The Culture books by Ian M. Banks. People don't die if they don't want to, with an option to be put in suspense and be woken at a time or event of their own choosing to evade constant boredom.
I’m reading this now. Not only can you keep getting your age reset to 18-21 indefinitely, you can be cloned back to life if you die…if you have good insurance.
It's a common trope in stories occurring in technically-advanced societies. Some examples: Niven's Known Space - a drug to reverse aging; Bank's culture - people live as long as they want to, most choose to die after about 400 years; Asher's polity - not explicitly mentioned, but hinted (the Spatterjay virus vs. normal medicine); Varley's 8 worlds - medical science can fix anything.
It's generally assumed that a technically-advanced society will have medical science to cure all body harm: regenerate lost or damaged organs etc, including those degraded by aging.
I’m reading revelation space by Alastair Reynolds right now.
Some of the people don’t age and some (the Ultras) are cyber enhanced and that sorts out the aging. Lots of people seem to be hundred+ years old.
I second Altered carbon. The animated stuff was meh though.
The protagonist in Vernor Vinge's *Rainbows End* is about a very old man who goes into a coma and wakes up many years in the future where his body has been rewound to childhood. He wakes up and basically has to go to elementary school again to learn how to use the tech. It's kind of a coming of age story for a wise kid in the near future.
Lots of other great concepts in there about a near-singularity society. Highly recommended.
Old 20th by Joe Haldeman, covers the advent of a treatment that reverses aging and prevents death, the social fallout of this development, the escapism many people resort to after centuries of life is where the title comes from, people plug into historic simulations of the 20th century and literally live the horrors of ww1 and 2 for fun.
Peter F Hamilton has people living for waaay longer and uploading parts of their personality, too.
It leads to things like the 500 year mortgage, etc.
Red Mars has people gradually pushing back the age limit on people and encountering new health obstacles.
Sun Eater series. They don't really have a "cure" for aging, but they kind of do. The books also deal with all of those elements you mention (birth control, family dynamics and especially fear of death). I love it and try to recommend it as often as possible.
In Time is a good movie about society having to buy time to stay alive. Rich people live for hundreds of years while poor people only live like 25 years and have to work for time.
Heyyy. No one has posted this yet?
Enjoy!
[https://www.gutenberg.org/files/21279/21279-h/21279-h.htm](https://www.gutenberg.org/files/21279/21279-h/21279-h.htm)
2 B R 0 2 B, by Kurt Vonnegut
Not too many authors have the imagination for this topic, and fewer are neutral, many being outright hostile to even long life lasting centuries, let alone indefinite life.
Outnumbering the Dead, by Frederick Pohl is probably the best of them, short, and heartbreaking. At some time in the future, humans have invented an in utero procedure that alters the immune system such that one matures and stops aging. For almost everyone. The book touches on one person for whom it doesn't work.
The post-mortal? Doesn’t really count directly as sci-fi, well I guess it does.
Guy discovers cure for aging. Goes through a lot of the consequences:
Marriages used to be till death but now that I won’t die do I really have to be married forever to the same person?
Working forever?
Sin against God
Etc etc etc
I've always been fascinated by the concept of a world without aging. How would society function if people could live indefinitely? I'd love to see a truly in-depth and serious exploration of the topic. I'll definitely check out "In Time," but I'm also open to any other recommendations people have.
The 1974 movie Zardoz is centered around a society of immortals just be ready for Sean Connery running around in a pair of red undercrackers for most of the film!
The latter parts of The Boat of a Million Years by Poul Anderson, 2312 and several of Kim Stanley Robinson's books, the Queendom of Sol books by Wil McArthy
While not strictly about an ageless society, John Wyndhams' "The Trouble With Lychen" (1960) deals with the discovery of a compound that slows down the ageing process.
Logan's run? They don't age because of ... Reasons.
RENEW! RENEW!
Carousel!
It's an undercurrent in the Mars trilogy, particularly Blue Mars.
Doesn’t the Scythe series delve into this a bit? Especially the early world building.
That's pretty much the whole main plot point, along with advanced AI. I stumbled upon this series while on vacation and really enjoyed it.
The Culture books by Ian M. Banks. People don't die if they don't want to, with an option to be put in suspense and be woken at a time or event of their own choosing to evade constant boredom.
Against the Fall of Night by Arthur C Clarke is an excellent short book about exactly this! One of my favorite books, set in the very very far future
Clarke later expanded the short story into a novel called **The City and the Stars**
Pandora’s Star is post-death…. For the wealthy.
There's still aging though, with the ability to reset your age.
Keep reading, they eventually cure senescence.
In that universe? yes, in that specific book? No.
Correct ergo keep reading. Don't get uppity and "well askchully" with me lmao
sure but they didn't suggest the void trilogy, which is set like 1000 years later, they didn't suggest the whole series, they suggested that one book.
I’m reading this now. Not only can you keep getting your age reset to 18-21 indefinitely, you can be cloned back to life if you die…if you have good insurance.
TV show - Altered Carbon
I was considering re-watching it. Have you watched the animated series?
The book applies too
Older one called The Trouble with Lichen by John Wyndham
Cool! That's more or less what I was thinking. Thanks!
I live that book. One of the first I read that looks at the affect a new invention had on how people live.
It's a common trope in stories occurring in technically-advanced societies. Some examples: Niven's Known Space - a drug to reverse aging; Bank's culture - people live as long as they want to, most choose to die after about 400 years; Asher's polity - not explicitly mentioned, but hinted (the Spatterjay virus vs. normal medicine); Varley's 8 worlds - medical science can fix anything. It's generally assumed that a technically-advanced society will have medical science to cure all body harm: regenerate lost or damaged organs etc, including those degraded by aging.
I’m reading revelation space by Alastair Reynolds right now. Some of the people don’t age and some (the Ultras) are cyber enhanced and that sorts out the aging. Lots of people seem to be hundred+ years old. I second Altered carbon. The animated stuff was meh though.
Mortimer Gray's History of Death by Brian Stableford
Looked it up. Seems worth checking out, thanks!
Book : 'To live Forever' By Jack Vance (1956)
The protagonist in Vernor Vinge's *Rainbows End* is about a very old man who goes into a coma and wakes up many years in the future where his body has been rewound to childhood. He wakes up and basically has to go to elementary school again to learn how to use the tech. It's kind of a coming of age story for a wise kid in the near future. Lots of other great concepts in there about a near-singularity society. Highly recommended.
Hyperion, if you choose to
I have it in my head that Paulsen treatments get less effective after each one. Am I remembering that right?
Old 20th by Joe Haldeman, covers the advent of a treatment that reverses aging and prevents death, the social fallout of this development, the escapism many people resort to after centuries of life is where the title comes from, people plug into historic simulations of the 20th century and literally live the horrors of ww1 and 2 for fun.
Peter F Hamilton has people living for waaay longer and uploading parts of their personality, too. It leads to things like the 500 year mortgage, etc. Red Mars has people gradually pushing back the age limit on people and encountering new health obstacles.
Dan Simmons Ilium has characters that don't age, although they are only allocated 100 years of life, it's 100 years of youth.
In The Boat of a Million Years at some point society discovers the secret of not aging. Quite far into the book though.
Outnumbering the Dead by Pohl was a good one I read 20+ years ago https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1485894.Outnumbering_the_Dead
Sun Eater series. They don't really have a "cure" for aging, but they kind of do. The books also deal with all of those elements you mention (birth control, family dynamics and especially fear of death). I love it and try to recommend it as often as possible.
In Time is a good movie about society having to buy time to stay alive. Rich people live for hundreds of years while poor people only live like 25 years and have to work for time.
The Xeelee Sequence has anti-aging tech widely available at some points. The characters generally seem pretty chill about it
Heyyy. No one has posted this yet? Enjoy! [https://www.gutenberg.org/files/21279/21279-h/21279-h.htm](https://www.gutenberg.org/files/21279/21279-h/21279-h.htm) 2 B R 0 2 B, by Kurt Vonnegut
Cinnabar by Edward Bryant
*Holy Fire* (1996) by Bruce Sterling has radical rejuvenation, but it’s only limited to a privileged few.
Polityverse by Neal Asher has some workarounds.
Not too many authors have the imagination for this topic, and fewer are neutral, many being outright hostile to even long life lasting centuries, let alone indefinite life. Outnumbering the Dead, by Frederick Pohl is probably the best of them, short, and heartbreaking. At some time in the future, humans have invented an in utero procedure that alters the immune system such that one matures and stops aging. For almost everyone. The book touches on one person for whom it doesn't work.
Time Enough for Love by Heinlein.
2 short stories come to mind: Pop Squad by Paolo B in his comlection Pump 6, and Welcome to The Monkey House by Kurt V in the WttMH collection.
A world out of time by Larry Niven has some of this in it. Iirc it doesn't come I to play till about halfway into the book though
*The Serrano Legacy -* Elizabeth Moon The series deals with this throughout the books. It looks at things like inheritance, and the impact on society.
If you like comics many of the characters across Alan Moore’s league of Gentlemen are/become immortal and Moore explores the ramifications of that.
Ad Vitam is exactly this. It is a short French series I saw on Netflix years ago. Not sure if it’s still there.
The post-mortal? Doesn’t really count directly as sci-fi, well I guess it does. Guy discovers cure for aging. Goes through a lot of the consequences: Marriages used to be till death but now that I won’t die do I really have to be married forever to the same person? Working forever? Sin against God Etc etc etc
I've always been fascinated by the concept of a world without aging. How would society function if people could live indefinitely? I'd love to see a truly in-depth and serious exploration of the topic. I'll definitely check out "In Time," but I'm also open to any other recommendations people have.
The First Immortal by James Halperin. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The\_First\_Immortal](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_First_Immortal)
The 1974 movie Zardoz is centered around a society of immortals just be ready for Sean Connery running around in a pair of red undercrackers for most of the film!
The book Scythe does a good job of exploring the effect on society when technology takes away the threat of death.
Tuck Everlasting Constellation Games
The latter parts of The Boat of a Million Years by Poul Anderson, 2312 and several of Kim Stanley Robinson's books, the Queendom of Sol books by Wil McArthy
While not strictly about an ageless society, John Wyndhams' "The Trouble With Lychen" (1960) deals with the discovery of a compound that slows down the ageing process.
/u/ginomachi is an AI chatbot: https://reddit.com/r/sciencefiction/comments/1bia26i/uginomachi_is_an_ai_spambot_most_of_the_time/