Ok, here is the scenario.
I was reading about some breakthroughs in medical tech, mainly around the treatment of heart disease. But a few others.
Lets say in 2030 following a bunch of significant break through discoveries, expectancy for those that can afford it goes from currently ~85 to ~150. Initially only the super rich can afford it, but it doesn’t take long for it to become an order of magnitude cheaper.
By 2050 the original tech (which is mostly out dated), is the same cost as a nice new car ~$50k in today’s money, the cutting edge stuff is still 1000x the cost but has a much more significant effect, think at least another 300 years.
The same pattern holds, by 2070 the the original tech is $500, the 300 year tech is $50k and effective immortality (medical) is now available in the market for $50M.
What would the ramifications be on society?
Money aside, the resulting population explosion would be a big issue. Would you need a one child policy to handle this?
Would euthanasia be considered acceptable for those not dying, in the case of effective immortality?
Now imagine Jeff Bezos or Elok Musk could live forever. Social inequality would grow and grow until there was a revolution.
I think it also depends how this life looks. Would immortality be in a body that feels like a 30 year old? 60 year old? Centuries as a 90 year old?
Productive years may be a greater proportion of lives. Instead of entering the workforce in your early 20s and leaving at 65 (assuming current life expectancy of about 80, you only work a bit over half your life), you’d have a higher proportion of productive time. Would it be acceptable to work less for a longer time (e.g. 20 hours a week your whole life)? Or would we more towards a system of supplying basic living needs to everyone (either a UBI, or state housing and food rations of some kind).
When I think about it, I can imagine a structure where this world could work. But when I think about it more, I think in reality we probably wouldn’t handle it well.