Would suicide be more socially acceptable among ageless creatures

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>>51501655
An escape clause, essentially?

>>51501655
No, because an ageless creature would very like not consider death to be a certainty, whereas mortal beings would be more willing to sacrifice themselves because they have an instinctive understanding that death is a certainty for them.

>>51501695
Man I loved that episode

There's an excellent comic on that topic called The Last Days of an Immortal, by Vehlman. You should read it.

I like the idea that long lived races have built some kind of culture, laws or even religious conducts on prohibiting suicide to make the most out of their individuals time on earth. Or it's not forbidden, but heavily disparaged, especially the suicides family, to put social pressure on them even though they are still dead.

On the other hand I can see younger family members pushing their elders to finally make place for them, so they can inherit, take their position etc.

Society of ageless is scary. Rich old elite will stay same forever, just as dregs of community, stuck with dead-end jobs and no hope of change. Youngsters have to compete with those who have centuries of job experience in chosen field - if they even have that choice, and not treated as children forever. It might work as background for adventurers, but not as a place you want to visit.

>>51501655
I think it depends more on the birth rate of the society in question. Ageless creatures who can have a kid in a few months and raise them in a few years like humans would probably be a little more open to the idea than ageless creatures who only reproduce once every few centuries or so.

>>51501655
Given that suicide has been perfectly acceptable in many cultures among regular humans, I would say that it depends.

>>51505052
On the other hand, that's a pretty strong impetus to force change.

An immortal society I think would change to being merit based, instead of seniority.

>>51501655
Depends. If they're also your typical "ancient, dying people" then suicide would be extremely taboo. Unless the cause is this acceptance of suicide going out of control, of course.

It also greatly depends on their cosmology and values. What awaits them in the afterlife? What are the duties of a person while he is still alive? It could very well be acceptable for high class citizens to commit suicide but not for low class ones (the opposite would be a bit weird).

>>51505101
Why? The seniors are stronger than ever. You should not look for what's the better change, but for which one is the easier.

Because for humans, seniority makes (made) sense as a concept. When you are only active for like 40-60 years, that guy who has 10 times as much experience as you is going to be someone you want to pay attention to and learn from.

An immortal however

1.) Is going to be closing the gap to the point where it doesn't matter (what will a hundred years head start mean a millennium down the line?)
2.) Doesn't need to optimize his learning time by listening to anyone since he's immortal and has time to waste.
3.) Is going to reach a plateau of skill, at which point seniority again makes no sense; the limits of their abilities do.

When your time/age is infinite, it's bound to devalue.

>>51505281
Oh, also, unless these immortals have some sort of physical feature that can be used to determine their relative age (i.e. how old they look) it's hard to tell and confirm at a glance who's whose senior.

>>51505281
Yet whole point of this thread that immortals still suffer from emotional and psychological damage. It's much like religion - you have to suffer finite time, yet reward is eternal, but how many can keep that up?
I remember something like that in old GURPS setting Mad Lands (from Fantasy II book), except those soulless had no escape clause due reincarnation. Whole society revolved around concept of politeness and boredom, as all became more or less equal after reaching top mental, magical and physical shape and there is no gain or point in conflicts.

>>51505566
>all became more or less equal after reaching top mental, magical and physical shape
>there is no gain or point in conflicts
Non sequitur. There's something else at play.

Totally not. Such creatures would probably be bound to eachother mych stronger than humans. And there won't be too much of them, so killing youself is a literal way to self-genocide.

>>51505656
>assassinate one immortal
>whole thing collapse into grieving mess
That seems sustainable.

>>51501697
Unless the ageless creatures are really bad at math they'd understand that ageless=/= immortal.

If humans stopped ageing, physically, at 25 they would last an average of 102 years, with humans older then 200 being exceptional, lottery winning outliers.

Suicide would not be encouraged, I don't imagine, but there would be a tact understanding that sooner or later the reaper catches up to everyone, even if we don't become immunocompromised old men.

>>51501655
Why do you need to commit suicide?

If you're immortal and getting bored of things, just start engaging in riskier hobbies. Underwater cave diving. Freefalling without a parachute. Backpacking across Mercury the hard way.

Who cares, right? You'll either do something extreme and cool and live a little again for the first time in a few decades, or you'll not have to worry about it ever again.

>>51506620
PTSD, depression, etc.

>>51501655
You would be surprised how few would actually consider suicide.
Boredom is a meme, created by men to explain why they shouldn't pursue immortality.

>>51501655
More compared to what?
Japanese culture? Inuit culture? Both are more than fine with suicide.