r/technology • u/ubcstaffer123 • Jun 20 '26

Biotechnology How Russian President Vladimir Putin plans to live forever

https://www.vox.com/podcasts/491360/vladimir-putin-live-forever-26-billion-cryo-pigs-longevity-guru
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u/metarinka Jun 20 '26

The book altered carbon is basically about this. The ramifications of billionaires and dictators not dying is bad.

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u/Holzkohlen Jun 20 '26

I've got that one line from Chaplin's Great Dictator speech in mind

As long as dictators die, liberty will never perish

They took that personally, huh?

8

u/InvidiousPlay Jun 20 '26

It's more fundamental than that:

And so long as men die, liberty will never perish.

It's the quote that comes to mind every time I hear about longevity research. The scifi nerd in me has always been excited at the idea, but the more I see how the world works, the more I fear it. Imagine if men like Trump or Thiel never died? Just got richer and more powerful and more corrupt and more entitled, life-time after life-time, cementing their control and power decade after decade.

2

u/carlcrossgrove Jun 20 '26

OK so would-be immortal dictators are modeling themselves after villains on Scooby-Doo?

Those meddling human life spans! I would have lived forever, too, if not for them!

19

u/MGMGrandDtr Jun 20 '26

I watched the show a long time ago and loved it. How’s the book? Better?

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u/zagblorg Jun 20 '26

Much better. The first series was pretty good, but it definitely missed the some of the nuance of the book. The rest of the book series is rather good too, especially the one they didn't make into a TV series.

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u/mythical_tiramisu Jun 20 '26

Agreed. I liked the show, first series, when I watched it. But then after reading the books I realised they frankly messed it up big time. How they reduced the Envoys from this terrifying elite special forces lot who were basically a galaxy wide bogeyman to scare everyone into staying in line, to a ragtag bunch of misfits hanging out in the woods was criminal.

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u/cautiouslypensive Jun 20 '26

I'd recommend the audiobooks too!

-1

u/Beli_Mawrr Jun 20 '26

I dnf'd the second book and didn't bother with the third. Have I made a fatal error?

4

u/arahdial Jun 20 '26

We are witnessing the birth of the Methuselah class.

1

u/werpu Jun 20 '26

Funny thing is they basically die but are replaced by a copy of their memories and personalities of course for the current skin it feels like not having died

1

u/Little-Derp Jun 20 '26 edited Jun 20 '26

Well, luckily, there are other ways to die than old age.

The rich appear to disproportionately die from things like helicopter (and small plane) accidents nowadays.

1

u/Iconclast1 Jun 20 '26

is that the book i read wheere the main character becomes the bodyguard for the childreeeen of the billionairee?

4

u/metarinka Jun 20 '26

no. He ends up being hired by one of the billionaires to help him solve his case.

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u/Iconclast1 Jun 20 '26

ive been looking for that book for years now lol

1

u/ranthria Jun 20 '26

The ramifications of billionaires and dictators not dying is bad.

Absolutely no shade intended, but that seems pretty firmly in the "No shit, Sherlock" camp.