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There's a simple recipe for ultra-long life that's guaranteed to work, and would work via the traditional mechanisms of evolution: progressively raise the child
by mullingitover 3y ago
There's a simple recipe for ultra-long life that's guaranteed to work, and would work via the traditional mechanisms of evolution: progressively raise the childbearing age for a group of people over many generations. Start by only allowing childbirth at age 30 or so, then every few generations you raise it more. It would take time, but eventually you could have people living for centuries. It would have the advantage that society would slowly and naturally adapt to it as longevity increased.
- SoftTalker 3y agoGood luck with your eugenics project. Society rejected the notion quite a while ago.
- mlyle 3y agoAside from the eugenics nature of it, this is an experiment we're gradually trying naturally. High-SES people are having children at later ages and are mostly having children with each other. If there's selection effects to be reaped, we'll witness them. But I suspect we won't, because not enough people die before these later childbearing ages to affect things much. Neither do a great enough fraction die before said later children reach adulthood, and high-SES children have prospects of reproducing affected less by loss of a parent, anyways.
- mullingitover 3y agoNote that I'm not saying it should be done, just that this is how evolution can accomplish it. It should go without saying that breeding humans like cattle is wildly unethical.
- thereticent 3y agoGood luck "only allowing" a common result of sex under a certain age but well above sexual maturity. Somehow I have my doubts about implementation.