Why is it that people die?

[Master_of_the_Faster]

Why do people die in the physical sense (not as in the sense where someone would die because you forgot that they existed or someone else is dead to you because you have no emotion towards them now)? I understand that as people age, the strength of their bodies' immune system declines, but why? Is it because of the fact that our immune system is constantly at battle against other bacteria or what? Does anyone believe that it is a possibility that a person could find a way to live for ever based on the technology we have today?

[GuidoHunter]

Physical exhaustion of our cells. All processes in the universe are inherently lossy, so our cells and other bodily processes continue working and become less and less efficient as time goes on. They eventually no longer do their job and we tend toward thermodynamic equilibrium (death).

Blame the Second Law for forever barring immortality.

--Guido

http://andy.mikee385.com

[OnixRose]

I have some opinions about this but I'm posting now so I can post what I have to say later...

[devonin]

I'd say the best way to legitimately answer your question is: Life is not infinitely self-replicating.

The various processes in our bodies are prone to failures and eventually stop being able to function properly.

For example, while clearly there's no "actual number" here, a human heart, after a long enough time functioning simply cannot continue to move blood at the same rate as it did, such that if otherwise perfectly healthy forever, the heart would eventually simply stop working causing death (As an aside, you can argue that this is what did in Bruce Lee. Guy overworked his heart so consistantly for so long that even though he was in impeccable shape, the muscle simply stopped being able to work properly)

[MagicCarpetRide]

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

[masterhickle]

The body simply slows down to a point it can't meet the required minimum to live (for lack of a better term). The heart can't keep up with the blood flow, the brain isn't sending out it's "messages" to the body as quickly as it should be, other minor organs slow down -- you see what I mean.

Like any machine, there's only so much you can do to keep someone moving -- time wins in the end.

[devonin]

Originally Posted by MagicCarpetRide

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

If people never died of natural causes, they simply wouldn't reproduce, especially not at the rate they do now. So overpopulation would likely not be much of a problem at all.

[beaner692]

Originally Posted by Master_of_the_Faster

Does anyone believe that it is a possibility that a person could find a way to live for ever based on the technology we have today?

No; with the technology and medicines we are coming out with today people have a chance of living to 120 years old or so, but your internal organs can only work for so long. Theres a certain point in your life when they give up. Not to mention your skin doesn't last forever either.

[JasonKey]

in a nutshell folks: It all boils down to the hayflick limit

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hayflick_limit

Stem Cell Research is the area research that investigates the exceptions to the Hayflick Limit. The exceptions are limited to embryos, stem cells and cancer cells. Find the way to revert normal cells back to stem cells, and you have immortality. Simple worded as that.

Fortuntately / unfortunately that research is not so simple. I can say here that I bet they do find ways to dramatically increase life expectancy in the next 30-40 years if not sooner. However, it will be more than the cost of going for a face lift .. but likely will come WITH A face lift as a bonus

[OrganisM]

How is this a CT topic? I understand that it's a valid question, but it's nothing that's very open for debate. This should have been in CC.

[Master_of_the_Faster]

Originally Posted by OrganisM

How is this a CT topic? I understand that it's a valid question, but it's nothing that's very open for debate. This should have been in CC.

Well, certain people believe that there are different causes of aging/death and some might argue that there is no such thing as immortality while others would disagree (though many people agree that our bodies are bound to simply fail and that aging/what ever else people mentioned will cause us to die). The Second Law, exceptions to the Hayflick Limit, as well as other things that people have said are signs of critical thinking.

[perkeyone]

master of the faster wants to rule the world! dont tell him how to live forever! lol

[MrRubix]

Cell inefficiencies.

[JasonKey]

tsk tsk Rubix, should have read more closely above.

[devonin]

Here in Critical Thinking, tl;dr stands for "totally lame;disregard response"

[COBOL]

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]

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]

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]

Originally Posted by COBOL

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]

Originally Posted by MagicCarpetRide

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

Well, that is true.