The Capitalism of Longevity

I don't want to live forever...  I never have and I never will.  I have also never understood the "survive at any cost" mentality that so many seem to have.  All I want is to live a quality life in whatever time I have.  

This thread covers a variety of topics relating to why I think TPTB stand to gain more from our survival than by our demise, at least for now.  It contains no reference material since it is simply a collection of my thoughts and speculations.   Note that this is from an American perspective, so not all subjects may be relevant in other countries.

Religion
What better way to define a pyramid scheme?  Money comes from the God-fearing members and flows to the top while the return is but an assurance of an unobservable life after death.  A built in fear of God/Satan/eternal judgement ensures that the faithful strive to prolong their lives, which means there are more people paying into the pool.  Additionally, the edict to "be fruitful and multiply" coupled with an anti-contraceptive stance works to promote population gain; more people means more potential members, which means more money and influence for those on top.

Medical Industry
Longer lives means more doctor appointments, surgeries, procedures, tests, and emergencies.  Their method of incentivizing the masses is to generate fear of disease/death and to promote having more years over having better quality lives.  How many more times will I watch cancer stricken patients poison themselves for a chance at 6 more months?  Sure there are instances when getting a treatment is the best course of action.  It is the blind faith in the "experts" that really bugs me because, in my experience, most of them don't care about anything except making money.

Pharmaceutical Industry
Some argue that vaccinations are designed to impair or disease us rather than keep us healthy.  I, however, believe that vaccinations are indeed intended to prevent illness.  Could a small sample size be used to guarantee a certain prevalence of a particular disorder?  Sure, it is possible... But heroes get more customers than villains.    Meaning that if someone can cure some disease, people will love them for it and surrender their logic to the "miracle workers"... They will live longer and need more vaccines and medications, which of course means more money for the makers of those products.

Insurance Industry
Medical, dental, vision, life, vehicle, home, etc., you can insure it all these days.  More people means more lives/things to insure.  These companies are hedging their bets that you will live longer and take care of yourself and your things because that means that you are giving them your money for nothing but a feeling of security.

The Media
So all these industries want more consumers...  Why not start by trying to keep the ones you have alive for as long as possible?  Bring in the media to provide a method for delivering advertisements to the populace, for a price of course, that not only promotes the products themselves, but the idea that living longer is what everyone wants.  More consumers means more diverse interests which means there can be more tv channels, radio stations, magazines, newspapers, etc.  So the media both indirectly and directly benefits from the longevity of the population.

The methods employed range from scare tactics, to guilt, to jealousy, to empathy... Anything they can say to encourage people to go out and spend their money, live longer to spend more in the future, and even spend money to stay alive to spend money.

It seems that we are constantly bombarded with news stories about eat this, take these supplements, get this prescription, work out this way, this study says doing 'X' will prolong your life by 'Y' years, obesity epidemic, this person fought cancer and "won", do this, don't do that, blah blah blah.  All of this under the guise that there is somebody out there looking after our best interests.

Government
Governments at every level want their citizens to live longer too and they will support any measure aimed at keeping the people healthy.  They want the income, sales, and sin tax money that people represent, and if you're old and healthy, then they won't have to pay so much out of various social programs... If they have all this extra money sitting around, then they will use it for whatever pet projects they have.  So long as they can come up with whatever they have promised to give back, then nobody cares.  The war on tobacco, Obamacare, the various "sin taxes", talk of a "fat tax", even illegal immigration to some extent... It is all consistent with them wanting more people so that they can have more money.

As populations grow, so does the number of taxable people.  But what about wars, teaching contraception, abortion, anything else you can think of that could decrease population?  Well, if you think about it you can see it is still all about the money... Take abortion... If the mother-to-be gives birth, that's another consumer/taxable person, if the abortion takes place, there are taxes on the service, plus those people that perform abortions get paid, and they spend their money...

Surely, the government does not want to round us all up in these FEMA camps just so they can start spending all our money on us!  And if the roundup is to kill everyone, then they are going to have to start doing everything for themselves, which I'm pretty certain they would rather just continue to reap the fruits of the labor of others.  Only if an organized revolution formed or there were territorial wars over food or natural resources can I see martial law / FEMA death camps coming to fruition.

Suicide / Assisted Suicide
A slight deviation for a moment... Why are suicide and assisted suicide illegal?  This really makes no sense to me.  If somebody wants to die, why not let them?  Well, the answer is that the money flow from that person stops if they die, and "they" want that money.  A few years ago I read an article about a kid who drove his car off of a cliff with the clear intent to kill himself (he had a suicide note in hand)... He sustained injuries that would have killed him without intervention, yet he was "saved" by EMT's and ER personnel.  To me this was the ultimate proof that greed, not quality of life, motivates the medical industry.

Doomsday
Will the world end this year?  In 2015?  2029?  Who knows... But so long as people are willing to believe in impending doom, there will be somebody out there to make a buck off of it.  There's a website that you could pay to arrange for your pets to be taken care of if you were raptured, tv shows and books about people stockpiling for the apocalypse, and entire belief systems based on eminent destruction.  Plus all the books and tv shows that come out about the newest theories about the end of the world.  All of this feeds on the survival instinct... people who fear death by cataclysm respond by buying a bunch of stuff they won't need and by definition work to extend their years.  The dates come and go, and each one builds the certainty that only the strong and prepared will survive.

The Depopulation Agenda?
So who exactly wants us all dead?!  Is there a conspiracy to suddenly exterminate billions of people?  If there is, I don't think it will happen until money can no longer provide access to the things that those on top need to survive (or once they become worried that their access will be limited).  Personally I think the depopulation agenda theory is just another tool used by TPTB to provide incentive to live longer to those that can see through all of the other garbage I've already mentioned.  What better way to make people fear death than by directly threatening them with it (or letting them think the threat is real)?

Wrap-Up
So, why did I write this all up?  Am I the one that wants a forced population reduction?  No... I just want people to think for themselves when it comes to their decisions.  I'm probably preaching to the choir in this venue, but I want everyone to do what they want because they want to do it, not because it is something that people are just supposed to do.  Realize that all these things out there are made with the sole intent to make money... To capitalize on your very existence.

reply to post by xenthuin

I dont know what your stand is regarding spirituality, but I think and feel there is a whole deep spiritual meaning and purpose to life. My life was almost cut short in my early 20's and I was given a second chance. Since then I have not put anything off for later, I've lived to the max, have helped others, have found myself, and I am in Love with Life, whether its here or in the afterlife. I have found the part of me that has pre-existed, exists now, and will continue to go on when the body drops off.

The "Survive at any cost" mechanism is already built in to the Brain/Body in a certain part of the brain. Its natural. When you grow spiritually, you transcend that and it doesnt matter any more, but very few people transcend that.

Religion

I think there is both a zombie-ish controlling part of it, but also an esoteric core that grants you enlightenment and freedom frm all the negative aspects of not only said religion, but also of the world and your own programming. Happened to me and a handful of others I know. Be fruitful and multiply was an OT thing. Where as in the NT, you dont see Christ getting married or having kids.

Medical Industry

Cant argue with you there. Its corrupt and pathetic, yet still has its place and does work in many instances. For one if I ever get cancer and the tech isnt there to get me back to normal, then F*%! It, I'll do like the Cathars did and cut off all food and water which rapidly brings in the onset of physical death.

I pretty much agree with everything you said except for the Gov't part. They dont want us living that long because SS is already drying up and they are already in talks to up the retirement age to 70!!!! I think they prefer sheeple between 18 and 65 who are working and are basically inslaved to pay taxes and so on.

Not much else to add except that if I didnt have family members and friends who rely on me in so many different ways, I'd be in a monastery or I'd be off to live a hermit's life in the wilderness somewhere or a community based hermitage or commune where I can be as self sufficient as possible, not add kids to this over populated on the verge of WW III ball of clay, an work on steadily deepening into Enlightenment and detachment. But since there are those who rely on me, it is in a sense, my job to stick around for as long as my mission here is complete.

I can get alot done with 100-120 years here and would know that I didnt wast my life here, the way I did up to my early 20's.

reply to post by dominicus


Thanks for taking the time to read my thread!

As far as me and spirituality, we divorced some 10+ years ago. These days, the belief that eventually there will be nothing left for me to have to do provides more comfort than a belief that I will spend eternity in some supposed utopia. That is, I'd rather just be done when I die than have an afterlife.

Regarding the government and social security... I see your point, and thought of it as well while writing the OP, but my contention is that people who get SS still spend their money. Sales tax goes to the states/municipalities, the employees get paid (and they pay income taxes and buy stuff too) to sell stuff to the SS recipients, and the companies that make the stuff and hire people get paid and pay taxes (sometimes *rimshot*). It's all about keeping the cash flowing.

Secondarily, if the average lifespan increases enough then (eventually) so will the age of retirements and social security benefits. This means the government could keep the SS eligibility age/requirements a fixed time before the mean age of death so they aren't on the hook for more years paid per person, plus they will bring in more money from the taxes they collect over the increased number of working years.