IntelligenceQuotient

Current life expectancy for a person born and raised in the USA is 77.7 years. Of course that is from the time of birth. But in that 77.7 years think of all the scientific breakthroughs which can be accomplished in the field of medicine and health. So maybe by the time that baby is 77.7 years old US life expectancy will be 92 (conservative estimate). Well you just gave that child 14.3 more years of life. And in those 14.3 years, what advances will arise?

Biologically speaking there is no reason for the human body to have to die. It can remain functioning for upwards of 900 years constantly replacing its own parts. The only reason why we die is because we accept it as an inevitability.

The number one cause of death in US is homeopic maltreatment (please forgive me if this isn't the correct term). That is too say, giving people drugs and medicines which thy don't need.

yoman3

The reason why we die is Senescence - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia . It's not because we accept it as an inevitibility.

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lemonwonda

I watched a documentary, and our brains could keep on going for ages, but our bodies wore down.

There was some thing they could do to the brain in mice (animal testing = cruel ) which made them live for longer, their bodies just lasted longer..

leprechaunstoner

This reminds me of an article I read recently...

Can the Human Lifespan Reach 1,000 Years -Some Experts Say "Yes"

Anyways, I do agree that the human lifespan can be extended but I wouldn't quite venture to say inevitably. Science, medicine, and technology have already found cures for some evolutionary mechanisms and contributors to death so who is there to say what limit humans could eventually reach...?

Ygdonmir

Why we live so shortly and 'over age' is because of a variety of reasons. Senescence being the best way to put it I'd say. Although why that has to happen is another question. Our body just loses the ability to efficiently replicate worn cells after a certain point no matter how well we take care of our bodies. It's just a quirk of DNA. It gets copied so much that eventually the information contained within gets 'corrupt'. Not 100% of aging happens that way, but it's a big part of it. The deeper you dig in and research it the more it makes sense as to why it happens, but the human desire to live much more longer can make it a frustrating topic.

Though there are many creatures out there that show some strange cellular behavior. Some species of jellyfish actually revert back to their premature phases after their prime has passed, essentially starting all over again until they get sick/eaten. Tortoises seem to age ridiculously slow. Here's an example of a 188 year old one. Tu'i Malila - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. And their organs seem to sustain themselves just as well as a freshly matured tortoise right until the end.

I'd love to live a thousand years. I don't think I'd actually want to live forever, but I have to admit we do live shorter lives than I'd prefer. That's a conversation for the philosophy forum though. I just hope that any products of age research is applied responsibly in the future. But death is something to be embraced, not shunned. Death is the great unknown, really. The true final frontier for humanity and no matter who you are it is probably the most epic thing you could ever experience.

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cj117

Don't you think diet and exercise play a huge role in how long these creatures live?
If we could exploit the benefits of all therapeutic plant substances, possibly eating nothing but raw fruits and vegetables (as we apparently used to) exercise daily to keep our bodies in harmony, and meditate to keep our minds there, too, I think we could really boost our lifespans to hundreds of years.

As it is we love living in a fast paced world. Life fast, die pretty.

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TheQuestionMark

after sleeping through half of my biology classes last year, my confident reply to this thread is - Telomere shortening

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nornerator

There is no reason we *must* die. Without extraordinary intervention we *will* die.

I think we first must define what we define as "self". What is the self you are trying to preserve? Is it the atoms in your body? The atoms in your body are constantly replaced, so there is no room for a static "self" there.

The static "self" exists within the pattern of your biology, not within the material that pattern is expressed in.

What needs to be done for eternal life is to simply preserve this pattern, not the physical material that the pattern is expressed in.

Thankfully over the past few thousand years humans have developed a system for modeling patterns, it is called, mathematics.

We will eventually be able to live indefinitely by uploading our "self pattern" into computers. It is at this point we will become godlike.

IntelligenceQuotient

Ok, i guess I'll just go one at a time.
To the people who were refering to Senescence: based on the information i've recieved on the topic (which may or may not be complete) it doesn't seem that a definite reason for aging is evident. Animals who have negligable senescence and even species with negative senescence exist. Who's to say it can't be overcome with new technology or perhaps with our own minds?
To the people wjo talked about living forever: I have to say that i do agreee with you. I would never wnat to live forever because then i would only know half of life. However, i would like to get the most out of this portion of it. There is so much i want to do on Earth. So why can't we give ourselves time?
Nornerator: I have to say i like that topic. Of course the "self" I was refering to is the self which is percieved by the "self receptor" of our cells. This isn't a scientific term, of course, but these receptor exist nonetheless. They are the cause for a bodies rejection of an organ after a transplant.
Even without using computers we could live far beyond our current expectation. In realation to the thing about the changing atoms, that's true no matter what. As your body replicates, nothing truly remains in your body constantly. I don't know the time frame, but ever cell in your body is replaced at least a few times throughout your life. So no the physical "stuff" that was you doesn't continue to exist, but the "self" does as long as "you" do.

mondaymonkey

Well we must look at this from an evolutionary perspective. Why would humans...or any other animal for that matter, evolve the capacity to live past reproduction stages?

Remeber that the sole mechanism of evotion lies in reproductive fitness... not parent surivival... (unless it somehow gives advantages to the child).

Remember that in a ecological niche, resources are always finite in some respect, and killing older animals naturally makes sense, as more young can use those resources. Remember that the offspring will often times be more reproductively fit than their parents, due to evolutionary forces.