Too long life is unrational

[udbabor520]

Not to mention eternal life!

 

Really, what do you do for 400-600 years?

 

1. How many times can one be able to falling in love? As I see, most people had enough relationships before 60! 

2. Ok, one can travel all the time, meeting with new cultures etc. but after 5-6 new countries you have seen everything, so you are bored again.

3. Learning new jobs, learning new scientific stuff is good for a while but as I see, old people don't wanna learn new stuff, they just want their little social web around them.

 

So, why would anybody want to live forever?

 

[Nightstrike]

I'd guess one would repeat a lot of experiences if one would live 600 years or more. A lot would appear alike to previous experiences. But I suppose one would forget a lot as well, so maybe after a hundred years, one would probably have to relearn things that one knew about when one was "only" fifty. 

 

Anyway, there's probably a lot of things to do if one really wanted to broaden the horizons and only try new things all the time.

 

Maybe life's not all about variety, either. Having fun may not have much to do with doing something completely untried. 

[Leopoled Boothe]

That is a bit of a stereotype to say that old people do not like learning new things.  I know some people in their  50-70s who are quite tech savvy.  That being said I think the reason a lot of older people dislike learning new things is because that lack the energy they had when they were young.  So if I could have eternal life as  say an 18 year old then sign me up right away.  If it is eternal life as a 91 year old then no thanks.  

[Plato]

I blame authors with no imaginations when it comes to living 500-700 years. 

 

If engineers/scientists live that long, imagine how far technology could advance.  A group of scientists working together for centuries at a time could achieve amazing things.  And Any society with that kind of longevity would be able to solve so many engineering/mathmatical/biological problems as to be able to goto other planets and not worry about the flight time taking 50 years. 

 

It would also mean that the birth rate would not need to be very high at all.  Thus all education could be broadened and improved to only those few children that need it.

 

Human development could take on a whole new level, letting young people enjoy their youth into their 40s-50s...

 

But meh, Aes Sedai just want to argue over mole hills, and pretend to be powerful with their spare time...

[NeverTame]

It's easy to lose perspective, writing fantasy. It's easy to forget how much can happen (and in a world like our real world, DID happen) in five hundred years, or a thousand. I felt like RJ went a bit overboard when he introduced the Kinswoman who was 600 years old. She's been alive for 1/5 of the whole flipping Age.

[Dagon Thyne]

Well, Aes Sedai, I am sure, found much to take up their time in their work.  They do a lot of research, tending to the sick and injured, helping find new mineral deposits.  There are a lot of things to keep them occupied. 

 

Plus, I don't think it's fair to compare a normal aging person to a person with a longer life.  For one, a normal person loses their sex drive at 50 or 60.  I am sure an Aes Sedai or anyone else with a longer live would still have one since they age slowly. 

[mb]

I recall from somewhere (do not remember where) that the aging rate of channelers is inversely related to their channeling strength.

 

Another thing to do during a long life would be to teach knowledge/wisdom/etc to new people.

[Goaswerfraiejen]

I recall from somewhere (do not remember where) that the aging rate of channelers is inversely related to their channeling strength.

 

 

It's indicated that stronger women slow faster, but it's not clear whether that affects their lifespan or merely their appearance. Considering the ages of the Kin (most of whom are quite weak and look middle-aged to getting-on-in-years-but-not-yet-elderly) and considering they're as old as LTT (who maxes out channeling and looks middle-aged), my guess would be that there's a correlation but that it's not particularly strong. Channeling (period) extends your life a few hundred years. Strength helps you look younger (faster), and maybe gives you a few extra decades, but it doesn't look to me like channeling strength does a whole lot to extend one's lifespan.

[mb]

I remember the scene where slowing is mentioned.  I was referring to an out-of-book source; still do not remember where.

I think the wording was that physical aging equaled 1/x where x is the channeler's strength.  The exact words might have been different.

[Dagon Thyne]

 

I recall from somewhere (do not remember where) that the aging rate of channelers is inversely related to their channeling strength.

 

 

It's indicated that stronger women slow faster, but it's not clear whether that affects their lifespan or merely their appearance. Considering the ages of the Kin (most of whom are quite weak and look middle-aged to getting-on-in-years-but-not-yet-elderly) and considering they're as old as LTT (who maxes out channeling and looks middle-aged), my guess would be that there's a correlation but that it's not particularly strong. Channeling (period) extends your life a few hundred years. Strength helps you look younger (faster), and maybe gives you a few extra decades, but it doesn't look to me like channeling strength does a whole lot to extend one's lifespan.

 

An Aes Sedai not bound to an Oath Rod lives longer.  Look at the Kin.  Many of them are older than most living Aes Sedai, if not all of them.  You are right about the aging growing slower with stronger channelers.  LTT was around 700 yeats older, if I am not mistaken, at the beginning of the Collapse, and it lasted from 80 to 100 years, according to most sources, and the War of Power itself lasted three generations, I am guessing anywhere between 50 to 75 years, maybe more.  So, LTT would be somewhere bwtween 800 and 900 years old, or more at the time of the breaking.  The fact that he looked only 35 to 40 means that his aging was much slower than normal. 

[mb]

Towers of Midnight told that Lews Therin died at age 400.

the guide tells that the war was about 100 years after the Collapse.  Eye of the World prologue seems to indicate that the war lasted 10 years.

the guide also tells that middle-age for channelers was about age 300 in the Age of Legends.

[Occams whiskey bottle]

I don't see the problem with the extended lives since many old historical stories tell of people that live to be hundreds of years old.

[Guest]

I blame authors with no imaginations when it comes to living 500-700 years. 

 

If engineers/scientists live that long, imagine how far technology could advance.  A group of scientists working together for centuries at a time could achieve amazing things.  And Any society with that kind of longevity would be able to solve so many engineering/mathmatical/biological problems as to be able to goto other planets and not worry about the flight time taking 50 years. 

 

It would also mean that the birth rate would not need to be very high at all.  Thus all education could be broadened and improved to only those few children that need it.

 

Human development could take on a whole new level, letting young people enjoy their youth into their 40s-50s...

 

But meh, Aes Sedai just want to argue over mole hills, and pretend to be powerful with their spare time...

 

i agree withh this in a way, abuot an author with no imagination. organismss with longr and shortre lives, diferent metabolic rates, aer at least in theoryy thought to experince time diferently due to a diferent chronoception related to body size and metabolismm. Someone thenn who could live for hundredds of years then should be somthing more like an ogier - seeming to be verry patient least in certin matters, perhaps even semingly wise therefrom, becuse a year to them by theirr sense of time wuold be shorter than what it seems to someone else. instead, at lest how i remembre the books, the aes sedai just seemd like regularr humans, albeit good at controling their emotions, unusuly hasty and short-sighted for waht wuold think of somone with a diferent sense of time. But then of cuorse there is a confuonding factor in that suposedlly their long life is linked to thir ability to use the one power, becuse when gets taken away (i think) theyy get abuot a normal lifespan, hard to remember, so kind of hard to say thatt somthing that may logicaly apply in reality wuold apply in that case.

 

abuot sceintists being able to acomplish so much if humans cuold live longre, im somewhat inclind to disagree with that but its hard to say. some inseccts do evrything they need to do in theirr adult life within a span of a day and its very likley that that day seemss to them a long time if understnding of time and its relativity to percption is true, and othre animals taek longre to do things as their lifespan increasess. It may be then that someone who cuold live hundreds if not thuosands of years wuold then not onlly take long time to mature but wuold also seem to acomplish things more slowly which to themm may seem like its going fast - so wheras a normall human and thir perceptionn of time may taek 10 yearss to acomplish something, somthing humanoid with an extnded lifespan mightt take 50 years to do it becuse to them that seeems like 10 years. thats realy difficult question to wrestle thuogh becuse its all theoretical.

[Guest]

oh and alsoo to th first questionn posed:

 

Not to mention eternal life!

 

Really, what do you do for 400-600 years?

 

1. How many times can one be able to falling in love? As I see, most people had enough relationships before 60! 

2. Ok, one can travel all the time, meeting with new cultures etc. but after 5-6 new countries you have seen everything, so you are bored again.

3. Learning new jobs, learning new scientific stuff is good for a while but as I see, old people don't wanna learn new stuff, they just want their little social web around them.

 

So, why would anybody want to live forever?

 

relatin to what i just said above, somthing that is built to maintiain and repair itsleff for extremly long time, evn forevre, wuoldnt realy have the same notions of time as humans, so asking humanns why they wuold want to live forevre is somwhat...not realy sure of the word other than its somthing confounnding, becse part of what make them human is theiir sense of time andd how to spend it, so its would seem like a hard question in the way that asking somthing whose very nature is one thing, waht wuold they do if theyre nature was somthing nearly entirly diferent. all that aside as nightstriek mentiond, bein entertained, as you seemm to sugest is the only reason worth living, doesnt have to be always doing somthing new - I have plenty of fun playin the same games ovre and over with familly and friends, and when i get bored with somthing, i wont do it again for long while so that when evntualy come back to it, feels new and fun all ovre again, and such a cycle can go on indefintly, besides that I dont need to be entretained to want to live anyways; I want to live becuse death is horible, if nothing else can be saidd, and Im mostly content with just the basics of life - maintaining a home, growing and geting food, socialising with family and friends. I dont needd to be constntly busy or entertained, whethre by traveling or learning new things or havinng one sexual relationship after another, thuogh that certinly does help, for the next 1000 years or forever, for as longg as planet is around anyways - being alive with enuogh to have modest comfort is very nice in itself for many years

[Suttree]

If engineers/scientists live that long, imagine how far technology could advance.  A group of scientists working together for centuries at a time could achieve amazing things.

So in other words the AoL?

[Ace Sedai]

Not to mention ungrammatical.

 

 

[Bannakaffalatta]

Mesaana and Moghedien were among the younger Forsaken at around 300 and 200 respectively and Moghedien specifically says she was in the prime of her life. So that makes me believe that around 700-800 years was the average lifespan. I am not using info from the guide, only from what is in the actual books. So anything that expands on that is fine, but that was what was originally stated by RJ, so that is what I fell is the most reliable.

[Nar Shadda Han]

I honestly don't see anything wrong with super long life. Due to my beliefs I believe the world and universe will end one day, maybe 10 years from now, maybe 100,000, but honestly I would love to live 1000's maybe even 10's of 1000's of years. Why? Beacuse I have a passion for exploring and seeing new places unlike no other. If i had one wish that could be fulfilled, I'd wish I could live long enough to see every star, and planet in the galaxy and universe. Thats how much I love it. So I honestly believe it would be different for every person on how long they wished to live.

[jradnut]

The rock group Queen had a nice take on this subject, "who waaaants to liiive foreva?"

 

Anyway, If I could be immortal, I could definitely agro many more forums, ;p.

 

Oh, and also I finally finish my epic saga entitled, "People Who Really Chap My Arse"

[Magicana]

 

 

I recall from somewhere (do not remember where) that the aging rate of channelers is inversely related to their channeling strength.

 

 

It's indicated that stronger women slow faster, but it's not clear whether that affects their lifespan or merely their appearance. Considering the ages of the Kin (most of whom are quite weak and look middle-aged to getting-on-in-years-but-not-yet-elderly) and considering they're as old as LTT (who maxes out channeling and looks middle-aged), my guess would be that there's a correlation but that it's not particularly strong. Channeling (period) extends your life a few hundred years. Strength helps you look younger (faster), and maybe gives you a few extra decades, but it doesn't look to me like channeling strength does a whole lot to extend one's lifespan.

 

An Aes Sedai not bound to an Oath Rod lives longer.  Look at the Kin.  Many of them are older than most living Aes Sedai, if not all of them.  You are right about the aging growing slower with stronger channelers.  LTT was around 700 yeats older, if I am not mistaken, at the beginning of the Collapse, and it lasted from 80 to 100 years, according to most sources, and the War of Power itself lasted three generations, I am guessing anywhere between 50 to 75 years, maybe more.  So, LTT would be somewhere bwtween 800 and 900 years old, or more at the time of the breaking.  The fact that he looked only 35 to 40 means that his aging was much slower than normal. 

 

 

Don't forget that LTT was prematurely aging thanks to his position in society during the War of Power. Take a look at the photos below - Then extrapolate it out for 10x the time period, and the stress of fighting a losing war.