I wonder what immortality would do to the suicide rate? I have to imagine that eventually, no matter how stable of a person you are you'll want off of this ride.
There's a great Vonnegut short short story about this. I'll try to find a link. Edit: I guess my brain mixed two of his short stories. One is 2BR02B and the other is The Big Trip Up Yonder. Both of which were free downloads from iBooks on my phone. They're likely free from amazon, etc. They're super short, and great reads.
Again, In Time can shed some insight. There's a man in the movie who is over 100 years old, and he feels as if prolonging his life has no meaning because while the physical body doesn't age, the brain does grow old and weary. I think a lot of people would get this mentality and commit suicide. Come to think of it, the only way for the population to decrease would be suicide, murder, and accidental death.
Again, In Time can shed some insight. There's a man in the movie who is over 100 years old, and he feels as if prolonging his life has no meaning because while the physical body doesn't age, the brain does grow old and weary. I think a lot of people would get this mentality and commit suicide. Come to think of it, the only way for the population to decrease would be suicide, murder, and accidental death.
If you get the chance to live a healthy life indefinitely, though, I'd imagine that contemplating suicide might take a while. Just consider the possibilities of unlimited time: you could read everything. Listen to all the music. Watch every film ever made. Then create your own art, continue developing new science and technology. You could travel everywhere, and not just on earth. I just can't fathom someone not wanting another, say, thousand years of healthy living.
So much of what makes people unhappy or sad has nothing to do with physical health. It has to do with a broken heart. This can occur for any number of reasons that don't involve mortality. I can just envision people being curious too. You have been alive for 500 years, you've done it all, read all the books made all the art you desire to make, satisfied all of your curiosities.... save one.