Re: Could there be a Gnarly Man in current times?

On Thu, 9 May 2024, Tony Nance wrote:

On 5/8/24 5:33 AM, D wrote:

  On Tue, 7 May 2024, Christian Weisgerber wrote:
 

and with modern technology and
communication being what it is, are there ways he could he stay a member
of modern society and also avoid attention?

 Maintaining fake identities is becoming ever more difficult, I
think.

 This to me is the most interesting part of the puzzle. Would an immortal be able to hide his secret with modern technology, ID:s and all?
 If the person stuck to remote, rural villages, I see no problem. But living in a city being a part of society?
 I guess, if you are immortal and you don't have to eat, it would be a lot easier perhaps.

>
It's not explicit in de Camp's story, but from other parts of the story, one could reasonably infer that he needs to eat, could die in a car wreck, etc. That is, he's immortal in the sense that he's not aging, but he's susceptible to the other stuff we die from. Nothing was said about diseases at all, so that's undetermined.

If that is the case... then I would be curious about probability of accident if you live for 1000s of years. It seems to me, that if you looked at some actuarial tables, there would be plenty of chances that something completely unlikely would take you out eventually.
But, for the sake of this thought experiment, I think it is more fun to assume, that he's just a lucky guy from that point of view. ;)

>

Then you could just live as a crazy guy on the street in a warm location.
 Another road to victory might be the extreme opposite in case the person manages to become a billionaire. That might make hiding and changing identities a lot easier.

>
de Camp also never brought up compound interest or banking in general. Then again, it is a short story - 25 pages in my MMPB.
- Tony

I think in the epic modern classic Highlander, Mccloud deals in antiques. I think that's another possibility if you are immortal.