I don't think humans die of 'old age'

I disagree.
My mom (bless her soul) lived to 98 and died when her heart and kidneys slowly failed.
She was not ill from any external source, her organs just got too old to keep working.

 

I disagree.
My mom (bless her soul) lived to 98 and died when her heart and kidneys slowly failed.
She was not ill from any external source, her organs just got too old to keep working.

My Dad at 89 did just that, in 30 days of a diagnoses "Hardening of the lung" which is also the same result of other men in my fathers line. Each averaging 80+ before death.

Genetics is my only answer for that, they worked hard as dairy farmers for 3000 years. Possibly one of the first to begin or carry on the Agriculture and Animal Husbandry.

They found remnants of Sephardi Jew and ancient DNA found in Otzi the Iceman found in the Alps.

kv

 

Trees also die because they eventually lose osmotic pressure to bring water to the distal twigs/leaves.

Osmotic pressure is dependent on the concentration of the sugars in the sap and is dependent on the number of leaves, available sunlight density, self-shading of the tree’s own leaves, nutrients in the soil and shading by other trees and many more factors. In the end, a given tree species can only reach a certain height because they can only produce sugars of a certain concentration. They highly dependent on the osmotic pressure law (which is very similar to the ideal gas law).

How in the heck do you know this stuff?

I was having trouble with a crab apple tree. I called Davey Tree Service. I should just have called @GopherT .

 

How in the heck do you know this stuff?

I was having trouble with a crab apple tree. I called Davey Tree Service. I should just have called @GopherT .

Good thing you called Davy, I would have said, “cut it down and Plant a peach tree”.

 

Good thing you called Davy, I would have said, “cut it down and Plant a peach tree”.

Remind me not to ask you for marital advice.

 

This was kinda touched on above but I've wondered about this. Every year in our California hills, the winter/spring rains sprout last years seeds and the new grasses grow all summer. Then those individual plants make seeds, scatter them and then die. Next spring those seeds grow new individuals and the hills are again covered in grass. So if the community of grasses lives on, is that a form of living forever? or is each individual dead and gone and there is no memory of last year. I tend to think that life is more than just one individual, that if the grassy ecosystem keeps going that life is still, well, alive. Then how about we humans, I can well remember my long dead grandparents, doesn't that give them I kind of life in my memory? I think so.

 

It all started with snack food.

 

I just say, "injuries accumulate". Injuries include failure to replicate proper cells, as in the telomere theory. Every bit of scar tissue is not the tissue that used to be there. Every cell that can't duplicate any more meets its own end of time and becomes useless. I don't know whether it stays as a place holder or a bit of scar tissue, a fat cell, or the organ atrophies, but the original function is not there. Injuries accumulate.

 

This was kinda touched on above but I've wondered about this. Every year in our California hills, the winter/spring rains sprout last years seeds and the new grasses grow all summer. Then those individual plants make seeds, scatter them and then die. Next spring those seeds grow new individuals and the hills are again covered in grass. So if the community of grasses lives on, is that a form of living forever? or is each individual dead and gone and there is no memory of last year. I tend to think that life is more than just one individual, that if the grassy ecosystem keeps going that life is still, well, alive. Then how about we humans, I can well remember my long dead grandparents, doesn't that give them I kind of life in my memory? I think so.

Organisms that reproduce asexually can be considered immortal. Each offspring of a sexually reproducing pair is unique and mortal.

There are examples of immortal human cells. You don't want these inside of you.

 

A natural death occurs because of the inability to protect and repair your body. Your maintenance system is temporary.

 

It all started with snack food.

Well anyway, that's the kind of stupid stuff I think about while falling asleep.

You meant to say "It all started with the TS ate snack food before falling asleep"

Allen

 

Like any other power plant......It's hell when the control room is still alright........but the mechanics are getting old.

They're the first to go. Can't keep up with the repair work........and the processes that keep up the reserves....can't keep up. Without the reserves......the immune system can't keep up. Now it's a two front battle.....inside and out.

They got you surrounded.

 

Our bodies deteriorate over time until we are weak enough for something inconsequential to kill us off..

So there are cellular repair mechanisms.
It can repair the defects that have occurred, but with aging the repair mechanisms decrease in intensity. The body no longer wants to fix itself.Why? I'm going to talk below.

DNA replication (necessary for cell division) needs a sort of quiet zone or initialization zone.

Yes, the telomeres become shorter. Telomeres do not encode information, but the cell can go into crisis if it's too shorter. It's not a problem because they can re-activate DNA-telomerase that prolongs them.

 

We are being bombarded constantly by radiation from space that makes it through any protection afforded to us by the solar wind, which itself causes damage, and the earth's magnetic field.

That's the way there are defense mechanisms.
Each DNA strand keeps the information.
If one is destroyed it is rewritten after the other.
If both are destroyed in the same place, the cell checks for and goes in apoptosis. Click the self-destruct button.
If the mechanism of self-destruction (apoptosis) itself is broken by radiation, it's the immune system's job to eliminate it.

Do not let me talk to you about this...............I can talk to you until tomorrow.

Why nature has life? Because it generates negative entropy.
Entropy is the only physical variable I know what flows in one direction.
Nature said "What do I do with entropy?" always grows. The mess is always growing, I have to invent something.
.
And invented life.......................
The bacteria exchange genes.....................
But how do people exchange genes?Just when I do children.
That's why he has to get old and die. Because they need to exchange genes like bacteria.

You can make a cell live forever obvious.
If it reactivated ADN-telomerase. And if you suppressed the genes encoding the senescence. Eg. p45 and c-fos
It's easy to say, but experimetal is very hard.

One million $ one PCR machine is just a small part .........

 

It's just as well we have a finite life span. Without that there'd be standing room only on the planet .

 

immortal cell
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HeLa

According to the Animal Aging and Longevity Database, the list of organisms with negligible aging
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biological_immortality

http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20150622-can-anything-live-forever

we are programmed into our genes, to reduce repair mechanisms at a certain age
http://www.viewzone.com/aging.html

In 1786, average life expectancy was just 24 years.?????????? True ? (from link above)

https://www.quora.com/Is-it-possible-to-genetically-engineer-humans-to-become-biologically-immortal

I have something else "crazy" in my head. Flight to other planets .......

 

It's just as well we have a finite life span. Without that there'd be standing room only on the planet .

And nothing to eat.

 

In 1786, average life expectancy was just 24 years.

Not due to aging. War, famine, disease, and infant mortality.

 

Not due to aging. War, famine, disease, and infant mortality.

Yup, Ben Franklin managed to avoid those causes of death. He lived to 80.

 

There is no evolutionary pressure on us, as a species, to live longer as individuals.

True... but then again, most scientists speak of evolution as if it had a will of its own... well, if it did, shouldn't it also have a goal? ... what's evolution aiming at? ... yeah, I can accept "the continuous improvement of life" answer... but continuous improvement towards what?