“What if you knew you would live for another 100 or 200 years?”

So asks Ann Althouse, after quoting somebody named Maurice Sendak. She goes on:

What if you knew you would live for another 100 or 200 years? How would you prepare? Would you work on your survivalist skills? Would you acquire real estate in the far north?

Survivalist skills? No, living another 200 years means you’ll have survived the zombie apocalypse long enough to get the nanobots that automatically eliminate disease and various other forms of dilapidation.

On the other hand, several economic crises – even whole new economic systems – could come and go in 200 years, so saving and investing might not be worthwhile. Maybe hunting, trapping, and gardening skills are in order.

But here’s another problem: the question doesn’t give us enough information. I need to know, for example:

• Will other people also have that lifespan, or just me?

If only me, I’ll have to take steps to deal with loved ones passing. And I’d have to learn my wife’s chocolate cake recipe, because no way I’m living that long without my wife’s chocolate cake.

Also:

• Will my aging process also slow, or will I keep aging (and deteriorating) normally, Tithonus-like, even after going by the usual upper age limits?

If the latter, then forget it. You’ll find my body in the garage, with a hose pumping exhaust fumes into the front seat where I’m surrounded by empty brandy bottles and chocolate cake crumbs.

Unless the nanobots convert the carbon monoxide into oxygen in my lungs, that is.