Aubrey de Grey: The Economics of Immortality

Radical life extension would have a huge impact on the economics of society—possibly a dangerous one. Aubrey de Grey explains why he remains optimistic that the economy would adapt well to the drastically new paradigm presented by human immortality.

Check out the rest of Aubrey de Grey's interview at http://bigthink.com/aubreydegrey.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• bigthink

[theophilis]

i cant wait till this guy starts getting gray hair. Being granted immortality by Gandalf himself? Count me the fuck in.

[AmaymonG]

You shall not age!

[pluto4847]

@Darkhartx1

I hear you, and I am living this dream in a way. I have travelled the world. I have had many jobs and careers. I'm 37 years old and I still get carded.

I am blessed with youthfulness, but inside I am my actual age. Imagine that.

[rolleroftherock1]

I love how his beard is blocking the Text on the T-shirt; An unambiguous declaration that the Idea of the text is purposed not for everyone else, but for him.

[Darkhartx1]

I want to be in your clinical trials. I'm dead serious. I'll be a test subject and sign away all of my rights in a heartbeat.

[allblacksboston1997]

his beard has it's own ageless universe inside it.

[YNot1989]

Figures an Istari Wizard would be interest in Immortality.

[Zetarrino]

@theophilis I know.

[theophilis]

@Zetarrino your anti-troll kung fu is strong.

[Zetarrino]

@theophilis That may be true, but on the other hand the same technology that keeps us young since we haven't gotten old yet, may regress his aging process making him young again.

Friend :)

[theophilis]

@Zetarrino Actually yeah I heard, I also heard that he has said in another interview that either he will be very old when they perfect what they are doing and are ready to use it, or dead. So, my smart ass friend, you and I may not be old enough to sport a head of silver cloth when it, or IF it becomes marketable but he for sure will.

Fag.

[eQual113]

I don't think that it matters what one spends his or her money on, every mony spent is good for the economy... so I don't get what he means by "saving all this money"... then again, maybe I don't think big

[Zetarrino]

@theophilis Getting gray? Haven't you heard one word of what he is saying?

[HufflepunkNya]

@theophilis Oh, hell yes.

[Zidriz]

@oscie1 That's quite a bold claim. What are you basing that on?

We lived without money for the majority of human history. Only the last few millennia we used money, and that's only because of scarcity. I don's see how we could possibly continue to use money when technology continues to increase at the rate it does.

[oscie1]

@Zidriz money will always exist

[sparrow111260]

Now this is a "big think" that is logical and deeply thought out.

[TheMDBJJ]

ok im totally gonna stereotype this guy. he does notradamus / renaissance festival work on the side. he was into dungeons and dragons as a kid, he has a hookah. he went to a college with no grades, he has been to at least 4 phish concerts. i could go on and on.

[renragged]

@leeo268 I'll go sign up right now! I mean, me taking Macroecon 101 would be so much easier and faster than a genius such as yourself just giving a simple explanation of it here. I foolishly thought it would be fairly simple to explain. Since you can't possibly do that, I guess it is just that deep and complicated.

Thanks for your comment and keep up the good work leeo268!

[leeo268]

@renragged

oh god, you really need to take like at least one college econ class before you write about economy ever again. I recommend Macroecon 101

[TheLonelyImmortal]

@jandaletto I agree that immortality would allow certain great people to contribute much more than they would otherwise, but if immortality was given to everyone, I'm sure there'd be 700 year old fundamentalist religious people, heterosexists, and other prejudicial crazies, just like there are now, because age doesn't seem to have much affect on correctness or sanity, exemplified by so many old people today.

[renragged]

If people are staying in the workforce, won't we run out of jobs? How would that be beneficial to the economy?

[jandaletto]

@TheLonelyImmortal

As racists die... exceptional minds do. Idiots(for instance) die and leave room to new idiots. I agree with you about refreshing the society with new ideologies... this is mostly how we evolve but imagine giving the possibility to great minds to keep studying and learning and improving indefinitely. Imagine how much wisdom each mind may be able to achieve. Beside, Weather it is morally right or not I see our immortal future as a consequence of our intellect.

[MrDaemonic666]

@w3stwood If only he could die, we could find out.

[imRyRy]

This guy is 49 years old!

[itierney]

If there's anyone who knows about immortality, it's Rasputin.

[Adam12088]

I would walk barefoot through a mile of broken glass just to have that beard for a day.