If I had to point out exactly where I disagree with this, I'd say I don't view "doing a meaningful thing" as a thing you do once and then you're done with life. If I can do meaningful things for a few extra decades, that's a good thing.
When I’ve talked to longevity enthusiasts in the past I’ve never really gotten a good answer to “Why?” in a philosophical or even practical sense. It’s never “Outlive my enemies” or “Finish reading Gravity’s Rainbow”, it’s generally been “To avoid dying,” which to me is a pretty depressing proposition. It’s not for something, it’s running away from something, which is kind of the opposite of a search for a meaningful life.
I would still love to hear from somebody that is an actual longevity enthusiast rather than speculate as to their motives. As I’ve said, my previous actual conversations with longevity enthusiasts have been quite unsatisfying because I don’t buy “better telomeres for a higher number of years” as an actual pure human motivation. I would buy “a crippling fear of death” or “I want to spend every single dime I’ve ever accumulated” or “Finishing Dwarf Fortress” but the diehards always handwave and say they want to live forever… just ‘cuz.
edit: I’ll rephrase the crux of my original question.
Assuming you are able to find the magic potion that makes you live until 130 today, that means that you will outlive a whole lot of the planet. You’ll see people you care about die if they’re unable or unwilling to get said potion. If you reframe the question of “Who do you want to outlive and why?” then “idk lol” becomes a less understandable response.
Recently, I've been experiencing burnout that interferes with my ability to do this. It will pass, with time. But it's easier to think about that the longer my life will be, because I would have lost a smaller proportion of my limited time to it. Repeat for any other thing that one might view as wasted time, and it adds up.
The question you've turned this into in your last paragraph is a completely different one. I don't have any desire to outlive or not outlive any particular person. It's nice to have the company of people I like, but my sense of meaning, to the extent I have one, is unrelated to that. People move into and out of my life all the time for various reasons.
That sounded to me like you were speculating about a group rather than stating your personal stance.
Yes, my last paragraph is a distinct wording of the exact same question, though it is meant to cut more to the core of what I’m asking about.
Are you aware that during an average lifetime, you’ll see quite a few people around you die, and the longer you live the more that will happen?
I’ve done end-of-life care for quite a few cancer patients in their late eighties to around 100. Even the ones in relatively good shape often like to talk about the people they’ve lost, it’s a natural part of aging that can’t be abated by metformin or intermittent fasting. Ignoring it doesn’t abate it either. The older they are, the more people they’ve lost.
Living to 130 sounds honestly terrible to me unless you don’t have anybody you care about losing, or you’ve got people you look forward to losing. The point of living to 130 is not “living long”, it’s “living longer than [everybody/average people/some specific group].”
I am aware that people die, and that over a longer time span more people will die.
I think the real philosophical difference here might be that there are no completely irreplaceable people in my life. There are people I like very much and will be very sad when they die. But there is nobody in the "life is literally not worth living without them around" category for me, and I don't expect there ever will be. I'll grieve, and then I'll continue. It has happened before, and it will happen many more times even within a normal human lifespan.
I do not expect this applies to everyone. My sense of meaning, to the extent I have one, is probably somewhat less dependent on interpersonal relationships than most people's.