Why do we die?

[Mindful]

I'd not thought of it this way: from the article: death before middle age.

The fourth chapter, Adverse Environments, addresses the multitudinous ways in which we meet our end. As earlier noted, until recently, old age was a relative rarity -- most people met death before middle age by way of accident, illness or violence. While nowadays we're more alarmed at the prospect of death as sheer non-existence, in those earlier times "whatever level of fear was involved had more to do with the process of dying as opposed to the state of being dead" (p. 132). In the earliest human environment, contagious viruses were probably not so much a worry but after settling in cities, plagues and virulent scourges became common and devastating to the cultures involved. In addition, in earlier days the risks of childbirth and infant death were much greater than in our time. Because life depended to a much greater extent on the beneficence of nature, death by malnutrition and starvation were not uncommon. And of course warfare, in part driven by the need to control resources, was more or less constant.

 

[Mindful]

This seems apt. They're all old now.

 

[Vikrant]

This is a very good thread actually. It actually aims to discuss something which involves science. So I am going to expand further on my previous post. Our DNA exists in what is called double helical structure. This essentially means that a pair of chromosomes are intertwined. See the image below:

During cell division cycle, chromosomes get unpaired. These individual chromosomes then get divided to form a new double helical DNA. Telomeres as you can see in the above image act as a buffer between two genes and thus protect our genes from getting damaged during cell division cycle. But as we age, the telomeres get shorter and shorter till they are gone and are no longer there to protect our genes during cell division cycle. This results in our genes getting damaged as we grow older and leads to diseases. But multicellular organisms have somewhat protective mechanism against it. For example in humans the cell division halts after 52 divisions. This defends us against our DNA going haywire. However, there is presence of an enzyme called telomerase among cancerous cells. This enzyme repairs the telomere and cell divison never halts which causes cancerous growth. This is a major focus among those who are researching treatment for cancer.

I was interested in the scientific approach. That's why I posted it in this section.

With an ever increasing ageing population, and the economic need to work into old age, scientists will have to come up with something to offset the ravages of age.

There is no other approach but a scientific one. BTW, I am not sure about the Europe but here in the U.S., at least in California, I have heard government advisory on radio that advises cancer patients of new genetics based treatment option.

 

[Vikrant]

Can genetics find a 'cure' for ageing and, therefore, dying, or will humans, like other organisms, always be at the mercy of nature?

Organisms grow old because nature doesn't need them any more. If the purpose of life is to procreate and replicate successfully - this is the logic of the so-called selfish gene theory - then it helps to stay healthy long enough to generate children and provide them with food. Immortality arrives with your offspring, and is only guaranteed when all your children also have children.

Why do we die Science The Guardian

"Everything that is, eventually isn't." Me.

Nothing in the universe lasts forever. Everything dies or ends at some point. I find this comforting in accepting my own eventual death - it's normal and by design. We're not supposed to last forever. We fight one another enough as it is living about 75 years. If we lasted twice as long, we'd likely fight each other over finite resources even more.

Can genetics help us live longer? No. Can help our offspring though. Can't probably do much for someone already born with their genes set and doing what they're supposed to be doing. Should we be looking into it? Maybe. Eventually we have to get out into space. And getting to another star system within our existing lifetimes isn't possible right now. If we lived a lot longer, that would help but only with lots of other things helping. Geneticly engineered human beings designed to do well in microgravity enviroments and endure more radiation would be something to look into.

Your post is fairly good. However, you have slight misunderstanding about genetics. Yes, it is true that we are born with certain genes. However, as I have stated earlier, our cells undergo cell division everyday in order to maintain our body. During one of the phases of cell division cycle called S-Phase, your DNA is replicated which in turn forms the new cells. This phase provides us with an opportunity to alter your genes. Scientists have been working on tapping this potential for years and now we are beginning to see the fruits.

 

[Vikrant]

Can genetics find a 'cure' for ageing and, therefore, dying, or will humans, like other organisms, always be at the mercy of nature?

Organisms grow old because nature doesn't need them any more. If the purpose of life is to procreate and replicate successfully - this is the logic of the so-called selfish gene theory - then it helps to stay healthy long enough to generate children and provide them with food. Immortality arrives with your offspring, and is only guaranteed when all your children also have children.

Why do we die Science The Guardian

If we didn't die, you would soon go insane with the monotony of life as time speeds up. By 2 or 300 years old, all you would be doing is clipping your nails and cutting your hair constantly.

Life is too short but I have feeling even if our lifespan were a billion-year, we would still say that it was too short when the time came to say good bye.

 

[American Horse]

Can genetics find a 'cure' for ageing and, therefore, dying, or will humans, like other organisms, always be at the mercy of nature?

Organisms grow old because nature doesn't need them any more. If the purpose of life is to procreate and replicate successfully - this is the logic of the so-called selfish gene theory - then it helps to stay healthy long enough to generate children and provide them with food. Immortality arrives with your offspring, and is only guaranteed when all your children also have children.

Why do we die Science The Guardian

Dying allows for evolution of our species to adjust to changing existential conditions without which operating system death by those conditions would result in the extinction of the species as a survivable entity?

 

[Mindlight]

We die so we could either go to heaven or hell depending on how well you are connected

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We die because our cells die. During the span of our life, billions of cells die everyday and billions of cell are created everyday. The old cell undergoes division and yields new cells. There is a thing called telomere which acts as a buffer between genes. As the cells divide over the period of our lifetime, telomeres get shorter and shorter till they no longer can protect our genes. That is when we start to get hit by things like cancer, alzheimer's disease, bone decay and you get the picture.

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I have to hit the bed now but I will post in more detail tomorrow if I have time.

I wonder if the reasons are purely genetic. Personally I believe that the inability of our genetics to regenerate without calling on finite and exhaustible resources are to do with a loss of something external. There was something about Eden and the tree of life that tasted of eternity

 

[Vikrant]

We die so we could either go to heaven or hell depending on how well you are connected

---

We die because our cells die. During the span of our life, billions of cells die everyday and billions of cell are created everyday. The old cell undergoes division and yields new cells. There is a thing called telomere which acts as a buffer between genes. As the cells divide over the period of our lifetime, telomeres get shorter and shorter till they no longer can protect our genes. That is when we start to get hit by things like cancer, alzheimer's disease, bone decay and you get the picture.

---

I have to hit the bed now but I will post in more detail tomorrow if I have time.

I wonder if the reasons are purely genetic. Personally I believe that the inability of our genetics to regenerate without calling on finite and exhaustible resources are to do with a loss of something external. There was something about Eden and the tree of life that tasted of eternity

There is a cricket stadium in India. It seats about 100K people. It perhaps is the largest cricket stadium in the world. It is called Eden Garden.

 

[TyroneSlothrop]

One phrase "planned obsolescence "

 

[Lilah]

How do you explain the Roseto mystery?

 

[orogenicman]

Can genetics find a 'cure' for ageing and, therefore, dying, or will humans, like other organisms, always be at the mercy of nature?

Organisms grow old because nature doesn't need them any more. If the purpose of life is to procreate and replicate successfully - this is the logic of the so-called selfish gene theory - then it helps to stay healthy long enough to generate children and provide them with food. Immortality arrives with your offspring, and is only guaranteed when all your children also have children.

Why do we die Science The Guardian

Why do we die? Entropy.