Seven more years until I retire.

do people actually look forward to getting old to retire?

Imagine there is a pill that makes you perpetually 25. Your body, your energy, even your hormones. A good age. Lots of scholars did great things at that age. But also great for partying.

You can take the pill and be 25.

Let's assume the pill would not stop you from dying of old age. You just keel over at some point between 70 and 95.

And now imagine your government is offering this pill to you, at the low, low cost of not being allowed to go into retirement when you take it. You have to keep working.

Would you take it? Spend the rest of your life as someone who is 25, even though you have to work or would you spent your life in an aged body, free of work?

I'd take the pill.

@TrayKnots Did you ever hear the tragedy of Darth Plagueis the wise?
It’s the Sith myth.
…
Dark side of the force is the path to many abilities some consider to be unnatural.

@TrayKnots if the work conditions are good, I can actually live, and I have full freedom over my career, sure.

@feuerherz Yup. After 28 years, making websites and helping dozens of people run their businesses is exhausting.

@feuerherz if I am told I am on perpetual holidays tomorrow I won’t say no. I have other things to do than working for someone else.

@TrayKnots first, there is no way I'm gonna be the only person they offered the pill to. If a lot of people take the pill, it will reshape the norm, as in the government will demand extraordinary performance from everyone. In that society, your performance will be the same as everyone else's, e.g. nothing would change, but you won't retire ever. This is the definition of hell.

Also, am I allowed to start a business? Both answers suck. If I'm not, it's some kind of authoritarian dystopia I won't touch with a ten-foot pole. If I am, then it's even worse: billionaire psychopaths are more dangerous when they're full of energy all day every day for decades. They will eventually overthrow the government, and, as you know, ancap is fun until Amazon death squad knocks at your door.

@TrayKnots If somehow I'm the only one who took the pill… well, I won't work, as I would be THE center of attention forever. I won't have friends. No one will treat me like a normal person. Chances are the pill tech is proprietary, so a foreign government will kidnap me to experiment on me in no time. Think China, Russia, North Korea, etc. Imagine living in MKULTRA or Unit 731 (don't research) your whole life.

Nah, I'll pass.

@stackodev then don't do that for 28 years

The real joke of retirement is how it's sold to you

When you're a child: No, you can't do what you want, you need to do school first

When you're an adult. No, you can't do what you want, you need to work first

when you're old and not able to work anymore: Ah, you made it, now you can fully enjoy life, even though everything hurts, you take 20 pills a day and half the people you liked in life are dead, not to mention the one or two things you trained your whole life how to do you are not forbidden from doing, go find something new to do with your stupid tired body. Oh, and we're not actually gonna pay you much, thank you for your time

yes... what a fucking reward that is, might as well work me to death because at that point there's little sense to that decision

@Hazarth This. It’s a devil’s bargain. If I’d have known how this would go, I’d have found a way to be independently wealthy by 30.

@Hazarth first, it depends on the country you’re a citizen of. Second, it depends on life choices, and I’m not talking about choosing the right job. After 30, there is definite visual difference between those who cared about their bodies and those who didn’t.

Related…

@kiki "Amazon death squad knocks at your door."

I changed my mind. You're alright.

Only a true mensch could come up with such a dystopian and absurdist vision.

@Wisecrack that's not mine, I stole it from adam something