What are some stories that deal with cultural, psychological, and/or ecological consequences of drastically extended human lifespans, either in scarcity or post-scarcity societies?
How are human motivations affected when you can expect to live centuries or millennia instead of a handful of decades?
Poul Andersonâs The Boat of a Million Years looks at this in depth, and has immortality as its central focus.
Itâs a bit obvious in that
the initial immortals are at the end, the only humans who retain the human drive for exploration.
L.E. Modesitt, Jr.'s âForever Heroâ Trilogy has as its protagonist a biological immortal who uses his immortality to create a commercial empire which has as its purpose the development of biological technologies and processes to reclaim earth (devastated by nuclear war and biological and chemical warfare), as well as to create a sustainable lifestyle (plants are created which will grow into houses, or which will bear fruit which tastes like steak, &c.).
The Tor Double containing Roger Zelaznyâs âThe Graveyard Heartâ and Walter Jon Williamsâ âElegy For Angels And Dogsâ looks at a world in which an elite dramatically extend their lifespans using cryogenic stasis and discover that the world has changed around them. Not quite as on the nose as The Twilight Zoneâs âThe Rip Van Winkle Caperâ, but an interesting examination of it.
Cory Doctorowâs Walkaway deals with (among other things) a conflict between two groups: the establishment, who would allow eternal life to be the exclusive benefit of a wealthy few, creating a permanent class of immortal god-kings, vs. a group of rebels / counter-culture types who seek to ensure that access to immortality is available to the broad population.
âTo Live Foreverâ, an early novel by Jack Vance, presents a stratified society where life extensions are granted on the basis of social merit. The pyramid gets narrower, and more slippery, the older one gets, with only about a thousand true immortals.
Joe Haldemanâs âThe Long Habit of Livingâ (previously published as âBuying Timeâ) takes a similarly mercantile approach to the issue. The process of rejuvenating the body is incredibly expensive, and requires each recipient to perform acts of extraordinary entrepreneurship to obtain sufficient funds to pay for the next treatment before it is due.
By contrast, âAltered Carbonâ (a Netflix show based on novels by Richard K Morgan) has most people able to transfer their consciousness between bodies via âstacksâ, making everyone virtually immune to death by accident (although plenty of the Yakuza-like underworld are well aware that the stacks themselves are vulnerable). For some, it makes for a more laissez-faire attitude to personal safety. Viewing it, one gets the impression this grubby attitude filters through to society in general. One problem that can be encountered is that the QA of available bodies (âsleevesâ) may not be the bestâŚ
Alan Nourseâs Martyr (part of Psi High and Others) has immortality have a stultifying effect on people, leading to perfectionism that verges on complete inertia. Iâll be glad to live a few hundred years to see if that happens.
Nivenâs Cautionary Tales notes that even the longest-lived might end up wasting time searching for a way to live even longer - rather than to enjoy what life they have
Clarkeâs âCity and the Starsâ contemplates Diaspar: a society of immortals closed off from the Universe of now, and how such a society might stave off stagnation over millions of years.
One method is for everyone to return their burden of memories to the Cityâs data banks after a millennium or so of experience. They are reborn as blank slates, with their optimised memories returned to them after about twenty years of fresh âchildhoodâ. How these newly annointed âadultsâ handle this influx is not covered.
Another method is the occasional injection of âjestersâ: people with a non-conformist outlook who bring some âgood chaosâ to everyday life, with some encouragement from the City.
Finally, there is the âuniqueâ: a true disruptor of people who have never been born before. This brings an original mind into the mix, and the results are highly unpredictable (in the case of Alvin, it leads to Diasparâs bubble of isolation being punctured).
Whether any of these methods would actually work over the timescales envisaged is debatable. Nevertheless, this novel is a timeless SF classic, describing technologies which still seem futuristic, even seventy years after publication.
I havenât read The City and the Stars in so long that I forgot about that one. As I recall, it was basically a complete rewrite of Clarkeâs earlier novel, Against the Fall of Night.
Thanks for reminding me! Time to revisit an old favorite.
Comparing Clarkeâs rewrite with the original suggests he had sourced a better grade of psilocybin!
âCityâ was his preferred version (and mine), although a lot of people still opted for âNightâ. Greg Benford wrote a sequel, and I believe Murray Leinster was going to, although nothing came of it.
Herbertâs The Heisenberg Effect. Humans have 2 classes. Poor die fairly quick (50âs or so). Theyâre kept uneducated, worker bees, poor diet, housing, meds, etc. Elite live so long they are unable to remember and donât even recall how this happened to them. Theyâre also bored and quite boring.
Also, in Herbertâs list is God Emperor of Dune. Leto II is just over 10k years at the opening of the novel, and heâs the only one.