Post by LUCKY☆ on Feb 10, 2023 0:49:15 GMT
Human DNA doesn't have good enough error-correcting mechanism to allow for immortality. The longer our cells divide, the more errors accumulate in our DNA, and that process is also hereditary (passed down to any offspring).
Sometimes (very rarely) these errors are beneficial to organism's survival, but most of the time they're evolutionary dead ends that will lead (generations down the line) to extinction of that particular evolutionary branch... which is why so many subspecies of sapiens (our genetic cousins) have already gone extinct... and why we (Homo sapiens) will also go extinct at some point.
Sure, one can try to prevent DNA (one that's leading down evolutionary extinction) from actually going extinct, but that will only lead to eventual formation of cancerous cell colonies ("immortal" cells that don't perform their original function, but instead kill their own host organism with their uncontrolled expansion).
From an evolutionary perspective, not allowing the (soon-to-be) dead to die is a recipe for guaranteed disaster (it's going to die anyway, and there's nothing to be done about it).
Case in point...
Homo sapiens has exterminated all competing sapiens species on the planet, so we've effectively turned ourselves into a monoculture. The problem is that this particular monoculture of Homo sapiens has already hit an evolutionary dead end, and the chances for any branches of it to survive in the future are slim to none.
From a personal perspective...
No, immortality just isn't possible for any currently living (or ever to live) human being, because (as stated) human DNA (or any DNA on Earth, for that matter) just isn't good enough to forever prevent errors from creeping in, and eventually turning into cancers.
Then again... if we turned ourselves into multi-legged, giant cockroaches, we could, in theory, live much longer than any human being has ever lived, since cockroaches' DNA is much better at correcting errors (and surviving radioactivity in a nuclear war).
So, if you don't mind turning yourself into a giant cockroach... I guess you could get what you wished for (eternity in a Hell of your own making).
I prefer to die with some dignity (and some peace of mind) over living forever in an evolutionary Hell that I made for myself to be tortured in... forever and ever, to no end.
Sometimes (very rarely) these errors are beneficial to organism's survival, but most of the time they're evolutionary dead ends that will lead (generations down the line) to extinction of that particular evolutionary branch... which is why so many subspecies of sapiens (our genetic cousins) have already gone extinct... and why we (Homo sapiens) will also go extinct at some point.
Sure, one can try to prevent DNA (one that's leading down evolutionary extinction) from actually going extinct, but that will only lead to eventual formation of cancerous cell colonies ("immortal" cells that don't perform their original function, but instead kill their own host organism with their uncontrolled expansion).
From an evolutionary perspective, not allowing the (soon-to-be) dead to die is a recipe for guaranteed disaster (it's going to die anyway, and there's nothing to be done about it).
Case in point...
Homo sapiens has exterminated all competing sapiens species on the planet, so we've effectively turned ourselves into a monoculture. The problem is that this particular monoculture of Homo sapiens has already hit an evolutionary dead end, and the chances for any branches of it to survive in the future are slim to none.
From a personal perspective...
No, immortality just isn't possible for any currently living (or ever to live) human being, because (as stated) human DNA (or any DNA on Earth, for that matter) just isn't good enough to forever prevent errors from creeping in, and eventually turning into cancers.
Then again... if we turned ourselves into multi-legged, giant cockroaches, we could, in theory, live much longer than any human being has ever lived, since cockroaches' DNA is much better at correcting errors (and surviving radioactivity in a nuclear war).
So, if you don't mind turning yourself into a giant cockroach... I guess you could get what you wished for (eternity in a Hell of your own making).
I prefer to die with some dignity (and some peace of mind) over living forever in an evolutionary Hell that I made for myself to be tortured in... forever and ever, to no end.