seeing things before. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2021, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/permanently-young-and-healthy-body-how-long-before-life-fatigue-sets-in/938443/29 "2021-03-23T21:29:05Z")
Tens of thousands of years, I think, assuming the planet remains habitable that long. I could imagine living whole lifetimes pursuing different arts and trades - imagine the ability to pursue something to unlimited depth - to be able to spend as long as it takes to master something, then start over as an apprentice on some other venture. All the place you could go, and by the time you revisit a place, hundreds or thousands of years of change have occurred. I actually don’t think boredom would be a problem for a very, very long time, perhaps not ever, since there is also something lovely about revisiting favourites after a prolonged break. The big hurdle for me would be outliving those I care a lot about. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2021, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/permanently-young-and-healthy-body-how-long-before-life-fatigue-sets-in/938443/30 "2021-03-24T02:15:33Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > > [@msmith537](#): > > > > Getting tired of the stresses of life but knowing that you will continue going on forever. > > My main stress in life is that of not having the time to do all the things that I want to do, and I stress a bit about the opportunity cost of the time choices that I make. Yeah, I feel that as well. Like my wife and kids disappear for the weekend and I’m like “shit I have 48 hours to do whatever I want” but I almost have analysis paralysis trying to decide what I want to actually do all weekend. > [@k9bfriender](#): > > > [@msmith537](#): > > > > Or having to deal with the same crap over and over again. > > I don’t know why you would do that. Why not try something else? I guess I’m thinking about my own immediate frustrations about looking for a job again. Then again, with all the time in the world, maybe I just go be a bartender or crew a yacht or something before deciding to start my professional career from scratch. I’m also thinking it’s not just about “doing” different things. Think of it like this. Traveling around the world for work is exciting…the first couple of times. Doing it day in and day out for years becomes a grind. Feel like the same might happen to an immortal moving to a new city or country for the umpteenth time. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2021, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/permanently-young-and-healthy-body-how-long-before-life-fatigue-sets-in/938443/31 "2021-03-24T02:42:17Z")
How frustrating would it be for you, sitting in your tranquility cube in New New York circa 2432, to have a child in his 60s approach and berate you for the barbaric practices of eating meat, using fossil fuels, and supporting the archaic concept of a nation-state in the 2020s even though that was the accepted practice at the time? ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2021, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/permanently-young-and-healthy-body-how-long-before-life-fatigue-sets-in/938443/32 "2021-03-24T02:42:20Z")
this reminds me of an episode of comedians in cars getting coffee. Jerry Seinfeld was talking about how life is boring and how it just becomes repetitive, then Colin Quinn makes a joke about how he’s heard downton Abbey is a good TV show to watch. If a guy with hundreds of millions of dollars, all the free time in the world, access to almost anything he wants, hilarious friends, etc gets bored I think most people would get bored too. For people who can find endless enjoyment in video games, music, movies, travel, sports etc more power to you. but I think a lot of people get bored within their normal lifespans. Having said that, if neuroscience and medicine advance enough then life could be endlessly entertaining. but that could take centuries. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2021, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/permanently-young-and-healthy-body-how-long-before-life-fatigue-sets-in/938443/33 "2021-03-24T16:01:18Z")
> [@mbh](#): > > Boredom is for teenagers. The older I get, the more interesting the world gets. True words. Apart from when I have been temporarily laid low by illness, I haven’t experienced real boredom in decades - maybe actually since my teenage years. With a little thought and imagination, everything you do can lead to two more ideas for other things to do - my ‘things to do’ list only ever gets longer; hardly anything on it is earth shattering, but it’s all stuff I would like to try, given time. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2021, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/permanently-young-and-healthy-body-how-long-before-life-fatigue-sets-in/938443/34 "2021-03-24T23:40:05Z")
Really? Thanks to the past year of COVID19, I’ve experienced nothing but soul-crushing boredom. Having to be home all the time with the wife and kids. Only external human interactions through Zoom. Just bored and tense all the time, waiting for someone to start screaming about some bullshit. For variety, I’ve been rotating eating takeout from a different McDonalds. Seems like they are all about 30 minutes. Edgewater, North Bergen, Journal Square, Teaneck, etc. Not every day obviously. Thinking about **Wesley\_Clark** ’s Seinfeld comment - I can see how Jerry might get bored. Sure, with his millions, he could literally do anything and everything he wants. But to what end? What purpose? That seems like it would be the biggest struggle for anyone living indefinitely. How many times can you watch spaceball at the Restored Roman Colosseum or visit the ruins of MetLife Stadium a millennium from now?. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2021, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/permanently-young-and-healthy-body-how-long-before-life-fatigue-sets-in/938443/35 "2021-03-24T23:53:44Z")
I sort of always made my own entertainment - making stuff, cooking, trying to figure out new skills, etc - I think I’d be pretty stuck without a very good source of information like the Internet or a well stocked library, but with that, I think I’d be OK. I can function quite well in complete solitude. ---
**Author:** ![nelliebly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nelliebly/32/5422_2.png) [@nelliebly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nelliebly)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2021, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/permanently-young-and-healthy-body-how-long-before-life-fatigue-sets-in/938443/36 "2021-03-25T04:39:57Z")
So there I’d be, physically 25 years old, and my children, friends, and siblings would all be dead. Furthermore, other people my age would be too emotionally immature for me, as would elderly people once I got much past 100. Nobody would share my worldview I could keep having children, but having to watch each generation of them grow up, grow old, and die would probably convince me pretty fast that I don’t want to procreate. It sounds like a terribly lonely existence to me. To everything, there is a season. Prolonging that sounds like a terribly lonely experience to me. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2021, 8:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/permanently-young-and-healthy-body-how-long-before-life-fatigue-sets-in/938443/37 "2021-03-25T08:35:36Z")
> [@nelliebly](#): > > So there I’d be, physically 25 years old, and my children, friends, and siblings would all be dead. I see this argument over and over. Right now, the generation before me is all gone - parents, uncles, aunts, parents-in-law, even quite a few cousins. I’ve lost a sibling and a number of friends of my age group, and my spouse. Half the next generation of my family is deceased. If anything, I appreciate and want life more. Sure, losing people hurts, but it doesn’t inevitably result in existential despair. Maybe after 1000 years it’s a different story, but this “OMG! Everyone I grew up with is dead!” is something I’m getting closer to and it hasn’t diminished my hunger for more days in the least. And now I’m trying to befriend not just people my own age but those younger. One of my better friends these days is less than half my age. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2021, 9:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/permanently-young-and-healthy-body-how-long-before-life-fatigue-sets-in/938443/38 "2021-03-25T09:10:26Z")
I think this idea is perhaps more appealing to introverted types - for me, this whole thing is like an extended opportunity to get on with stuff, without having to worry whether life will prevent me completing it (and sometimes, wondering if it’s worth starting in that case). > [@nelliebly](#): > > Furthermore, other people my age would be too emotionally immature for me, as would elderly people once I got much past 100. Nobody would share my worldview Growing up is sometimes overrated. I mean, assuming it eventually happens though, imagine the emotionally-mature wisdom you can impart to others. In practice, I do wonder what would happen to a human mind that is allowed to continue living for tens of thousands of years - the brain cannot be infinite in its capacity, so even if it remains healthy and sane, some things are going to fall out in order to allow new things to go in, or else new things won’t go in. Assuming you can still learn in this scenario, I wonder if you would even be the same person in a thousand years, or if you become a sort of continuum of different people inhabiting the same body. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2021, 9:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/permanently-young-and-healthy-body-how-long-before-life-fatigue-sets-in/938443/39 "2021-03-25T09:44:51Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > Under such circumstances, how long do you think you could live before “life fatigue” starts to kick in and you think, “All right, I’ve had it, don’t want to live anymore?” A thousand years, ten thousand, a million years? Never. To quote the Pet Shop Boys: _I would never find myself feeling bored_ _'cause we were never being boring_ I can pass a happy day looking at a handful of sand under a microscope. Boredom has never been a problem for me. The ‘work for a living’ thing doesn’t seem to take the miracle of compound interest into account… > [@Brayne\_Ded](#): > > The other problem is the accumulation of grief. The OP said nothing about being unable to forget. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2021, 9:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/permanently-young-and-healthy-body-how-long-before-life-fatigue-sets-in/938443/40 "2021-03-25T09:58:20Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > The ‘work for a living’ thing doesn’t seem to take the miracle of compound interest into account… Yeah, if you’ve got endless time, ‘avoiding the eventuality of owning everything’ is the thing. Philanthropy seems like a fairly easy solution to that though. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/permanently-young-and-healthy-body-how-long-before-life-fatigue-sets-in/938443.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/permanently-young-and-healthy-body-how-long-before-life-fatigue-sets-in/938443.md?page=3)