A Plant That ‘Cannot Die’ Reveals Its Genetic Secrets - The New York Times
"Some of the largest plants are believed to be over 3,000 years old, with two leaves steadily growing since the beginning of the Iron Age, when the Phoenician alphabet was invented and David was crowned King of Israel."
"Some of the largest plants are believed to be over 3,000 years old, with two leaves steadily growing since the beginning of the Iron Age, when the Phoenician alphabet was invented and David was crowned King of Israel."
It seems that a lot of people are disregarding the subtle effects of the passing of time, as an example I recently received a 'phone call from a potential customer who happens to live where I grew up, after a brief chat it turns out the the swimming baths are now derelict, the fun fair has been demolished ( along with the cork-screw ), the local train system has fallen in to disrepair and the shops I once knew are all closed. In only 35 years most of my childhood has almost been taken away, imagine if you lived for 3,000 years, everything that you saw growing and developing would fade away. Wouldn't that be disheartening ?
It would be interesting to see how differently history records what has actually happened, but then if you lived only 500 years ago, would you know much about what's happening around the world anyway ?, I presume the closest that a serf like me would get is living in a harbour and listening to the gossip of the sailors.
A few people have mentioned an increasing population as the biggest problem of the future, but if you look at the birth rate of most ( if not all ) of the developed nations, it's bellow replacement rate and continuing on a downward trend, but this is a cultural/social issue, there is also a biological issue of declining fertility in men, if this wasn't bad enough, no body seems to know why this is, it's going to be difficult to solve a problem if you don't know the cause. In the next few years these two things will work in together with one another and there could be a very rapid decline in population, and considering how complicated modern society is, and how many people it takes to keep all the infrastructure going this could be a very serious problem.
There seems to be around 200 theories as to why the Roman empire fell, I wouldn't want to have to figure out which one is right, or if a few worked in concert with one another in varying degrees. Perhaps just top heavy management.
It would be interesting to see how differently history records what has actually happened, but then if you lived only 500 years ago, would you know much about what's happening around the world anyway ?, I presume the closest that a serf like me would get is living in a harbour and listening to the gossip of the sailors.
A few people have mentioned an increasing population as the biggest problem of the future, but if you look at the birth rate of most ( if not all ) of the developed nations, it's bellow replacement rate and continuing on a downward trend, but this is a cultural/social issue, there is also a biological issue of declining fertility in men, if this wasn't bad enough, no body seems to know why this is, it's going to be difficult to solve a problem if you don't know the cause. In the next few years these two things will work in together with one another and there could be a very rapid decline in population, and considering how complicated modern society is, and how many people it takes to keep all the infrastructure going this could be a very serious problem.
There seems to be around 200 theories as to why the Roman empire fell, I wouldn't want to have to figure out which one is right, or if a few worked in concert with one another in varying degrees. Perhaps just top heavy management.
that's true if one lived 500 years he could not know what happened close to his village, country, etc... It is the same, you need media and change the shape of the truth because you can not have the eyes everywhere...
About fertility, aside the biological problems due to pollution or evolution, I don't know, I don't see it as a problem. I'm not a religious nore a nationalist, so I don't care. But if women has less children where we live or some decide to have none, I see it as a social progress of a liberty that was hard for her to obtain... and also to keep in some society where culpability is branded for false reason a cow role as if our own survival was the omega of our history - that's just a bilogival behavior we transformed in a sort of social darwinism. I see too much here even in our western countries, men than gave up their wife and let them alone with children without giving money and let them with their children sliding towards poverty. With the migration flux, for the moment, worldwide number is not lowering. Ou increase and selfisch behavior makes even many species collapsing.
As for the roman empire, it is perfectly learned in high history schools and there are a lot of easy books enough to read. It's not important to know the details, but often we do parallelism that are not accurate for the ease of the discussion.
I like behind the lines what you are saying : it's not the length, the quantity or even the date where you live that make someone happy or not. I'm pretty sure somewhere some side of our lives becomes more confortable and it's reflected in Jan's subject : we live longer. But I'm pretty sure it's not automatic we are more happy, maybe more are happy, but maybe not more happy - ok life was rude and is always in most part of the world... and history can reset as well, it's never gained forever about ideas, progress and so on, see world wars !.
I'm pretty sure it should be difficult but gift of evolution to stand 3 000 years without becoming made, even if you are on the rich guys whom ask themselves only about what they can have more as an autocentred question about existence : more knowledge, more stuffs, etc ! Is it equal to more happyness is not certain, far from it imho... at least my simple feeling.
About fertility, aside the biological problems due to pollution or evolution, I don't know, I don't see it as a problem. I'm not a religious nore a nationalist, so I don't care. But if women has less children where we live or some decide to have none, I see it as a social progress of a liberty that was hard for her to obtain... and also to keep in some society where culpability is branded for false reason a cow role as if our own survival was the omega of our history - that's just a bilogival behavior we transformed in a sort of social darwinism. I see too much here even in our western countries, men than gave up their wife and let them alone with children without giving money and let them with their children sliding towards poverty. With the migration flux, for the moment, worldwide number is not lowering. Ou increase and selfisch behavior makes even many species collapsing.
As for the roman empire, it is perfectly learned in high history schools and there are a lot of easy books enough to read. It's not important to know the details, but often we do parallelism that are not accurate for the ease of the discussion.
I like behind the lines what you are saying : it's not the length, the quantity or even the date where you live that make someone happy or not. I'm pretty sure somewhere some side of our lives becomes more confortable and it's reflected in Jan's subject : we live longer. But I'm pretty sure it's not automatic we are more happy, maybe more are happy, but maybe not more happy - ok life was rude and is always in most part of the world... and history can reset as well, it's never gained forever about ideas, progress and so on, see world wars !.
I'm pretty sure it should be difficult but gift of evolution to stand 3 000 years without becoming made, even if you are on the rich guys whom ask themselves only about what they can have more as an autocentred question about existence : more knowledge, more stuffs, etc ! Is it equal to more happyness is not certain, far from it imho... at least my simple feeling.
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100 year old man just charged with murder as nazi war criminal.
the past is always close behind, nipping at your heels.
the past is always close behind, nipping at your heels.
I suppose you could be charged with excessive carbon dioxide emissions from your youth. You could then tell them “But I didn’t exhale!”.
If you're alive 3000 years from now, that would be a moot point, no?
Unless of course we're all living underground away from the devastation you caused way back when. 🙂
Unless of course we're all living underground away from the devastation you caused way back when. 🙂
I would start out saving money for decades to set myself up in a fine and comfortable abode, build some really nice speaker systems, and engage my favourite hobbies with great depth.
A bit later, and having lots of time, I would pursue studying medicine to contribute, if possible, towards cures for some of the most problematic diseases facing man kind. I imagine life could get depressing, watching everyone age and pass on. At some point that would lead to more studying to try and slow their age progression.
Inevitably, in between all of this I might have to decide to fake my own death every couple decades or risk becoming a public spectacle, “the man that lives forever”. That could possibly lead to someone trying to test the theory of mortality on myself.
A bit later, and having lots of time, I would pursue studying medicine to contribute, if possible, towards cures for some of the most problematic diseases facing man kind. I imagine life could get depressing, watching everyone age and pass on. At some point that would lead to more studying to try and slow their age progression.
Inevitably, in between all of this I might have to decide to fake my own death every couple decades or risk becoming a public spectacle, “the man that lives forever”. That could possibly lead to someone trying to test the theory of mortality on myself.
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Yeah, you'd be a freak for sure.
But the premise was that we all live 3k years, on average. If everybody is a freak, it'll be the new normal ;-)
Jan
But the premise was that we all live 3k years, on average. If everybody is a freak, it'll be the new normal ;-)
Jan
