why don't we live forever

[cquark]

As many people have pointed out, death is closely related to reproduction.

From the perspective of DNA, we are vehicles to protect and carry them. However, as time goes on, we not only accumulate DNA replication errors, but also get infested with parasites. Remember having chicken box? Guess what, you still have it. It's a permanent condition, with the virus lying dormant in your cells until your immune system is compromised (by another illness, chemotherapy. etc.) So your genes build a new vehicle by having you (or you relatives, as you share most of your genes with them) reproduce.

 

[Dragonbate]

I think that the answer to this question is answered accidentally, sort of, by cloning experiments. When you clone an adult animal the clone only lives for about as long as the adult had left of a normal lifespan. This hints at a timing mechanism in the genes. I've seen this explained by the idea of the deterioration of the protiens surrounding dna. Frankly as science gets a clearer idea of the human genome I think the the possibility of living without aging will become a real possibility. Whether it will ever be available to anyone other than the elite is another question. What would happen if people stopped dying? Earth would be pretty overcrowded pretty quick.

 

[TekDemon]

Originally posted by: Machine350
They've found that DNA actually codes how many times cells will divide and replenish the body. They have also found that DNA is a digital sequence. It is almost as if a programmer went in and wrote in our lifespan. But to answer the question, Adam sinned against God (a capital offense) which is punishable only by death. We are all descendants of Adam, so we inherit the the sin nature in our genes, therefore the body dies. Fortunately, God did make a way for our spirits to live forever. I didn't mean to wax spiritual on you guys, just answering the question.

You're kidding right? Because that's not at all what our DNA is like...in fact the absolute majority of it is random gibberish from years of retroviruses that had infected our various ancestors through various stages of development...

The gibberish has actually helped us, since mutations from radiation are thus more likely to occur in gibberish than something important, but nonetheless this would be one horribly sloppy programming job.

Basically an app that could be written with 2MB of code was written with 200MB of code...garbage code.

 

[TekDemon]

by the way, the world isn't really so super awesome that it's really worth sticking around 2 million years for...

I mean, most people don't love their jobs so much they'd want to keep doing it for 2 million years more. Or even 2000 years more.

If I told you you'd have 730000 more days of your job left before you could retire you'd probably kill yourself lol.

Now, if the world one day becomes some super unbelievably awesome utopia, then sign me up for some million year run =)

 

[Terumo]

Thing is we have no need to die naturally, but our DNA has a pre-programmed "death sequence." Celluar decay is inviable in organic beings as the body ages (look what happens to a home for 100 years, and unlike a home we don't have the technology at the moment to refurbish it when it breaks down).

Natural death tends to be related to multiple organ failure. Organs are but complex muscles, but due to their 24/7/356 nature oxidation finally wears them down (just like a rusty car will break down for good).

The secret of immortality is to prevent this organ failure. Either by our bodies making new ones (stem cell implantations) or growing them and transplanting your cloned organs (to bypass immunlogical barriers). That's quite possible in 50 years (we'll probably be growing organs for tranplantation before we find a cure for AIDS or Cancer, because it's easier -- linear knowledge, not trying to keep up with rapid mutating cells).

So in the end man won't die short of a disaster/accident in the future, as medicine will have a way to keep people alive for a very long time. But the question is will man want to live for hundreds of years to know and watch everything you loved die or change?