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From: vlsi_lib@netcom.com (Gerard Malecki)
Subject: Re: THE INCREASING HUMAN LIFE SPAN
Message-ID: <vlsi_libD1HIqq.LBH@netcom.com>
Organization: VLSI Libraries Incorporated
References: <3dgovo$pp8@tuba.cit.cornell.edu> <1994Dec24.160827.27957@news.media.mit.edu> <CDY$kKlrZk-I070yn@gagme.wwa.com>
Date: Tue, 27 Dec 1994 19:42:26 GMT
Lines: 33

In article <CDY$kKlrZk-I070yn@gagme.wwa.com> whitroth@gagme.wwa.com (mark) writes:
>Y'know, I've wondered for years if cancer might not be a failed attempt
>by the body to run a refresh on the entire system: that is, if it worked
>*correctly*, *all* the cells would go through a *short* *cycle* of cancer-
>like growth, and replace at least the core of the existing system with new
>cells that had their Hayflick-limit counter reset to 0 (or one, for any
>COBOL programmers out there...(B-{)} ).
>
>    mark

I doubt it. Our bodies very well know that the chances of a perfect 
refresh of all cells at the same time is zero and there is no reason
to believe that they would indulge in such reckless adventurism. 
Cancer is initiated solely by individual renegade cells and is not
a conspiracy of the system at large.

Going back to the subject of aging, nature programmed it that way so
that there are more generations in any time frame, hence the chances
for faster and better evolution. Plants and animals that reproduce 
asexually and carry the same set of genes are in a sense immortal, but
the same seriously limits their scope of evolution and adaptation. 

If nature really intended on maximizing human life span rather than
diversity, it would favor higher fertility rates for older people
than younger ones. Clearly this is not the case. 

If biotechnology ultimately succeeds in increasing the human life-
span tenfold, it would cause socio-economic chaos, as well as a
great deal off ethical debates. And one doesn't even have to bring
bionic robots or mind-cloning computers into the picture.

Shankar Ramakrishnan
shankar@vlibs.com
