“They celebrate their youth in their mirrors and walk naked on their balconies.”

“At some time in the past, scientists discovered that time flows more slowly the farther from the center of the earth. The effect is miniscule, but it can be measured with extremely sensitive instruments. Once the phenomenon was  known, a few people, anxious to stay young, moved to the mountains. Now all houses are built on…high ground. It is impossible to sell living quarters elsewhere.”

“…To get the maximum effect, they have constructed their houses on stilts. The mountaintops all over the world are nested with such houses, which from a distance look like a flock of fat birds squatting on long skinny legs. People most eager to live the longest have built their houses on the highest stilts. Indeed some houses rise half a mile high on their spindly wooden legs. Height has become status. When a person from his kitchen window must look up to see a neighbor, he believes that neighbor will not become stiff in the joints as soon as he, will not lose his hair until later, will not wrinkle until later, will not lose the urge for romance as early. Likewise, a person looking down on another house tends to dismiss its occupants as spent, weak, and shortsighted. Some boast that they have lived their whole lives up high, that they were born in the highest house on the highest mountain peak and have never descended. They celebrate their youth in their mirrors and walk naked on their balconies.”

“… A small number of residents in each city have stopped caring whether they age a few seconds faster than their neighbors. These adventuresome souls come down to the lower world for days at a time, lounge under the trees that grow in the valleys, swim leisurely in the lakes that lie in the warmer altitudes, roll on the level ground. They hardly look at their watches and cannot tell you  if it is Monday or Thursday. When others rush by them and scoff, they just  smile…”

above passages from
Einstein’s Dreams
Alan Lightman 1993

New aging embodies the dichotomy in Lightman’s tale: taking every opportunity to extend youth versus taking every opportunity to savor the moments of life. Rather than wood stilts, these  towers are supported on their elevator and stair towers. The living spaces include private apartments and common areas, and recreational areas on the roof.