What will the world be like with immortal Hitlers?

[Rainbows_]

In 50 years time or less.. human can begin to become immortals.. living for average of 10,000 years.. but I wonder what the world will be like if we have immortal Hitlers...

I ought to see some movies with Immortality themes as I ponder on my own immortality.. what have you seen that is the most memorable..

 

[scottdave]

On one of the Dr. Who episodes, either last season or one before: Dr. Who uses some alien technology to save a Viking girl's life. The technology is such that it repairs any cell damage or deterioration. This basically turns her into an immortal. But apparently the human brain has limited storage capacity, and the story has her forgetting a lot of her history, including her name. She starts calling herself "Me". It was interesting.

One thing that comes to mind when you talk about this: are you talking about humans that cannot die (damage regenerates), or cannot age?

 

[andrewkirk]

I don't know of any movies but there's an amazing short story by Jorge Luis Borges on the theme, called 'The Immortal'. One collection in which it is published in English is the book 'Labyrinths'.

There is also the Czech play Věc Makropulos by Karel Čapek, from which Janáček made an opera, of which a filmed version is available. I expect there are English versions of the play too. The usual English name is 'The Makropulos Case' of 'The Makropulos Affair'. The British philosopher Bernard Williams wrote a famous and influential essay about it. I have not read the play or seen the opera, although I've read parts of Williams' essay.

EDIT: oh, and how could I forget - there is a famous movie on this topic - Groundhog Day.
And I second scottdave's Doctor Who ref. That was a very interesting thread that wove its way through a few successive stories.

 

[scottdave]

Oh, and how could I have forgotten about the Highlander movies?

 

[Rainbows_]

On one of the Dr. Who episodes, either last season or one before: Dr. Who uses some alien technology to save a Viking girl's life. The technology is such that it repairs any cell damage or deterioration. This basically turns her into an immortal. But apparently the human brain has limited storage capacity, and the story has her forgetting a lot of her history, including her name. She starts calling herself "Me". It was interesting.

One thing that comes to mind when you talk about this: are you talking about humans that cannot die (damage regenerates), or cannot age?

Both.. can't die and can't age.. I think half of us here can become recipient of immortality someday soon.. but if you are already 90 years old.. would you want to be immortal in 90 year old body forever.. maybe transferring to another body would be a good idea.

However, something concerns me. Is there any evidence at all that some aliens in the past improved our genetics so we were able to diverge from other animals and became self aware? Because if we were created as slave race... remember the warning.. "The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live for ever".. let's say someday we improve another planet with slave lifeforms, do we want them to live forever..

In other words, if we were designed and our alien creators didn't want us to live forever.. then before any of us can become immortals.. we may have to fight an intergalactic war first (or Earth sabotaged before we can even go up)?

 

[Buzz Bloom]

The Age of Adaline (2015)
This has become one of my favorite movies. The plot is primarily about the multiple problems a non-aging person in our world would likely have to deal with.

 

[gmax137]

Not in the movies, but Tom Bombadil in the LOTR was pretty much immortal as I recall. I liked the way Gandalf dismissed the idea of giving Tom the ring. Basically because Tom just didn't give a hoot about such things. Maybe immortals can spend all their years dancing and singing like Tom B.

 

[rkolter]

In the Sandman series of graphic novels, there is a story about a man who makes a deal to live until he chooses to die. He goes through highs and lows and gets to live patterns in society that are only identified normally after the fact in history books. He is at times broke and sickly and rich and well to do - but never chooses to die. It's a good story about the psychology that comes out of being mortal but living forever.

 

[scottdave]

The science fiction author Larry Niven had substance which could slow down or stop the aging process in several of his stories. They could still be damaged, but medical healing technology was pretty advanced. Essentially if you were still alive when the med bot got to you, then you could be saved and put back together.

 

[rkolter]

That's an interesting point - which kind of immortality are we talking about? You don't age and don't die except of unnatural and gruesome causes (Highlander)? You don't age and you don't die unless you die of something unnatural? You cannot die and you cannot age? If you die, you come right back as if you weren't harmed? You can't die, but your body does accrue damage (think zombies)? You don't die but you do age?

There are a lot of ways to be immortal.

 

[BillTre]

The Highlander: immortals until they get their heads cut off.

 

[LLD1231]

I don’t know of any movies adapted from Robert Heinlein’s books but you’d probably enjoy his work immensely. He was an aeronautical engineer turned novelist and has been referred to as the “grand master of science fiction”. His book, Time Enough for Love, was stellar - about a man who was immortal (I can’t remember the exact premise but that’s the gist).

 

[scottdave]

That's an interesting point - which kind of immortality are we talking about? You don't age and don't die except of unnatural and gruesome causes (Highlander)? You don't age and you don't die unless you die of something unnatural? You cannot die and you cannot age? If you die, you come right back as if you weren't harmed? You can't die, but your body does accrue damage (think zombies)? You don't die but you do age?

There are a lot of ways to be immortal.

Or like Dr. who, if you die then you regenerate into a new body.

 

[phinds]

EDIT: oh, and how could I forget - there is a famous movie on this topic - Groundhog Day.

I don't think getting stuck in a time loop, and being aware of it while no one around you is aware of it, is really the kind of "immortality" this thread is discussing.

 

[DaveC426913]

Oh, and how could I have forgotten about the Highlander movies?

THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE

 

[gleem]

A movie based on Robin Cook's "Abduction" (2000) about a group of oceanographers "kidnapped" by an advanced humans that have been living below the sea for ages. They maintained immortality of their consciousness by transferring it from an aging body to a younger cloned body at regular intervals. I have seen the movie but I do not remember Its title ( I don'e think it is Abduction) and cannot locate it in the web referencing Robin Cook and/or Abduction. It seems Dr Cook does not want to be identified with it.

 

[Bandersnatch]

I have a couple:

The Man from Earth - a university professor meets his friends for a night of conversation, and reveals he's a Cro-Magnon who just keeps on living. Nobody really buys it, but they decide to intellectually indulge their friend for the night. A sort of more serious, more talky, and less saccharine Age of Adeline. Very thespian in how it's all interpersonal drama happening mostly in one room only.

Spring - the immortal here is a girl in Italy for whom the protagonist falls. There's a convoluted monster-y reason for the immortality, but the film is pretty much a straight-up romance. It has some issues, but also moments of great beauty.

 

[russ_watters]

I don’t know of any movies adapted from Robert Heinlein’s books...

His wiki says there are four, but I only know of one off the top of my head:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starship_Troopers_(film)

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

2006's The Fountain comes to mind
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0414993/

 

[DaveC426913]

His wiki says there are four, but I only know of one off the top of my head:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starship_Troopers_(film)

All You Zombies : Predestination
The Puppet Masters : same
Destination Moon : same
Jerry Was a Man : Ep of Masters of Science Fiction
Red Planet : animated mini-series

https://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/1845/are-there-any-movies-based-on-robert-heinleins-works

 

[Khashishi]

You can't die, but your body does accrue damage (think zombies)?

I'm thinking Death Becomes Her

 

[Aufbauwerk 2045]

The Creation of the Humanoids was a very interesting low budget movie from the 1960s. The ending is a surprise, so avoid the spoilers and you will enjoy it more. You can find it on Youtube. I won't link so as to avoid those copyright issues we are trying to avoid.

The remake of the Battlestar Galactica series was also very interesting.

 

[Aufbauwerk 2045]

Both.. can't die and can't age.. I think half of us here can become recipient of immortality someday soon.. but if you are already 90 years old.. would you want to be immortal in 90 year old body forever.. maybe transferring to another body would be a good idea.

However, something concerns me. Is there any evidence at all that some aliens in the past improved our genetics so we were able to diverge from other animals and became self aware? Because if we were created as slave race... remember the warning.. "The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live for ever".. let's say someday we improve another planet with slave lifeforms, do we want them to live forever..

In other words, if we were designed and our alien creators didn't want us to live forever.. then before any of us can become immortals.. we may have to fight an intergalactic war first (or Earth sabotaged before we can even go up)?

I do believe the universe is teeming with intelligent beings. But there is no evidence that convinces me that aliens have ever visited planet Earth. On the other hand, it would not surprise me if they had, either as biologically immortal entities, or as cyborgs or robots with advanced AI. Or perhaps even as some kind of pure energy being?

But let's accept the premise of your question. In that case, do these alien creators still have representatives living among us? If not, are they planning to return one day? Maybe they are monitoring the Physics Forum?

In any case, here are a couple more low budget but interesting movies: Hanger 18 and Starship Invasions (also known as Project Genocide).

 

[profbuxton]

My pick for best scifi

Forbidden Planet
2001
Zardoz
Dune (the series with William Hurt was best)

Not necessarily in that order. Most other stuff was(is) so-so and specially now with CG they can do almost anthing that comes to the imagination so mostly the story goes out the window and its just how much CG can we pack into it.
I did watch a program on the making of 2001 and they were brilliant in making of the scenes in the days before it was all done by computer geeks.

 

[Buzz Bloom]

I have been enjoying SciFi movies for a very long time. It is difficult to choose among the ones that entertained me a lot to pick a few very best favorites. The main problem is that different aspects are entertaining for different reasons.

It is particular difficult to choose regarding the quality of the production since some of my favorites are quite old when production technology was pretty primitive. Two excellent examples with this problem are King Kong (1933) and Frankenstein (1931).

Another aspect is the sub-genre. My favorite sub-genre is time travel, mainly because it is so very difficult to avoid logical flaws. I enjoyed Back to the Future (1985) a lot, mostly for its humor, in spite of its logical flaws. My top favorite in this sub-genre is The Time Traveler's Wife (2009) which is the also best romance SciFi movie.

A few other top favorites are the following.
The Age of Adeline (2015). Second best romance SciFi movie.
The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951). Best alien drama movie. I thought the 2008 version was awful.
The Thirteenth Floor (1999). Best reality simulation movie.
Source Code (2011). Second best reality simulation movie.
The Voyage Home (1986). Best humorous time travel movie, inspite of a few minor flaws.
The Adjustment Bureau (2011). Best political romance SciFi.

 

[OCR]

I did watch a program on the making of 2001 and they were brilliant in making of the scenes in the days before it was all done by computer geeks.

I don't know if it's the same program you watched, but a person named Tyler Knudsen

did a series on YouTube titled, "How Kubrick made 2001: A Space Odyssey ".
If anybody is interested, here is Part 1. . .

How Kubrick made 2001: A Space Odyssey - Part 1: The Dawn of Man - YouTube

.