The people going after "eternal" life right now are people with access to practically unlimited funding.
They are immune to guillotines operated by peasants.
The only thing they don't have protection against is Government forces. With their armies of lobbyists, and other bought influence they have, they are also, largely, protected against those as well.
> The people going after "eternal" life right now are people with access to practically unlimited funding.
Yup, and they'll only know their methods are safe if they get the rest of us to try it out en mass.
> They are immune to guillotines operated by peasants.
> The only thing they don't have protection against is Government forces. With their armies of lobbyists, and other bought influence they have, they are also, largely, protected against those as well.
What makes them different from the French royal family, who basically were the government?
Similar, I recall hearing 2k years on some program. No source. The idea was that accidental deaths will happen. On mobile, but you could look up accidental death records to get the rate and then project out average lifespan.
Still, that is averages. A cruel despot may never leave their palace fearing death and will always have security. They will have less opportunities for accidents.
Interesting to see hard numbers for this, I always felt like those LOTR elves living for 10,000 years in a war torn world is laughably improbable from a statistical perspective.
Tolkien's elves were also (somewhat?) magic, and the designated firstborn of the creator god Ilúvatar with various gifts, seemingly including awareness and dexterity exceeding anything a human could ever do.
As for dictators: it's not like guillotines stop working.
What will keep dictators (if eternally young, or their offspring if not) in power forever is competent and obedient AI manning the police and army.