Mortality of Humans.

Core idea:
Mortality is evolutionarily advantageous for the species, because the passing on of genes is more important than the survival of the individual.

Start:

Here we raise the question: why are humans mortal and how does this work?

An important aspect of human aging is the aging and deterioration of cells. During the lifetime of a human being, the cells—both those inside the body and those on its surface—are damaged by various causes. The body then produces new cells that must perform the same function as the damaged cells. The functionality of the new cell is, as it were, copied from the damaged cell. With each copy of a cell there is a chance of errors in this functionality, and after many copies the cell is no longer functioning properly. This applies to the entire body, and thus the body gradually becomes “worn out” and eventually dies.

More information about the aging process is provided in (Appendix 4.2 Aging Process in Humans).

Yet the body could potentially have the ability to be immortal, or at least to remain intact for a much longer time. If we consider the situation of a woman giving birth to a baby, we see that this baby can potentially live a long life, even though the mother may already be over forty years old and her body cells have therefore already been subject to aging for a long time. This probably happens through the stem cells of the woman that are still “undamaged” and multiply again to form a new living being. In principle, however, the body could also use this system to renew its own cells without an accumulation of errors and thus maintain a very long life.

Why has human evolution not made use of such a system? Apparently it is evolutionarily more advantageous, for the survival of the species, to pass genes on to the next generation and allow the transmitter to disappear—i.e., to remain mortal. Perhaps humans become mentally too inflexible at an older age and become too fixed in their patterns of thinking, making it easier to transition to a new, fresh-thinking individual. The passing on of genes therefore appears to be the real driving force, and human generations are the vehicle through which this occurs.

Another example of genetic reproduction can be found in organisms such as flatworms, starfish, cnidarians, and many annelid worms (Appendix 4.3 Aging Process in Flatworms). When important organs of their bodies disappear, these organisms can regenerate them, so that it appears as if they could continue to exist indefinitely. In this process genetic changes may also occur, influenced by possible changes in the environment.

By studying this regenerative system thoroughly, humans might perhaps be able to benefit from it in order to extend the human lifespan.

We will leave aside here the side effects that this might cause, such as overpopulation of the Earth and the question of how to deal with it.