61
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Term for immortality that only prevents death from old age
Negligible senescence largely fits the bill.
Negligible senescence is a term coined by biogerontologist Caleb Finch to denote organisms that do not exhibit evidence of senescence (biological aging),...
- 188k
36
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Term for immortality that only prevents death from old age
"ageless" would work as it means: something (or someone) that does not look or appear to grow older
Elrond's face is described as ageless (lotr, many meetings)
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35
votes
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Film about someone trying to convince others that he is immortal
This could be the 2007 movie The Man from Earth:
The plot focuses on John Oldman, a departing university professor who claims to be a Cro-Magnon (or Magdalenian caveman) who has somehow survived ...
- 7,201
35
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What is the origin of the "being immortal sucks" trope?
(OK, let's not work ourselves into a place where everything is like everything else.)
Although TVTropes provides some examples of sucky immortality from ancient mythology, these are really just ...
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29
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Identify a science-fiction novel… key points: space travel, immortality drug, main characters stranded on distant planet, they eventually escape
I'm pretty sure this is World Without Stars (1966) by Poul Anderson.
It's set in a future where an "antithanatic" drug has made people effectively immortal, though people can still be killed ...
- 84.1k
27
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What is the origin of the "being immortal sucks" trope?
Hercules, a.k.a. Heracles, hit his master Chiron the centaur with a poisoned arrow as friendly fire during a battle. Chiron was immortal in the sense that he would never age and would live forever, ...
- 5,967
24
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Novel about a parasite/symbiote that causes immortality
This could be the book Crossing The Line.
The main character in the series is Shan Frankland. She is infected with an alien parasite/symbiote called the C'naatat that confers immortality. In chapter ...
- 76.1k
24
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Term for immortality that only prevents death from old age
Undying is a term that refers specifically to a state of never being in a process of dying (such as Tolkien's Undying Lands), and applies mainly to life, rather than ideas, art, or appearance. It does ...
- 12.8k
22
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SciFi short story about eating only one special food to be immortal
Sounds like The Taste of the Dish and the Savor of the Day by John Brunner.
"I found that something brown and nondescript had been dumped on my plate..."
"I had only taken a small ...
- 43.8k
21
votes
Accepted
Science Fiction short story I read… need to find. Current-day guy is in the future (cryogenics??)
A while back I read a science-fiction short story that I very much want to re-find.
"Backfire" by Ross Rocklynne.
I probably read the story in a "Best of the Year" anthology or a "Best of 'If'" type ...
- 144k
21
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YA novel involving immortality via drowning
The Live-Forever Machine
This is an early work by Kenneth Oppel, the author of such well-known works as Airborn. It’s got "machine" in the title, of course.
According to the Goodreads ...
- 112k
21
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Accepted
In which post apocalyptic SF novel is the South Pole (Antarctica) thawed? Humans live there
I believe this is "A World Out of Time" by Larry Niven.
From the Wikipedia description:
The Earth's climate has changed, despite its new location in orbit around Jupiter. Among the most ...
- 30.8k
21
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Story about a mother and her son on a generation ship becoming immortal
This is The Waves by Ken Liu, collected in The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories. The story was nominated for the Nebula Award for Best Novelette in 2013 but did not win.
It is told in a slightly ...
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17
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Story ID: Immortals Prone to Cancer
This is almost certainly Alfred Bester's The Computer Connection (aka Extro) which has many points of similarity with your list: group of immortals, Native American bride, power struggle, etc). ...
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17
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Term for immortality that only prevents death from old age
Turning to roleplaying games, GURPS uses "Unkillable" for "immune to death by violence" and "Unaging" for "never growing older once mature".
- 3,459
16
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Looking for a novel about an immortal man probably written in the 1960s; follows his life through being an Inca king and a viking
I believe this is Ben Bova's series, Orion, about an immortal cave man, following his defense of Humanity through the ages. There are six books in the series.
John O'Ryan is not a god...not ...
- 20.8k
15
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Term for immortality that only prevents death from old age
Eternal youth. From Wikipedia:
Eternal youth is the concept of human physical immortality free of ageing. The youth referred to is usually meant to be in contrast to the depredations of aging, ...
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15
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What is the origin of the "being immortal sucks" trope?
@duskwuff gives one small example of the ancient Greeks discovering problems with immortality. However this is a relatively minor point in one fable.
More significantly, the ancient Greeks invented ...
- 4,346
14
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What is the origin of the "being immortal sucks" trope?
It seems to me that other answers describe intentional eternal suffering inflicted by gods instead of the immortality being itself the cause of boredom or unhappiness as asked in the original question....
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Looking for a novel or short story about an immortal shapeshifter cop/detective
The story is Hardshell by Dean R. Koontz, previously identified as the answer to Short story: Cop chasing serial killer, both are shape shifting aliens. I read it in Koontz's anthology Strange ...
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12
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Short Story About an Immortal Looking for a Wife
"To Be Continued", a short story by Robert Silverberg, first published in Astounding Science Fiction, May 1956, available at the Internet Archive. Maybe one of these covers will ring a bell.
Plot ...
- 144k
12
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Short (?) story about immortality and end of mankind
Stars, Won't You Hide Me? by Ben Bova
Mankind invents immortality but the raw ingredients come from the Flower People. For each human made immortal a flower person must die,
The Others decreed ...
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11
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Short story I read - Outsiders enter hedonistic utopian society where citizens live forever by transferring bodies, havoc ensues
Though you have indicated this is a short story I believe this may be the Robin Cook 2000 novel Abduction.
Points that match:
I read this short story probably 5 to 10 years ago.
Partial check....
- 24k
11
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Trying to find an old old short story about an immortal woman
I am 56 and read (as a teen in the 70's) a short story
"Perchance to Dream", a short story by Sally A. Sellers, previously identified as the answer to the question Identify this story about a quickly ...
- 144k
11
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Short Story about living until the end of time
I believe that's "The Days of Solomon Gursky" by Ian McDonald (the two anthologies it's been in that are over a decade old are The Year's Best Science Fiction: Sixteenth Annual Collection and The ...
- 50.7k
10
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Looking for a novel about an immortal man probably written in the 1960s; follows his life through being an Inca king and a viking
It is possible that you are looking for In the Face of My Enemy by Joseph Delaney, published in 1985.
Eighteen thousand years ago a priest ascended a high place, there to hold converse with his gods. ...
- 188k
10
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Anime like "The Old Guard" involving a small number of immortals being hunted for the secret of their immortality
Pretty sure this is Ajin: Demi-Human, which originally aired in 2016.
The synopsis roughly corresponds to the general premise you described:
Mysterious immortal humans known as "Ajin" first ...
- 72.8k
9
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Term for immortality that only prevents death from old age
The term “immorbidity” is used in some SF, for example Wil McCarthy’s Queendom of Sol series.
- 60.2k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible