What would you do if you had a million years to live?

[Koyaanisqatsi]

Just, if you were born one day, and the average lifespan of a person is one million years. What would you do?

[Deva]

Either the same activities or attend school for the next hundred thousand years due to mandatory schooling.

[pseudoidiot]

Furiously masturbate.

[SecondTalon]

Just, if you were born one day, and the average lifespan of a person is one million years. What would you do?

More or less the same thing as everyone else. Study from 50,000s to 200,000s or so. Get a job, and work. Possibly reproduce in the 350,000s. Retire in the 700,000s and live out my remaining millennia in the custom at the time.

Likely by moving to Florida, I guess.

[Sheikh al-Majaneen]

Accidentally, along the way, tell someone who shouldn't know, and be locked up in a dungeon/buried alive for several hundred thousand years.

[pyronius]

step one: learn to play the flute.

step two: hone my writing and artistic talents

step three:spend vast years studying physics and chemistry, first in school and then independently, in order to further total universal knowledge.

step four: spend 100000 years in silent solitude at the top of a mountain

step five: realize that the human mind wasn't meant to last for so long and slowly go mad as it runs out of space and time appears to speed up and slow down depending on the length I'm considering.

step six: Jump in and out of a lake i believe is a gin and tonic because i believe i'm a lemon (may be getting that wrong)

step seven: achieve enlightenment

step eight: continuously cry myself to sleep for the remaining years because all of humanity has long since died off.

[SurgicalSteel]

Accidentally, along the way, tell someone who shouldn't know, and be locked up in a dungeon/buried alive for several hundred thousand years.

If a million years was the average lifespan of a human I think most people would already know.

[Kewangji]

I'd accidentally.

[SecondTalon]

Accidentally, along the way, tell someone who shouldn't know, and be locked up in a dungeon/buried alive for several hundred thousand years.

If a million years was the average lifespan of a human I think most people would already know.

There was also no stated "you don't have to eat/breathe.". So...yeah, buried alive = death.

[Sytri]

Also, assuming an average lifespan is of 100 for a "normal" human you have a 1:10,000 relationship so for the first 100,000 years at least, you'd need constant supervision.

However, assuming you age normally until 18 and then the million year thing kicked in, I'd spend the vast majority learning as much as I can. Then spend many years being a founatin of knowledge and keeper of forgotten languages.*

*Assuming your brain could handle that amount of data and the vast time span.

[SurgicalSteel]

Accidentally, along the way, tell someone who shouldn't know, and be locked up in a dungeon/buried alive for several hundred thousand years.

If a million years was the average lifespan of a human I think most people would already know.

There was also no stated "you don't have to eat/breathe.". So...yeah, buried alive = death.

There was? Did I miss an edit?

Anyways, I wasn't referring to the buried alive part. It read to me like Sheikh was saying that if the wrong person found out you were living for a million years you would be locked up for being a witch or something. And I countered that everyone would be living for a million years. Which is why I also have a problem with pyronius's step eight. The answers to "what if everbody lived for a million years?" should be quite different than the answers to "what you and only you lived for a million years?"

[AvatarIII]

I'd become an interstellar explorer.

if people are living until 1,000,000 on average, even with current levels of technology, I think even very-sub-light (<10% of C) interstellar travel would become a major thing. so it takes 80 subjective years to get anywhere interesting? that's the proportional equivalent of about 3 days for us. And you could spend all that time reading, learning, and being an important member of a community, so it's not even like it would be wasted time.
So yeah, that's what I'd do

[Sytri]

I'd become an interstellar explorer.

if people are living until 1,000,000 on average, even with current levels of technology, I think even very-sub-light (<10% of C) interstellar travel would become a major thing. so it takes 80 subjective years to get anywhere interesting? that's the proportional equivalent of about 3 days for us. And you could spend all that time reading, learning, and being an important member of a community, so it's not even like it would be wasted time.
So yeah, that's what I'd do

Oh, I like that idea. Although you'd have to build a pretty large ship that could support life for 160+ years, assuming a quick return journey. Thats a lot of food, water and oxygen. Although I suppose with thousands of years you could take time to build and equip it before you set off. You could also get a satellite to stream the world news to you on your travels so you could keep relatively up to date.

[SecondTalon]

Indeed. Those subjective three days require that you basically eat the entire time, and never sleep because you'll starve to death in .2* seconds if you stop eating. Just taking food wouldn't work, you'd have to travel with a farm capable of growing crops without natural sunlight. How long does nuclear power last, again?

*Actually, I'm certain you'd starve to death faster than that. Subjectively.

[AvatarIII]

Indeed. Those subjective three days require that you basically eat the entire time, and never sleep because you'll starve to death in .2* seconds if you stop eating. Just taking food wouldn't work, you'd have to travel with a farm capable of growing crops without natural sunlight. How long does nuclear power last, again?

*Actually, I'm certain you'd starve to death faster than that. Subjectively.

I think you misunderstood what I meant by 3 days, or completely misread my post, I meant that 80 years is about the same percentage of 1,000,000 years as 3 days is of a normal human life span. and so, 80 years for someone that will live a million, has the same value as 3 days has to us.

and I may have been exaggerating when I said current levels of technology, but I'm sure it wouldn't take long for a society people that are planning on living a million years to design some long lasting power sources for trips like that. especially considering the overnight change from people being born to live to 80 and being born to live to 1m, would probably cause a drastic increase in population, it would probably take at the very least 40 years for people to realise that no one is ageing normally, then even longer before realising that no one is dying of anything but accident and illness, and then longer still before procreation is reigned in,

I'd become an interstellar explorer.

if people are living until 1,000,000 on average, even with current levels of technology, I think even very-sub-light (<10% of C) interstellar travel would become a major thing. so it takes 80 subjective years to get anywhere interesting? that's the proportional equivalent of about 3 days for us. And you could spend all that time reading, learning, and being an important member of a community, so it's not even like it would be wasted time.
So yeah, that's what I'd do

Oh, I like that idea. Although you'd have to build a pretty large ship that could support life for 160+ years, assuming a quick return journey. Thats a lot of food, water and oxygen. Although I suppose with thousands of years you could take time to build and equip it before you set off. You could also get a satellite to stream the world news to you on your travels so you could keep relatively up to date.

yeah I kind of took it into account that if people are living a million years, people would plan a lot further ahead, putting efforts into stockpiling stuff required for such a journey.

[Adam H]

I'd procrastinate. SO BAD. (eh, I'll just do that next year. Who cares.)

[SecondTalon]

I think you misunderstood what I meant by 3 days, or completely misread my post, I meant that 80 years is about the same percentage of 1,000,000 years as 3 days is of a normal human life span. and so, 80 years for someone that will live a million, has the same value as 3 days has to us.

Right.. and I was commenting on how your daily nutritional needs to not change, but your lifespan is measured geologically. Relatively speaking, you're constantly eating. Throw away comment meant to bring to mind the mental image of a person devouring food, turning away for a second and promptly keeling over, having starved to death. Nothing more.

[Sheikh al-Majaneen]

Accidentally, along the way, tell someone who shouldn't know, and be locked up in a dungeon/buried alive for several hundred thousand years.

If a million years was the average lifespan of a human I think most people would already know.

I misunderstood the first time I read it, understood after submitting it, and left it because of the whole horror thing.

[Chewbaccawacca]

I'm with AvatarIII on this, I'd definitely spend a good portion of my time developing and then engaging in space exploration. Hell that's what I'd do now, excepting that I'm dumber than a bag of bags and it would take way too long for me to try get into that field.

[Black Dynamite]

The same thing I do every million years I have to live:




Try to TAKE OVER THE WORLD.

[yurell]

Watch evolution.

[drstilldc]

I would earn a ton of money in the first few years of my life so I could be able to relax for the rest.

[AvatarIII]

I think you misunderstood what I meant by 3 days, or completely misread my post, I meant that 80 years is about the same percentage of 1,000,000 years as 3 days is of a normal human life span. and so, 80 years for someone that will live a million, has the same value as 3 days has to us.

Right.. and I was commenting on how your daily nutritional needs to not change, but your lifespan is measured geologically. Relatively speaking, you're constantly eating. Throw away comment meant to bring to mind the mental image of a person devouring food, turning away for a second and promptly keeling over, having starved to death. Nothing more.

Oh I see what you are getting at, that someone that's going to live that long would eventually begin to perceive time a lot faster, (in the same way that time flies when you are having fun and drags when bored) right?

[Ambermutt]

I would definitely work on space exploration. I'd try to tackle some really complicated field (theoretical physics?), I'd have a lot of time to understand it, and then thousands of years to try to advance it. I think a lot of discoveries could have been made sooner if scientists lived longer, since a young scientist picks up where an older one left off, but there's a lag of a few years since they have to get up to speed first.

And I'd learn a whole bunch of languages, like Russian, (assuming that if everyone lived a million years, they won't evolve as fast and Russian would still exist in a recognizable form).

I also remember hearing someplace that one way to find out what you should do with your life, ask yourself: what would you do if you had 1 year to live? What would you do if you had a million? For a lot of people, the answer is the same, since those questions eliminate the things that limit us: long term plans and responsibilities in the first, lack of time in the second.

[Sytri]

It would all depend on the way you aged. If you aged quickly then remained at a point and then finished of you million year life by aging quickly to die then the possibility of studying and carrying on new theories could possibly work. But the problem is even when scientists have had a long (realtive to current life span) time to establish their ideas some then stick with these ideas and won't change their opinion even when faced with facts to the contrary.

My thought here is when Stephen Hawkins proposed the big bang theory, his professor colleague at the time refused to accept it and held onto his creationist views and did so until his dying day many years later. The problem with living a geological lifespan is that the possibility you could begin to hinder the race you are with by keeping old ideas alive for a lot longer than they would "naturally" do.

Also, are we talking that you are the only person with a million year lifespan or the whole world developed this ability? Because if it's everyone, diseases would be a major limiting factor I'd assume. IANAD, so know very little about virology but would the fact a populace now has a lifespan some 10,000 times longer than previously mean the possiblity for mutations to become more deadly and/or infectious diseases will increase or decrease?

(does that last sentence parse badly for anyone else or am I just really tired?)

[yurell]

My thought here is when Stephen Hawkins proposed the big bang theory ...

I thought it was Lemaître that proposed the theory, before Hawking was even born?

[SecondTalon]

....
My thought here is when Stephen Hawkins proposed the big bang theory, ....

Is.. that like how Halo is a cool guy and doesn't afraid of anything, or how Zelda wears green and has to save princesses?

The Big Bang Theory started with Catholic priest Georges Lemaître. The only famous Stephen Hawkins I can find is an Australian Rower, so I assume you mean Stephen Hawking, whose breakthroughs have primarily been with black holes.

[Plasma Man]

Ascend to new heights of bitterness and misanthropy.

[Nylonathatep]

1) catch up on some sleep

2) perserve a lot of art work and valuable Memorabilia. You'll be rich when you end up selling those.

3) record everything... furiously.

4) be prepare to know that your loved ones, and everyone you know... will pass away before your time. Everything that you believe was once true will change and be discredited. The world will change, evolving right in frount of your eyes... and if you don't understand and adapt to the change; you'll be a relic of time, left behind by the human race.

5) Make sure You never get stuck buried in one place. Make sure no one chops off all your limps, poke out your eyes, cut your tongue and your ears off, and stuck you in a giant jar.

[Ambermutt]

It would all depend on the way you aged. If you aged quickly then remained at a point and then finished of you million year life by aging quickly to die then the possibility of studying and carrying on new theories could possibly work. But the problem is even when scientists have had a long (realtive to current life span) time to establish their ideas some then stick with these ideas and won't change their opinion even when faced with facts to the contrary.

True, I hadn't thought of that. I guess young blood is useful, even if just to propose completely different ideas.

Although there would be another advantage to living so long: interdisciplinary studies. With more time, people wouldn't have to dedicate their whole lives to one specialty. They could jump around a bit, so instead of a field getting new ideas from exposure to new people (old scientist dying, young one with new ideas replacing), it could get new ideas from exposure to new fields (scientists from other fields joining in).

And I think having access to more varied info, there would be more applicable developments from science. New technologies could emerge that hadn't before simply because the neccesary info wasn't all in the same place. Having more time to dabble in different disciplines would make it easier to integrate them into something useful.

[darknut]

as has been noted many time now, if every one lived million year things would be mostly unchanged just the time we spend on it would

anyway, since the time needed to travel from anywhere to anywhere else in SPAAAAACE is so long (not taking into account wormholes, warp drive, and improbability drives) it wouldnt seem so long anymore with million years of life so exploring unvirse and such sounds like a fun time

step six: Jump in and out of a lake i believe is a gin and tonic because i believe i'm a lemon

reading that made me feel happy
though had i read it three days ago i would have been confused by it


on a completely unrelated note seeing them right after each other at the top of the page pseudoidiot and deva's avatars seem to be striking the same pose
likely no one cares nor is there reason to as this is of absolutely no consequence and had no need to be mentioned, MOVING ALONG

[Chewbaccawacca]

Jump in and out of a lake i believe is a gin and tonic because i believe i'm a lemon,
reading that made me feel happy
though had i read it three days ago i would have been confused by it

Truly? Then let me welcome you to our ignoble ranks!

[darknut]

YAYs, is there some sort of an intiation or is it kept very informal

[Brickmack]

Spend a hundred thousand years or so studying every subject and reading everything I can, eventually getting to the point of knowing roughly all of the accumulated knowledge of humanity. Then use some of that knowledge, design massive FTL colony ships, and get humanity to finally explore the larger universe (because, after looking at humanity's current work on manned exploration we probably won't go back to the moon within the next 100k years...), wait for humanity to meet a friendly species, and then travel there. Study their tech, and probably end up accidentally killing myself with a failed experiment involving wormholes...

[Chewbaccawacca]

YAYs, is there some sort of an intiation or is it kept very informal

Eh, mostly we just give you a knowing wink and a fish. At least that's how mine went. Though if you want to travel all the way out here (and are +21), I do know a place that serves actual Gargle-Blasters. They're pretty good.


*EDIT* And in the spirit of on topic-ness, that's another thing I'd devote some time to. Developing the perfect drink, and then spending equal time drinking the perfect drink.

[JesseScottOwen]

I'd play through every possible iteration of the game of chess.

[yurell]

I'd play through every possible iteration of the game of chess.

You wouldn't have anywhere near enough time, I think. Just looking at the first move: you have 20 possible options, they have 20 possible options, and this gives you 400 total combinations for the first move. The second move is just insanely many variations.

[Nylonathatep]

I'd play through every possible iteration of the game of chess.

You wouldn't have anywhere near enough time, I think. Just looking at the first move: you have 20 possible options, they have 20 possible options, and this gives you 400 total combinations for the first move. The second move is just insanely many variations.

The largest estimate is about 10^123 according to Wiki answer.
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_many_poss ... d_in_chess


The biggest problems is with a person living a million years is that humanity could be extinct. Continents would shift to where every landscape would become unrecognisable. Even other species that co-exist with humans will die off and strange new creatures would inherit the earth.

http://speculativeevolution.wikia.com/w ... re_is_Wild

In the end you'll become an entity totally incomprehensible to whatever intelligence life the earth will yield. The tree swinging Squibbon would describe you as some ancient cosmic horror that once walked the earth and have since fallen into a death-like sleep.

The strange entity seems to function like a bunch of sticks being wrapped around by pinkish skin, forming a structure that allows itself to be upright and travel by moving alternatively with it's two lower limbs while we, Squibbon, have to travel by wrapping themselves onto branches of trees. That ancient creature is not confined by such limitation and can appear anywhere at any time. It can even latched onto tree limps and travel like is. It however dislikes high ground, fearing the fall that'll break it's strange bodily structure.

Instead of slimy glistering semi transparent skin with testicles, But always beneath it's outer layer, the strange entity have semi-dried, tanned skin with sparely thin dark fibres growing out of it's skin that constantly emit heat, moisture, and pheromones ... It can also cover itself with various layers of skins with different colors; from fine woven lines of cotton in a grid-line pattern so small that it felt smooth to the touch, to oiled dyed skin of some strange animals long forgotten, and even materials that are entirely incomprehensible!

The creature will always have 4 strong limps that are entirely non-flexible but can bend in awkward, impossible angle. The two limbs that are attached to the upper body even have 10 tiny appendage and at the end of each tiny appendage was a semi transparent sharp claw. The strangest creature was that it's eyes and mouth are not on the outside of it's main body, but rather found on another body part that is attached on top of it's body. It's eyes are always forward and in it's mouth there are a row of pearl coloured solid stones that lined up perfectly to form a wall that grinds.

The few that got closed to him died quickly from some strange ancient sickness that the strange entity has carried throughout the ages, but yet even as these strange sickness plagues him, for he cannot die for Not dead which eternal lie...Stranger eons that had been, Draining you of your sanity, Face The Thing That Should Not Be. He uttered, always in his maddening ancient tongue: "Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn."

[hurtlocker99]

That would actually suck. Can you imagine how polluted and unbearably hot the world would be in a million years. That's IF a huge asteroid doesn't destroy the place before a million years.

[ikrase]

Umm, what if we fix that stuff?

I think that rather than having a ludicrously long time in college, I would during my working life run a cycle of 8 years college and grad school, changing specialization and updating each time, 22 years work, and 5 years rest and recreation.