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Author Topic:   What is the EVOLUTIONARY advantage of death?
Rationalist
Inactive Member


Message 15 of 32 (62731)
10-25-2003 12:05 PM


Death is simply your genes "shedding".
Why do animals shed, because it is more efficient overall to replace an organ (i.e. skin) than it is to regenerate it.
The balance between the costs of regeneration and replacement are seen in engineering, as well as in living creatures. The lifespan of a creature is generally determined by the economics of this process given their particular structure and anatomy, and their lifecycle. Lifespans evolve to become longer, and shorter in evolution all the time.. but they never evolve to be indefinite. At some point, the cost, or opportunity cost, of regeneration always outways that of replacement.

  
Rationalist
Inactive Member


Message 16 of 32 (62733)
10-25-2003 12:13 PM


quote:
So, suppose an organism has an "Immortality" mutation, and survives predation, disease, accidents, and natural disasters to pass on the gene to many offspring.
Here is where the "laser beam eyes" comment comes into play. It's pretty unrealistic from an engineering standpoint to propose a complex system which works perfectly forever. Hypothetically, we can propose anything we want, but the rules of reality come into play in this particular instance.
The longer an organism lives, the more of it "wears out", requiring additional regenerative components to fix them, which also cause the organism to become more complex and more prone to problems. Etc. etc. These regenerative systems also have to evolve, but they have to compete with the replacement system of death and birth, which already seems to work really well.
What this means is that with a non hypothetical organism.. at some point it's just easier to start over from scratch every generation.
[This message has been edited by Rationalist, 10-25-2003]

Replies to this message:
 Message 20 by Chiroptera, posted 10-26-2003 7:15 PM Rationalist has not replied

  
Rationalist
Inactive Member


Message 19 of 32 (62890)
10-26-2003 9:51 AM
Reply to: Message 18 by crashfrog
10-25-2003 11:10 PM


Hmmm... yeah.
Actually, all I seem to remember was the maniacal laughter, followed of course by the mob of villagers with the torches..

This message is a reply to:
 Message 18 by crashfrog, posted 10-25-2003 11:10 PM crashfrog has not replied

  
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