There is no shortage of conspiracy theories about a secret group ruling the world. I don't happen to subscribe to any of them because I've seen no evidence. But I do understand the appeal of the idea. So I thought I'd add fuel to the fire.
One problem with a secret group is that it is impossible to keep it secret for long. Every group eventually spawns a Paris Hilton type who simply can't avoid the spotlight. Succeeding generations become increasingly overconfident until they feel invincible.
Another problem with secret groups is maintaining focus and motivation across the generations. History is rife with examples of wildly divergent personalities among monarchs. Kings and queens seldom behave the same as their predecessors or successors even when they are direct genetic relations.
Given just these two problems (I'm sure there are plenty of others) I really have no confidence in the ability of any group to stay in control of the entire world across several generations.
But... what if there aren't generations? What if it is a group of unusually long-lived individuals? Such a group would avoid the problems noted above. In addition, such a group would have time to develop connections and amass wealth. They would be able to develop power beyond the reach of people with a more limited lifespan.
At first it sounds like complete fantasy. But is it? We still don't understand the aging process. There is still debate about whether aging is an unavoidable fact programmed into our DNA or whether it is some sort of environmental issue.
Obviously, if death is not a genetic trait then immortality is a simple matter of avoiding death. Eat right, exercise, avoid disease, don't take unnecessary risks and you should live forever. Whether or not that's feasible is an open question. Even without disease and accident there is the possibility that the environment is still killing you. I've always thought the aging process looks remarkably similar to radiation poisoning. So it wouldn't surprise me to find out the natural background radiation of the Earth was the root cause of old age and "natural" death. I also suspect our own mind becomes our enemy at some point. It's worth noting how many people die of "natural" causes just after retiring or after seeing their grandchildren graduate or some similar milestone. It's as if they simply give up and decide they are no longer needed (the "it's my time" mentality). But maybe a well-motivated person could avoid such pitfalls. So without a genetic doomsday clock it may be possible for humans to survive centuries instead of decades.
And a genetic doomsday clock does not entirely negate the possibility of near-immortality. There's already a wide diversity of "natural" lifespans. Some people die "naturally" in their sixties. Others live beyond a century before succumbing to death. So we don't know where the doomsday clock is set or even if there is a default setting. It is almost certain that there would be a range of lifespan settings just like there is a range of height or a range of hair colors that varies between individuals. More importantly, for this theory, if there is a genetic doomsday clock then it is susceptible to mutation like any other gene. We know about the rare genetic disorder, progeria, which causes children to age rapidly and die ridiculously young. Is it not probable there is an equally rare, or even more rare, disorder that slows or eliminates the aging process? Such a thing may never be documented for the simple reason that no sane person is likely to go to the doctor to find out why they haven't died yet.
So either with or without a genetic limit on human lifespan it may be possible for some humans to live for generations. And it's hard to imagine what an individual could accomplish with that ability. I know that I am suffering into my forties for mistakes I made in my late teens. I may not recover from those mistakes before my fifties. If I only live to my seventies then I would have lived most of my life trying to correct stupid mistakes. But if I live well into the hundreds... well then I could recover from those mistakes, learn from them, and enjoy life without regretting how much of it I wasted trying to fix what I broke.
If it were possible to live for centuries, how would that affect a person? It seems likely that even the most noble individual would at some point develop a god complex. How could you not? How could you maintain any connection with the rest of humanity when you keep watching them die off around you? It seems inevitable that you would at some point look at short-lived humans the same way most of us look at pets; people would be an amusing, but easily replaced, diversion.
Once you reach that point, the world becomes a huge game of Sims. You could use the connections and influence you spent decades building to manipulate the world for your own amusement. You might even compete against other immortals to see who held most sway with the masses. Which would explain much of why the world is as fucked up as it is today.
Just to be clear, I am not saying this is the way the world is. Like all good tinfoil hat theories this is just plausible enough to not be totally ludicrous. We don't need a race of immortal puppeteers pulling strings behind the scenes to explain the rampant discord of human civilization. All it takes is a handful of completely mortal zealots to ruin everything. And we have more than a handful.
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