The fable is notable for being one of the only examples of positive, independent pro-immortality literature in history from someone at least moderately renowned. While works with immortal heroes, whiteorgray, who never address the ethics of the situation are relatively common, you'd be hard-pressed to find a story with some form of an Ideal Hero actively confront the topic and uphold Living Forever Is Awesome through the entire plot, rather than having them learn a classic lesson about Who Wants to Live Forever?
Trivia Tropes:
Adaptation First: CGP Grey's version is this trope to the entire world, given his relative prominence as an educational content creator compared to Bostrom's publication between the lines in a scientific journal, among many other research papers.
Adaptation Overdosed: Although CGP Grey has the only semi-well-known adaptation, there are several animations with few views right beside his when you search it up.
Anonymous Author: Enforced, and in this case, anonymous adaptor; CGP Grey prides himself on privacy towards his face and name. Not even The Other Wiki has his full name(he's requested them not to show it), but we do.
Approval of God: This blog post from CGP Grey states that he had Bostrom's "gracious" permission with the adaptation.
Author Phobia: Softly implied with Bostrom and CGP Grey regarding aging and death.
Creator's Oddball: Bostrom, being an Oxford professor that specializes in existentialism and superintelligence threats, not aging, has the fable stand out from his other academic papers. CGP Grey averts it, noting in an anniversary Q&A that his video topics are substantially inconsistent.
Deleted Scene: CGP Grey released one of these to his "Bonnie Bee Brigade" of members and above in 2021 that includes the scene about the lead researcher discussing the missile with the king that he ultimately cut.
Denial of Digital Distribution: Averted: Bostrom displays the fable on the front page of his website. If anything, it's inverted: though the first publication was in a paper journal, you can pretty much only find the work online nowadays.
Fandom Life Cycle: The fable was Stage 0 for 12 years from 2005 to 2017, then Stage 2 from then to now.
Newbie Boom: Outside of a few editors and translators that co-wrote the fable with Bostrom, the fandom for it was nonexistent for 12 years. When CGP Grey adapted it and exposed it to his millions of subscribers, it became one of his fandom's central tenets regarding aging and death.
Promoted Fanboy: CGP Grey has been a fan of Bostrom's work since at least 2016, as he mentions in a Q&A from that year, and it was he who later obtained Bostrom's permission to make the fable's official animated adaptation.
Rereleased for Free: Bostrom originally released the fable in the Journal of Medical Ethics, 2005, Vol. 31, No. 5, pp 273-277, which costs money as a book. He now hosts a free article on his website that contains the text and an appendix. Of course, CGP Grey's video is also free.
from CGP Grey states that he had Bostrom's "gracious" permission with the adaptation.