For some reason, Sewer Shark popped into my head.

"Whiny biatches."

Life without the finglonger sadly absent

I was always partial to Heinlein's "I Will Fear No Evil" where the protagonist gets a body donated by his recently murdered hot female secretary.

And then there's immortality, the worst fate of all.

Three dystopian versions:

1) Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels has the Skraelings, who live forever but grow progressively more mentally and physically feeble. They're a bunch of Alzeihemer's victims writ large: crabby, miserable and useless to themselves and others because instead of being repositories of wisdom and historical knowledge, they're just grouches.

2) A Billion Grandmothers. In this short story, the ancestors of the people of a small planet grow progressively older and smaller but do not die. They are kept in the basement, on shelves, like dolls because as they grow older they become progressively less involved with the world. It urns out the planet is basically built up of tiny, tiny grandmothers, an infinite regress of smaller and older ancestors, like dust.

3) The Post Mortal by Drew Magary. In this novel, immortality becomes possible (actually, just as stop to aging and physical decay) which means that 1) the economy collapses; 2) people realize that they haven't got enough savings to retire ... well, this is mostly depressing because it's so accurate. Also, there are "trolls" who make life miserable for the immortals by attacking them and carving the dates of their immortality treatment into their flesh. They kill one of several girlfriends of the main character and also engage in various acts of terrorism. There's even a new religion among the immortals. In short, it's not so much fun as you think to potentially live forever, even with immortal youth and health.

brantgoose: And then there's immortality, the worst fate of all.

Three dystopian versions:

1) Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels has the Skraelings, who live forever but grow progressively more mentally and physically feeble. They're a bunch of Alzeihemer's victims writ large: crabby, miserable and useless to themselves and others because instead of being repositories of wisdom and historical knowledge, they're just grouches.

2) A Billion Grandmothers. In this short story, the ancestors of the people of a small planet grow progressively older and smaller but do not die. They are kept in the basement, on shelves, like dolls because as they grow older they become progressively less involved with the world. It urns out the planet is basically built up of tiny, tiny grandmothers, an infinite regress of smaller and older ancestors, like dust.

3) The Post Mortal by Drew Magary. In this novel, immortality becomes possible (actually, just as stop to aging and physical decay) which means that 1) the economy collapses; 2) people realize that they haven't got enough savings to retire ... well, this is mostly depressing because it's so accurate. Also, there are "trolls" who make life miserable for the immortals by attacking them and carving the dates of their immortality treatment into their flesh. They kill one of several girlfriends of the main character and also engage in various acts of terrorism. There's even a new religion among the immortals. In short, it's not so much fun as you think to potentially live forever, even with immortal youth and health.

Well I never learned to read but there is the Star Trek Voyager episode where one of the Q continuum desired to commit suicide because there was simply nothing left to do or see in the universe,

Depressing isn't it?

As a kid, I grew up watching movies where Native Americans (Indians) cherished and cared for their elderly, considering their wisdom valuable. I also knew of the Eskimos, who allowed their elderly to walk out into the cold, wild environment to die as they chose. I knew of some Indian tribes which did the same. The elders themselves chose their time to die.

My elders were raised taking care of their elders, often in the family home, which pretty often had been built by the elders in their youth. Siblings came and went, staying for weeks at a time to care for Mom and Dad, spelling each other without complaint.

Sometimes, 3 generations would be on the family farm and the elders taken care of and respected. Grandkids and great-grandkids would cherish the company of the old folks, who were delighted to baby sit. Grandpa still had a say in things and so did grandma. The kids might consider some of the stuff bullshiat, but they listened respectfully anyhow even if they did stuff their own way later.

I can't shoe a horse but my great-grandpa could. My grandparents lived on a farm with other family members during the Great Depression and made a lot of their own breads and pasteries from scratch. My Grandpa made his own root beer and sauerkraut. Grandma knew how to can vegetables and meats without poisoning everyone. They knew how to barter for goods.

Sometime in the late 50's I learned about nursing homes, which were supposed to be great places for the elderly. By the 70's scandals and reports of abuse, neglect, theft and profiteering rocked the nursing home world, but people were too busy to care for their elders.

Besides, yuppies were buying BMWs, screwing up the stock market, drinking over priced coffee and making their riches so who had time to fuss with old, worn out, half crazy farts?

By the 80's major, new nursing homes appeared. Assisted living facilities, charging a high price to care for your folks. Other nursing homes started charging around $6000 a month a slapping a lien on the old folks properties so if the family rented the place for a bit of cash, it had to be paid to the home.

In the late 70's I worked in a nursing home as a medical aide, was appalled by the conditions, the smell and the lack of staff and quit the next day. In the 80's I investigated nursing homes to put my aunt in one and found reasonably priced ones made out of buildings built in the early 50's.

Most of the elderly looked brain dead, ready to die. The buildings were old. High end condo's popped up, basically nursing homes with state of the art built in medical care with the look of a nice apartment -- and a fee not for the faint of heart. The well off went to them in droves.

As a courier I delivered to some homes and was always hit by the stink of urine and feces, observed staff for whom the job was just a pay check and saw the elderly laying in beds, just waiting to die. Quite a few had family that stopped in to see them about once a year.

I helped put my aunt, with her permission, in a high end nursing home which was great -- until the original staff changed and the company cut corners. Then we whisked her out when we found she had been threatened, abused, stolen from and harassed, not to mention barely cared for. Being crippled, she could not often get to meals unless someone got her. Often, they just didn't bother feeding her.

We put her in a better place and called in DCF. The entire nursing home crew was fired and replaced and the company threatened with penalties and lawsuits until it cleaned up it's act.

Nursing homes are all over town now, when once there were just 4.

Kids don't want to take care of their elders anymore.

I'm over 50. The blush is off the blossom. I live with and take care of my 85 year old disabled Mom in the family home. I'm on duty 24/7. It took me 5 years to find programs to give us some help. Still, I do everything for her from bathing, to dressing to shopping and making her meals. I handle her medications, check her diabetes, adjust her pills and, since she is incontinent, clean her up.

I have three siblings. My sister wants nothing to do with her, even though money is tight since we're both disabled. So she won't even contribute a few bucks. My younger brother stays away most of the time. He comes when needed, has hired a yard man to take care of the yard and always shows up when I have to put her in the hospital.

However, I'm there alone every night, even when she has panic attacks, hallucinations, get sick and buzzes me. I've not had a full, unbroken nights sleep in years.

My older brother, quite well off, sends her gifts, helps out with some paper work, drops in every few months and calls her but he is the wealthy one of the family -- and hates to part with a dime. He spends most of his time with his wife touring the US in their $100,000 motor home.

When I asked for help, he said to put her in a nursing home. That's not acceptable. She used to work in one and is terrified of them and I promised her she would never be placed in one so long as I had any say. When I pointed out needed repairs that I could not do on the old house, he told me to sell it and move us into an apartment.

The house is paid for. It has grandfathered in low property taxes and she and my Dad built most of it and raised us kids there. It's her HOME.

So, I get to take care of her, which means my own illness, which is mental, never gets cured.

And now I look down the road and see a dim future for myself. Single. Never married. Who will take care of me when I become infirm?

So, for me, when I get too old, I've decided to simply suicide. Why rot away in a nursing home? Why drain every cent I have to stay unpleasantly alive? When the time comes, after my Mother passes on, that I become too infirm, I have a whole plan set up to end it all.

I've had a fantastic life and career. After passing 55 it all basically ended. My last job is taking care of my Mom. I will NOT rot away in a nursing home and I will choose the time of my ending and where. I will not be a lonely old man, getting crazier by the year, having to beg, scrape and borrow money for medications and staying around for what?

I did have fun though in my younger years. I met a great many people and learned a lot. I had adventures.

My Mom had an active life, even after my Dad died in his 40's. Now, most of her friends are dead or don't visit. Her family drops in on holidays and from time to time. She's developed a host of physical problems and has me, the black sheep of the family, that baths and feeds her, combs her hair, does her laundry and gets her dressed in clean cloths, puts her to bed every night and gets her up in the morning.

I have to clean her in places a son should NEVER touch his Mom. I have no social life since I can't leave her alone for long periods and no one will cover for me if I want a day off.

However, she's my Mom. I'll do my job until the end.

Later, I'll decide what to do about me.

Frothy Panties: Dear god you even make me want to kill myself. Very, very depressing. But you do bring up a valid point on how American society does not take care of our elderly anymore and do not want to take on the burdens associated with it. anyone.

We have been conned into believing we are a nation of bootstrappy individuals that have no need of, nor any responsibility towards each-other. We have forgotten that we are a social species and we absolutely rely on our collective societies to thrive. The idea of mutual interdependence flies in the face of modern America's "I've got mine, fark you!" mindset. And it's slowly destroying this country.

Mugato:

Well I never learned to read but there is the Star Trek Voyager episode where one of the Q continuum desired to commit suicide because there was simply nothing left to do or see in the universe,

Similarly Godric in the True Blood universe had, after 2000 years, finally seen enough, and wanted to see a sunrise one last time.

Bhags: Once upon a time, I read a story in OMNI magazine where the protragonist was a filthy rich, hedonistic bastard. He would party and booze and overindulge, until at a certain point his body was a bloated, uninhabitable carcass. At that point he would have his mind copied, and put into a healthy, fit clone. The process continued apparently for years. The story was actually more about what became of the old body that was being abandoned. As it turned out, it wasn't abandoned. The original mind was still in and functional, with all the memories from before. That body would then be taken to a farm and forced to do physical labor. Upon arrival the newcomer noticed numerous other "inmates" all separted from each other, each with their own personal guard. All of the other inmates were also in various stages of fitness, running from the morbidly obese to work hardened and lean. At the end of the story we find out that all of the inmates and guards are past "originals".
It was a very interesting read, but for the life of me, I can't remember the title or the author. I miss Omni magazine

Fat Farm, Orson Scott Card?

Link

WordsnCollision: brantgoose: And then there's immortality, the worst fate of all.

Three dystopian versions:

1) Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels has the Skraelings, who live forever but grow progressively more mentally and physically feeble. They're a bunch of Alzeihemer's victims writ large: crabby, miserable and useless to themselves and others because instead of being repositories of wisdom and historical knowledge, they're just grouches.

2) A Billion Grandmothers. In this short story, the ancestors of the people of a small planet grow progressively older and smaller but do not die. They are kept in the basement, on shelves, like dolls because as they grow older they become progressively less involved with the world. It urns out the planet is basically built up of tiny, tiny grandmothers, an infinite regress of smaller and older ancestors, like dust.

3) The Post Mortal by Drew Magary. In this novel, immortality becomes possible (actually, just as stop to aging and physical decay) which means that 1) the economy collapses; 2) people realize that they haven't got enough savings to retire ... well, this is mostly depressing because it's so accurate. Also, there are "trolls" who make life miserable for the immortals by attacking them and carving the dates of their immortality treatment into their flesh. They kill one of several girlfriends of the main character and also engage in various acts of terrorism. There's even a new religion among the immortals. In short, it's not so much fun as you think to potentially live forever, even with immortal youth and health.

Actually, #2 is "Nine Hundred Grandmothers" by R.A. Lafferty, just one of this author's works well worth a read (or a re-read).

[farm5.staticflickr.com image 500x429]

If it's good enough for Harlan Ellison, it's good enough for me. eBay'd.

Gunther: TFA SPOILS THE UPCOMING SCI-FI MOVIE LOOPER. SERIOUSLY; FARK SUBBY AND IO9.COM AND WHOEVER GREENLIT THIS.

i assume you've not seen any of the commercials where that is already pointed out?

[cries helplessly for Rik01]