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

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Sujet : Re: Could there be a Gnarly Man in current times?
De : petertrei (at) *nospam* gmail.com (Cryptoengineer)
Groupes : rec.arts.sf.written
Date : 08. May 2024, 15:21:34
Autres entêtes
Organisation : A noiseless patient Spider
Message-ID : <v1g1pe$hbl$1@dont-email.me>
References : 1
User-Agent : Mozilla Thunderbird
On 5/7/2024 3:39 PM, Tony Nance wrote:
So I’m making my way through The Best of L Sprague de Camp, and I just (re)read “The Gnarly Man”. It made me wonder ... well, first a quick summary for context:
 This story was written in 1939 and is set in 1956. It’s about an immortal Neanderthal - basically he stopped aging around the age of 33. He most definitely looks the part, and he’s intelligent, articulate, knowledgable, knows dozens of languages, etc etc etc, A fundamental part of his long-term survival has been to avoid attention - nothing high profile or noteworthy, move on to a new place every 10-15 years (sooner if necessary), etc.[1]
 That said, throughout his 52,000 years, he has pretty consistently been part of society, not some sort of loner hiding out in the wilds. Here, we initially find him performing as an ape-man in a carnival show. During the story he mentions he has also been a blacksmith, a maker of false teeth (he says he invented them [2]), a wagon driver (transporting goods), a professional wrestler, an archer in a Briton army (vs the Romans), a cabbie, and he ran a sawmill. (I may have missed some.)
 And this made me wonder:
Given his obvious physical differences, 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?
 Tony, having some initial thoughts, but curious about yours
 [1] Poul Anderson revisits this mode of survival for immortals in The Boat of A Million Years. Of course, in Poul’s book, the immortals are modern-type humans who don’t look any different.
 [2] He also invented soup, by necessity, since his teeth wore out and he hadn’t invented false teeth yet.
PJ Plauger also explored this in 'Child of all Ages'.
There, the protagonist also has the problem of appearing to be an 10
year old girl. Thus she both lacked much agency, and couldn't go too
long before her lack of aging was noticed.
An adult immortal could become quite rich through the effects of
compound interest. However, staying under the government's radar
becomes increasingly difficult.
pt

Date Sujet#  Auteur
7 May 24 * Could there be a Gnarly Man in current times?52Tony Nance
7 May 24 +* Re: Could there be a Gnarly Man in current times?20Christian Weisgerber
8 May 24 i+* Re: Could there be a Gnarly Man in current times?4Titus G
8 May 24 ii+- Re: Could there be a Gnarly Man in current times?1Michael F. Stemper
8 May 24 ii`* Re: Could there be a Gnarly Man in current times?2Christian Weisgerber
8 May 24 ii `- Re: Could there be a Gnarly Man in current times?1Cryptoengineer
8 May 24 i+* Re: Could there be a Gnarly Man in current times?3ted@loft.tnolan.com (Ted Nolan
9 May 24 ii`* Re: Could there be a Gnarly Man in current times?2Michael F. Stemper
10 May 24 ii `- Re: Could there be a Gnarly Man in current times?1Tony Nance
8 May 24 i+* Re: Could there be a Gnarly Man in current times?10D
8 May 24 ii+* Re: Could there be a Gnarly Man in current times?2Chris Buckley
8 May 24 iii`- Re: Could there be a Gnarly Man in current times?1D
8 May 24 ii+* Re: Could there be a Gnarly Man in current times?2Lynn McGuire
9 May 24 iii`- Re: Could there be a Gnarly Man in current times?1D
10 May 24 ii`* Re: Could there be a Gnarly Man in current times?5Tony Nance
10 May 24 ii +* Re: Could there be a Gnarly Man in current times?2D
10 May 24 ii i`- Re: Could there be a Gnarly Man in current times?1Michael F. Stemper
27 May 24 ii `* Re: Could there be a Gnarly Man in current times?2Robert Carnegie
27 May 24 ii  `- Re: Could there be a Gnarly Man in current times?1ted@loft.tnolan.com (Ted Nolan
9 May 24 i+- Re: Could there be a Gnarly Man in current times?1Paul S Person
10 May 24 i`- Re: Could there be a Gnarly Man in current times?1Tony Nance
8 May 24 +* Re: Could there be a Gnarly Man in current times?2Charles Packer
10 May 24 i`- Re: Could there be a Gnarly Man in current times?1Tony Nance
8 May 24 +* Re: Could there be a Gnarly Man in current times?17Mickmane
8 May 24 i`* Re: Could there be a Gnarly Man in current times?16Michael F. Stemper
8 May 24 i +* Re: Could there be a Gnarly Man in current times?5Lynn McGuire
9 May 24 i i`* Re: Could there be a Gnarly Man in current times?4Michael F. Stemper
10 May 24 i i +- Re: Could there be a Gnarly Man in current times?1Tony Nance
10 May 24 i i `* Re: Could there be a Gnarly Man in current times?2Scott Dorsey
10 May 24 i i  `- Re: Could there be a Gnarly Man in current times?1BCFD 36
9 May 24 i `* Re: Could there be a Gnarly Man in current times?10Mickmane
9 May 24 i  `* Re: Could there be a Gnarly Man in current times?9Cryptoengineer
10 May 24 i   +* Re: Could there be a Gnarly Man in current times?3Mike Spencer
10 May 24 i   i+- Re: Could there be a Gnarly Man in current times?1Robert Woodward
27 May 24 i   i`- Re: Could there be a Gnarly Man in current times?1Robert Carnegie
10 May 24 i   +- Re: Could there be a Gnarly Man in current times?1Robert Woodward
10 May 24 i   +- Re: Could there be a Gnarly Man in current times?1Mickmane
10 May 24 i   `* Re: Could there be a Gnarly Man in current times?3Paul S Person
10 May 24 i    `* Re: Could there be a Gnarly Man in current times?2Christian Weisgerber
11 May 24 i     `- Re: Could there be a Gnarly Man in current times?1Paul S Person
8 May 24 +* Re: Could there be a Gnarly Man in current times?3James Nicoll
8 May 24 i+- Re: Could there be a Gnarly Man in current times?1James Nicoll
8 May 24 i`- Re: Could there be a Gnarly Man in current times?1Robert Woodward
8 May 24 +* Re: Could there be a Gnarly Man in current times?5Cryptoengineer
9 May 24 i+- Re: Could there be a Gnarly Man in current times?1Michael F. Stemper
10 May 24 i`* Re: Could there be a Gnarly Man in current times?3Tony Nance
10 May 24 i `* Re: Could there be a Gnarly Man in current times?2ted@loft.tnolan.com (Ted Nolan
10 May 24 i  `- Re: Could there be a Gnarly Man in current times?1Tony Nance
9 May 24 `* Re: Could there be a Gnarly Man in current times?4BCFD 36
9 May 24  +- Re: Could there be a Gnarly Man in current times?1Dimensional Traveler
9 May 24  +- Re: Could there be a Gnarly Man in current times?1Titus G
9 May 24  `- Re: Could there be a Gnarly Man in current times?1James Nicoll

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