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aging mostly happens after an organism reproduces, so there is no evolutionary pressure to maintain fitness. there is no pressure to develop maintenance mechani

aging mostly happens after an organism reproduces, so there is no evolutionary pressure to maintain fitness. there is no pressure to develop maintenance mechanisms...

SuoDuanDao 5y ago
There would be plenty of pressure to keep reproducing indefinitely, just that then there might be too much competition between ancestors and descendants for the same resources.
- thaumasiotes 5y ago
  > just that then there might be too much competition between ancestors and descendants for the same resources. Why is that supposed to be a problem? Plenty of species will happily eat their own young.
  - SuoDuanDao 5y ago
    Because changing conditions could necessitate the species adjusting to the new conditions as they change, if the young have to outcompete both the old and the new landscape there's a higher chance of an extinction event.
m0llusk 5y ago
This reasoning has been invalidated by the proof that living ancestors can contribute to successful procreation and rearing.
- odyssey7 5y ago
  Sugar is great because it quickly converts to energy, but its benefit doesn’t always increase with the amount consumed.
Beldin 5y ago
Only if aging is separate from growing. I'd be somewhat shocked if there is absolutely no relation between them. Note: This is completely outside my expertise, so make of that what you will.
dsizzle 5y ago
Couldn't an organism that ages more slowly keep reproducing longer?
- ptsneves 5y ago
  My noob perspective is that generation periods are optimized for environmental change sensitivity. Humans seem to reliably be able to handle environmental changes expected in their life spans. Other species not, and I dare say most other fauna has much a faster generation iteration rate because they are much more sensitive to the environment. Ergo evolution made their lifespans shorter so they can iterate faster and respond with a tighter gene fit to the environment. Humans have their fitness less correlated by genes so a longer life span is allowed, but not boundless. In a sense every body must die so that new solutions/iterations can be ran.

aging mostly happens after an organism reproduces, so there is no evolutionary pressure to maintain fitness. there is no pressure to develop maintenance mechanisms...

SuoDuanDao 5y ago

There would be plenty of pressure to keep reproducing indefinitely, just that then there might be too much competition between ancestors and descendants for the same resources.

thaumasiotes 5y ago
> just that then there might be too much competition between ancestors and descendants for the same resources. Why is that supposed to be a problem? Plenty of species will happily eat their own young.
- SuoDuanDao 5y ago
  Because changing conditions could necessitate the species adjusting to the new conditions as they change, if the young have to outcompete both the old and the new landscape there's a higher chance of an extinction event.

m0llusk 5y ago

This reasoning has been invalidated by the proof that living ancestors can contribute to successful procreation and rearing.

odyssey7 5y ago
Sugar is great because it quickly converts to energy, but its benefit doesn’t always increase with the amount consumed.

Beldin 5y ago

Only if aging is separate from growing. I'd be somewhat shocked if there is absolutely no relation between them. Note: This is completely outside my expertise, so make of that what you will.

dsizzle 5y ago

Couldn't an organism that ages more slowly keep reproducing longer?

ptsneves 5y ago
My noob perspective is that generation periods are optimized for environmental change sensitivity. Humans seem to reliably be able to handle environmental changes expected in their life spans. Other species not, and I dare say most other fauna has much a faster generation iteration rate because they are much more sensitive to the environment. Ergo evolution made their lifespans shorter so they can iterate faster and respond with a tighter gene fit to the environment. Humans have their fitness less correlated by genes so a longer life span is allowed, but not boundless. In a sense every body must die so that new solutions/iterations can be ran.