3 ms·

Just like organisms evolve things such as vision, frontal lobes, etc, we have evolved aging because it ultimately positively impacts the survival of species. T

Just like organisms evolve things such as vision, frontal lobes, etc, we have evolved aging because it ultimately positively impacts the survival of species. This makes it an evolved feature, wouldn't you say?

glenstein 6y ago
Are there any good articles or books that make this case in a form that's not a just so story? You're just kind of stipulating that it's beneficial. I think it's more likely that, as many others in this thread have observed, longevity is ignored while evolution optimizes for other things, which I would distinguish from something that specifically evolved like vision. Things can die perfectly well on their own without dying needing to be optimized. It would also be more plausible to me that death was evolved if it had some clear, functional, deliberate mechanism by which it was enacted, the way that eyes or lungs are clearly purposeful and functional. Death happens as an interference with function rather than as someone handled by an organ or internal system.
- gmaster 6y ago
  The quantity of a particular species in an ecosystem has an equilibrium point. The optimal amount of a particular species is a number. If there's no death, this number will be pushed out of equilibrium, and the given species isn't dedicating its niche in the ecosystem to the most superior 'version' of itself, therefore not investing the niche resources in the best bet of progressing the species. This is more than speculation, how is this not beneficial?
  - pharke 6y ago
    Most death in those systems is due to predation though. Just look at what happens when natural predators are removed, the population explodes and then busts due to starvation. If your conjecture was correct then the population would self-regulate by aging and dieing before reaching that point.
    - gmaster 6y ago
      It would simply take too many genetic changes in a too short period of time to change the aging rate to compensate for such a sudden change in the environment. Remember, genetic adaptation can take years, decades, or even centuries (think lactose intolerance which happens to be 1 gene).

glenstein 6y ago

Are there any good articles or books that make this case in a form that's not a just so story? You're just kind of stipulating that it's beneficial. I think it's more likely that, as many others in this thread have observed, longevity is ignored while evolution optimizes for other things, which I would distinguish from something that specifically evolved like vision. Things can die perfectly well on their own without dying needing to be optimized. It would also be more plausible to me that death was evolved if it had some clear, functional, deliberate mechanism by which it was enacted, the way that eyes or lungs are clearly purposeful and functional. Death happens as an interference with function rather than as someone handled by an organ or internal system.

gmaster 6y ago
The quantity of a particular species in an ecosystem has an equilibrium point. The optimal amount of a particular species is a number. If there's no death, this number will be pushed out of equilibrium, and the given species isn't dedicating its niche in the ecosystem to the most superior 'version' of itself, therefore not investing the niche resources in the best bet of progressing the species. This is more than speculation, how is this not beneficial?
- pharke 6y ago
  Most death in those systems is due to predation though. Just look at what happens when natural predators are removed, the population explodes and then busts due to starvation. If your conjecture was correct then the population would self-regulate by aging and dieing before reaching that point.
  - gmaster 6y ago
    It would simply take too many genetic changes in a too short period of time to change the aging rate to compensate for such a sudden change in the environment. Remember, genetic adaptation can take years, decades, or even centuries (think lactose intolerance which happens to be 1 gene).