The Immortality Option

--- In spacesettlers, Ravenart wrote:

> Just one problem. What if immortals get bored of life?

You can get plenty board in 40 years. How do we short-lived types
deal with this, and how many of us advocate shrtening the life-span as
a way to deal with it?

Five hundred years of the lifestyle I have now doesn't seem all that
attractive, but we have to remember that immortals will live in a
world that includes the Earth and all space, and will have options
that even the most rich and powerful are denied today. And everybody
is going to richer than Gates. They will even have the option to
change their bodies and see what a couple of centuries as a centaur or
a Thark (to name just two possibilities) would be like.

> In Heinlein's novels dealing with thic issuse, people have a human
> right to end his own life in comfortable surrounding of his choice.

Sounds good to me. When age and disease can't kill you, and if one
lacks the imagination to find something interesting to do, then said
person should have the option of ending it all.

> I'm sure after 300 years to 2,000 years of lifetime, nobody would
> argues against this.

I'm sure that somebody will. There's always somebody who will argue
against anything. There are people arguing against the release of a
Human Pamplona Virus vaccine, believe it or not.

> Heinlein also deal with the problem of stagation by having Lazarus
> Long staring a company in which he break paths to new colonies for
> people, knowing that open space will provides a outlet for creative
> energy.

Now THAT'S a good use of immortality: investing in long-term
technology projects. So it takes thirty years to turn a profit.