Why is it that people die?

[COBOL]

Re: Why is it that people die?

So that we don't suck the earth dry of its resources and overpopulate. Because seriously if no one ever died we probably wouldn't be too worried about a moral life therefore we would be engaging in sexual intercourse wildly and reproducing like fiends. I like to think of AIDS and Cancer as natures population control. And seriously who would want to live forever that would get really boring, my belief is that the only people who want to live forever are either vain, afraid of death, or they just haven't thought through how pointless eternal life on earth would be.

[FallenXxRaven]

Re: Why is it that people die?

Yeah, but the topic is "Why is it that people die" not "what would happen if we lived forever", COBOL, and that is what we should stick to. And i'm sure we dont die because we'd dry the land out, Its because our bodies just get tired then they stop, like everyone has been saying.

[burningeyes88]

Re: Why is it that people die?

If you live for 70 years your insides have been working for that long, plus brain cells die and they don't grow back. Eventually everything just stops working.

[Master_of_the_Faster]

Re: Why is it that people die?

So that we don't suck the earth dry of its resources and overpopulate. Because seriously if no one ever died we probably wouldn't be too worried about a moral life therefore we would be engaging in sexual intercourse wildly and reproducing like fiends. I like to think of AIDS and Cancer as natures population control. And seriously who would want to live forever that would get really boring, my belief is that the only people who want to live forever are either vain, afraid of death, or they just haven't thought through how pointless eternal life on earth would be.

I know that by saying this, I am going off the topic a bit from what I stated the topic would be about, but I feel that it is a need to mention this. People have devised their own concepts of afterlives like heaven, hell, and so on, but the truth is, we, as humans, know nothing about any possible afterlife. If we could manage to live forever, we could avoid the need to have the very thought of an after life especially if a person ceases to live in any type of existance or afterlife (unless one wishes to be in this state). I seriously take a strong dislike to when someone uses the phrase "meant to be" because even if humans are meant to die from certain diseases or nature, we will find ways to cure these diseases and maybe one day, we could find a way to live for ever (though other issues could be brought up about living for ever, I do not really wish to address those issues considering we haven't even found some way to live for ever).

[Chief0678]

Re: Why is it that people die?

If people never died then the earth would be one overpopulated ****hole.
Am I wrong?

Well, that is true.

[devonin]

Re: Why is it that people die?

Well, that is true.

I deny that that is true. If you lived forever, why would there be a biological directive to procreate, let alone frequently? I suspect rather that childbirth would become strictly regulated to ensure overpopulation didn't occur (IE. new children would only be authorized as people died of unnatural casues [Since we're not talking about invulnerability, only immortality, you could still be killed even if you would never die naturally] or new land capable of supporting human life was found) and there would be many advances in the technologies of birth control and abortion.

[Vendetta21]

Re: Why is it that people die?

One problem here is that if we made it so humans could live forever by stopping cell failure, according to our current knowledge on the process, we would thus be making it so we are highly susceptible to cancer as the process which limits the number of times a cell can divide is believed to be one of the same processes which helps prevent cancer. There is a strand on the DNA that is shortened every time a cell replicates, I don't remember what it's called, but tetsudines (turtles, terrapins, and tortoises) all have it so when their cells replicate this strand isn't shortened. It's like teromere or something (the strand).

Anyways, tetsudines organs don't deteriorate like ours do. Organs that are self-reproducing such as stomach, liver, kidneys are in the same condition in a 180 year old tetsudine as they are in a 20 year old tetsudine.

With stem-cells, cells which can effectively take the place of any cell and act as brand new version, and a medical procedure which stops the shortening of teromere (teromene?) you could prolong the life humans significantly, but without a cure for cancer humans would still die when their luck ran out.

Assuming there was a cure for cancer, brain deterioration would still occur because when a brain cell is damaged or destroyed it cannot be replaced, and all humans would be on a road to the eventual death of the brain. I'm not aware of any ways to reverse the loss of brain cells. And however slowly, in regular human life we kill brain cells daily. That and certain things we do rapidly kill brain cells. (drinking)

I think at the very best we could slow the coming of death down significantly to the point where we may live hundreds of years, but I don't think we could make it altogether inevitable.

Then again I'm no expert and I hardly know what I'm talking about.

[TI_Virus]

Re: Why is it that people die?

Death is caused by swallowing small amounts of saliva over a long period of time.

[frank34443]

Re: Why is it that people die?

I think most of it has been said already. But with a topic like this it is quite hard not to bring up the fact that humans are supposed to die. No one can live forever and its only natural. Sure, life can be increased by using medicines, new developing technologies and the like, but like said a few times before death is unavoidable. Just like living, dying is natural.

[TheChosenOneJr]

Re: Why is it that people die?

I'll just say that we weren't meant to live forever as one thing, as I am a firm believer in the after-life (so called 'heaven' or 'hell') and that ofcourse, GOD has made it where cells will wear out in a given period of time, normally, and that we can live the right amount of time before the time comes and that living forever would just mean that it would leave GOD in a lonely state without you, because according to religion, God doesn't interact with you as much as he does in heaven. That's just opinionated.

Scientifically, there will never be a way to extend cell life to forever, there isn't such thing as a cell-life extender, but a shortener there is. Not all things have reverses, such as death, you can't be brought back to life, that's the meaning of sex, which your next life isn't your own, where as this means that your life isn't your own, but are of the first 2 human beings to cease in existance. It's not that hard, but it's not easy avoiding the fact that all these points all point back to GOD and stuff. It's a real big deal in life/death.

If you want to know more about my religion, PM me, I'll give the briefest explaination as possible on the spot.


EDIT: I am not completely sure if EVERYTHING I say is 100% accurate, there may be tiny flaws, much of this comes from my own logic of reasoning, it's bias and true at the same time, just don't criticize too much, I'm not stupid, just under-educated.

Then again I'm no expert and I hardly know what I'm talking about.

same here

[FreezinIce]

Re: Why is it that people die?

Hit me with a sharp object if someone already alluded to/said this, because I didnt read all the posts (Yeah im a terrible person , also whats the cutoff point for posting on old topics?) Also the angle im going on with this is the [non-religeous view]

Living in its very definition is done with the understanding that the period of time in which you "live" is finite. When you learn how to become immortal, you cease to live and simply exist. Now im not saying that you lose you soul, you become dead inside, ect. but if you think about the definition of "to live", it seems inherent that life eventually ends, coming from millions of years of life ending with no exception to that "absolute" law. So "living forever" is actually an oxymoron, since those two words are virtually opposite. Existing forever is a more accurate term.

[Godnick]

Re: Why is it that people die?

I think in some way our body runs like the mileage on a car, but can't be reset.

[devonin]

Re: Why is it that people die?

Hit me with a sharp object if someone already alluded to/said this, because I didnt read all the posts (Yeah im a terrible person , also whats the cutoff point for posting on old topics?) Also the angle im going on with this is the [non-religeous view]

No need to hit you, though you ought to read the whole thread before posting, especially if its a bump of more than a week or so. There isn't actually a cut-off for posting in old topics in CT as long as your post is worth making.

Living in its very definition is done with the understanding that the period of time in which you "live" is finite. When you learn how to become immortal, you cease to live and simply exist.

Er...I disagree that the term "to live" necessarily includes an eventual ending to that life. In fact, the only distinction between "living" and "existing" that I'm aware of is one that is actually a fairly religious view, wherein you would argue that to merely exist is to have an empty life, where you have nothing to motivate you, nothing to make you happy, and essentially nothing to live "for"

I don't see how immortality would remove that quality from ones life. You would constantly be able to move on to new things that interest you, to expand your knowledge, your interests, in fact it sounds like a pretty -nice- life to me.

Now im not saying that you lose you soul, you become dead inside, ect. but if you think about the definition of "to live", it seems inherent that life eventually ends, coming from millions of years of life ending with no exception to that "absolute" law.

Just because all lives appear to have ended in the past doesn't mean that all lives must end in order to become lives.

This suggests a very "Judge no man's life until he is dead" approach that while it works from a "living the good life" philosophical standpoint, doesn't actually create a hard and fast rule. The suggestion is that you cannot properly judge the quality of someone's life until they are dead, because there is still time for the quality of their life to change otherwise, but there is no compelling reason to even accept that logic, let alone extend it to force the definition of "being alive" to include "Must die"

So "living forever" is actually an oxymoron, since those two words are virtually opposite. Existing forever is a more accurate term.

From the standpoint of simply looking at the definition of the words, life and existance actually mean very close to the exact same thing. The distinction between "Living your life" and "Simply existing" is a social one, almost more of a psychological one. To only exist is a term people tend to use when they are depressed, or lonely, or so busy that they have no time for their own wants, only the satisfaction of their needs. I don't see that as any way incompatible with immortality. You could live forever, or exist forever, or spend some centuries living, and some merely existing, but I just can't agree that life cannot extend over any duration.

Here's a question for you: Currently, you have not died. Are you alive? Or are you merely existing? You -assume- that because many lives before you have ended, yours will as well. But what if you are incorrect? What if you are, in fact, immortal? How many years do you have to be "alive" before you magically switch to just "existing"?

[zadovoljna]

Re: Why is it that people die?

Death is bound to happen and if for some reason modern technology could find a way to sustain cells from dying, there would be a constant maintenance to keep our body alive (in my opinion) because the older you get the sicker you get and you also have more accidents because you lived longer. Let's say you have this "new technology" to keep cells alive forever. Ok, but then wouldn't that mean that they would have to find a way to keep every individual component in your body alive some how? Now your body will never die as one whole component, but rather you have smaller components dying, like a kidney or whatever. You would need a transplant. I understand that cells divide to make things up, but don't cells know what they are going to eventually turn into? So maybe I wasn't paying attention in my biology class but wouldn't they need to know exactly what cell is multiplying to make what up? And if that is the case an answer to immortality would take a very long time to find because you would need to know how to make each individual component of the body up in order to stay alive. Correct me if I'm wrong...

[Xx{Midday}xX]

Re: Why is it that people die?

Well I think we're getting close. When I was in South Carolina about 5 years ago, there was this commercial for a product called Youth ****tail. I was too young to absorb all of the scientific information, but according to the cm, cell breakdown is primarily caused by the obstruction of intracellular transport (i.e. endoplasmic constriction). By preventing the molecular irregularities by supplying a certain molecule (that i forget) the cells' respiration lengths increased by 30%. I don't remember much else about the product, but the cm guaranteed definite life spans of 110 years of age. I sort of think this is phony in many aspects of the given information, but the scientific reason for cell destruction is quite accurate.

First time I visited a sophisticated people's thread. Intriguing.