Path: ...!3.eu.feeder.erje.net!feeder.erje.net!news.szaf.org!fu-berlin.de!uni-berlin.de!individual.net!not-for-mail From: ted@loft.tnolan.com (Ted Nolan ) Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written Subject: Re: Could there be a Gnarly Man in current times? Date: 10 May 2024 00:33:45 GMT Organization: loft Lines: 59 Message-ID: References: X-Trace: individual.net jor1LPhEwVzhxwVNPfcL/gRXHqiaLuJQzBslI5Q8EIDdpQ+2OT X-Orig-Path: not-for-mail Cancel-Lock: sha1:+p15bQZELjsefYUpDScLnatNqL0= sha256:T/aaZuRE8lLpfYyqIak+IHjHlRp1S4qQyY0QWEzznUw= X-Newsreader: trn 4.0-test76 (Apr 2, 2001) Bytes: 3539 In article , Tony Nance wrote: >On 5/8/24 10:21 AM, Cryptoengineer wrote: >> 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. >> > >Agreed - both parts. As it turns out, de Camp did not mention banking or >compound interest in this story, so we don't know what he would have >thought about it. > Neither did Reiner & Brooks that I can recall :-) -- columbiaclosings.com What's not in Columbia anymore..