The miscellaneous "person lives to be 100" thread

[melanie]

An ASB has a person's life extended to reach their 100th birthday, also in good physical and mental health.

Lyndon B. Johnson living to the year 2008 is one that is interesting.

[Zyobot]

Well, I suppose having Stalin live to a hundred would have some, uh... interesting results. It'd have terrible consequences for humanity at large, though.

[Zyobot]

Actually, I’d also be interested in having Julius Caesar make it to 100. He’d need the genes for it, and to avoid all assassination attempts—including the stabbing spree that killed him IOTL, obviously—but I wonder if, with time, his regime could’ve undergone a more “peaceful transfer” from Republic to Empire?

[stevep]

   How about Julian the Apostate? Could he have swung the tide back against Christianity and restored the classical religions of the empire?

[razor007]

Mister Rogers living up to 100

[Zyobot]

Another one I thought of is Ronald Reagan living to 100, which he came pretty close to IOTL. Not sure he'd be able to affect much, since he's no longer in the driver's seat, but still interested in what he'd think of the 2008 election, or smartphones and tablets becoming commonplace.

[simon darkshade]

Of all of the issues for Mr. Reagan in 2008, consumer tech would not rate in the top 200, particularly newly released gadgets. There were not even any majorly known tablet computers at the time.

I’m consistently bemused by the projection of what is a more youthful level of enthusiasm and interest for modern gadgets, devices and games onto previous generations. It is bordering on the silly to suggest that nonagenarians, even in the brightest of health, are really going to know or care about such matters. There might be an argument for some few in the last 5 years or so, coming 10 years after the technical wave initially broke, as the sheer pace and increase of development in this period has been great indeed.

Is it something I’ve never noticed about these current generations of “well under 30s” that leads to such thinking?

There was not always this current level of uptake/engagement with fairly new and complex technology and the rapid pace of post 2010 change can obscure the very different situation prior to then. Go back to 2000 and there are a heck of a lot of older people (over 60) who had never used a computer AND who certainly didn’t own a mobile telephone. Go back just to 1995 and the Internet was a newfangled joke to many.

Now, returning to the question:

- Tolkien and CS Lewis
- Lenin
- Teddy Roosevelt
- Alexander the Great
- Boney
- Lincoln

[lordroel]

May 17, 2022 16:47:16 GMT simon darkshade said:

Of all of the issues for Mr. Reagan in 2008, consumer tech would not rate in the top 200, particularly newly released gadgets. There were not even any majorly known tablet computers at the time.

I’m consistently bemused by the projection of what is a more youthful level of enthusiasm and interest for modern gadgets, devices and games onto previous generations. It is bordering on the silly to suggest that nonagenarians, even in the brightest of health, are really going to know or care about such matters. There might be an argument for some few in the last 5 years or so, coming 10 years after the technical wave initially broke, as the sheer pace and increase of development in this period has been great indeed.

Is it something I’ve never noticed about these current generations of “well under 30s” that leads to such thinking?

There was not always this current level of uptake/engagement with fairly new and complex technology and the rapid pace of post 2010 change can obscure the very different situation prior to then. Go back to 2000 and there are a heck of a lot of older people (over 60) who had never used a computer AND who certainly didn’t own a mobile telephone. Go back just to 1995 and the Internet was a newfangled joke to many.

Now, returning to the question:

- Tolkien and CS Lewis
- Lenin
- Teddy Roosevelt
- Alexander the Great
- Boney
- Lincoln

Do we want some of these people to live older than they where.

[simon darkshade]

The answers to some questions aren’t always pleasant, but that does not make them uninteresting.

[justiniano]

I'm very curious about vlad the impaler (obviously if he hadn't been killed)

[simon darkshade]

Given the life he lived, that type of longevity would certainly accentuate the rumours about him…

[razor007]

Wished Archimedes, Einstein, Carl Sagan and George Carlin lived up to 100. The world would be a much better place.

[simon darkshade]

The first three scientific figures I certainly get to the point of not needing a substantive argument for their general inclusion.

Carlin, though, I had to look up. How does a potty-mouthed hippy ‘comedian’ make the world a better place at all, let alone on the level of true scientific genius?

[razor007]

May 18, 2022 0:58:42 GMT simon darkshade said:

The first three scientific figures I certainly get to the point of not needing a substantive argument for their general inclusion.

Carlin, though, I had to look up. How does a potty-mouthed hippy ‘comedian’ make the world a better place at all, let alone on the level of true scientific genius?

Same reason John Oliver's Last Week Tonight does. They impart truthful knowledge in a way the average person remembers and isn't distracted by fake news

Plus Carlin would pissed off Republikkkans by mentioning their horrible actions. GOP talks about him causing the Streissland Effect

Helen Dale's Kingdom of the Wicked (a bit unrealistic) has Archimedes live longer resulting in a Modernize and Sci-fi Roman Empire

[simon darkshade]

Who is John Oliver? The name doesn't ring a bell with regard to scientific genius or humanitarian achievement.

From what I can tell of Carlin, he was a stand up comedian known for a list of blue words and various other observation. That doesn't make the jump to actually having an impact upon the betterment of the lives of ordinary men and women in America, let alone the world at large. Swearing may attract a humourous response from the lowest common denominator, but is more a sign of the degeneration of a culture and associated public discourse than anything profound. There are plenty of other stand up comedians who managed to have entire careers and schticks without bad language, which makes them more to some peoples' subjective tastes; however, it isn't an occupation of any real consequence towards the betterment of the world or the human condition.

Setting that aside and shifting hats to my moderator one for the moment, we can do without rather extreme and inflammatory rhetoric such as 'Republikkkans', as that brings current politics into a discussion where it has no place, goes against Lordroel's general vision and policy for the place and just acts as flamebait. I'd say the same for any equivalent terminology for Democrats or any other political faction, mind you. Please cease and desist henceforth.

Archimedes living isn't going to result in a sci-fi anything. Even in the realms of magic and other such stuff, there are still bounds of realism.