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lprubin | 4 years ago

There is an interesting exploration of this in the Altered Carbon universe. If people can become functionally immortal, will they inevitably grow tired of societally acceptable pursuits and move on to sadism?

discuss

order

Apocryphon|4 years ago

It's a sci-fi trope of sorts. Also see the Elder from Warhammer 40,000.

danwills|4 years ago

Also 'Wowbagger The Infinitely Prolonged' from "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy":

"After a period of total boredom, especially on Sunday afternoons, he decided to insult everyone in the entire universe in alphabetical order." (A quote from the fandom wiki)

notdemo88|4 years ago

You don’t need fiction to explore it; look at the rich and comfortable in our society forcing austerity on the poor.

Bored people playing the only titillating game available to them.

It’s not lost on me these folks are generally of the age to have lacked the variety of multimedia we have now. Raised on tales grounded in literal global conquest and missionaries of their culture, chasing “forever life” through family tree taxonomy, enlisting their kids as “skins” in the battle to maintain order as they see it.

Of course ideas that challenge their poetic vision are illiberal nonsense.