Cells across the body talk to each other about aging
quantamagazine.org
Cells across the body talk to each other about aging
1–10 of 173 posts
Re: Cells across the body talk to each other about aging
#2in worms
Re: Cells across the body talk to each other about aging
#3You know, I've recently wondered quite a bit about aging and how any of it makes sense.
What has perplexed me is the notion of honest signals[1] in a world governed by natural selection and the survival of the fittest. Why wouldn't cheating exclusively emerge as the only strategy? Why wouldn't a species evolve a mechanism to survive longer and longer till it completely dominates?
Then it dawned on me that the survival of the species is not aligned with the survival of an individual. Cheating maximizes the benefit to that individual. But possibly damages the collective. Why is why honest signals even exist.
Aging and death as being pre-programmed is in service of the collective and that's why it even exists.
A bit of existential dread. But sharing it nonetheless.
Re: Cells across the body talk to each other about aging
#4You know, I've recently wondered quite a bit about aging and how any of it makes sense. What has perplexed me is the notion of honest signals[1] in a world governed by natural selection and the survival of the fittest. Why wouldn't cheating exclusively emerge as the only strategy? Why wouldn't a species evolve a mechanism to survive longer and longer till it completely dominates? Then it dawned on me that the surviva…
it seems like dishonesty, at least in terms of reproduction, would self correct pretty fast? Like if an animal signals that its strong genetically, but it isnt actually, then its offspring wont fair as well and will be less likely to reproduce, so 'lying' would die off pretty quickly?
Re: Cells across the body talk to each other about aging
#5You know, I've recently wondered quite a bit about aging and how any of it makes sense. What has perplexed me is the notion of honest signals[1] in a world governed by natural selection and the survival of the fittest. Why wouldn't cheating exclusively emerge as the only strategy? Why wouldn't a species evolve a mechanism to survive longer and longer till it completely dominates? Then it dawned on me that the surviva…
Cheating could just get you killed off by jealous partners, cutting off your ability to reproduce more. It’s like marking territory.
Re: Cells across the body talk to each other about aging
#6You know, I've recently wondered quite a bit about aging and how any of it makes sense. What has perplexed me is the notion of honest signals[1] in a world governed by natural selection and the survival of the fittest. Why wouldn't cheating exclusively emerge as the only strategy? Why wouldn't a species evolve a mechanism to survive longer and longer till it completely dominates? Then it dawned on me that the surviva…
Aging being preprogrammed is only one hypothesis. The other hypothesis is that the evolution only selected for what work and reproduced.
Note what work and reproduced is only a minimum bar.
Re: Cells across the body talk to each other about aging
#7You know, I've recently wondered quite a bit about aging and how any of it makes sense. What has perplexed me is the notion of honest signals[1] in a world governed by natural selection and the survival of the fittest. Why wouldn't cheating exclusively emerge as the only strategy? Why wouldn't a species evolve a mechanism to survive longer and longer till it completely dominates? Then it dawned on me that the surviva…
> Why wouldn't a species evolve a mechanism to survive longer and longer till it completely dominates?
Because evolution happens faster with sexually reproducing generations that die out to leave room for the fitter youth.
Re: Cells across the body talk to each other about aging
#8You know, I've recently wondered quite a bit about aging and how any of it makes sense. What has perplexed me is the notion of honest signals[1] in a world governed by natural selection and the survival of the fittest. Why wouldn't cheating exclusively emerge as the only strategy? Why wouldn't a species evolve a mechanism to survive longer and longer till it completely dominates? Then it dawned on me that the surviva…
Of note, is that organisms that have a more balanced, symbiotic relationship to their surrounding environment - with shared benefits, live a lot longer. Take thousand year old trees, and millenniums older mycelium networks.
However, this doesnt explain tortoise (or 500 year old sharks)
The amount of energy required to sustain Human growth and Civilization just grows and grows. If we had a scalable balanced, fully renewable resource in everything, we likely would live longer.
Re: Cells across the body talk to each other about aging
#9You know, I've recently wondered quite a bit about aging and how any of it makes sense. What has perplexed me is the notion of honest signals[1] in a world governed by natural selection and the survival of the fittest. Why wouldn't cheating exclusively emerge as the only strategy? Why wouldn't a species evolve a mechanism to survive longer and longer till it completely dominates? Then it dawned on me that the surviva…
it seems like dishonesty, at least in terms of reproduction, would self correct pretty fast? Like if an animal signals that its strong genetically, but it isnt actually, then its offspring wont fair as well and will be less likely to reproduce, so 'lying' would die off pretty quickly?
I think it's difficult to signal genetic fitness without actually being genetically fit.
There are proxies to genetic fitness that are frequently and successfully mimicked, though. See e.g.: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batesian_mimicry
Re: Cells across the body talk to each other about aging
#10You know, I've recently wondered quite a bit about aging and how any of it makes sense. What has perplexed me is the notion of honest signals[1] in a world governed by natural selection and the survival of the fittest. Why wouldn't cheating exclusively emerge as the only strategy? Why wouldn't a species evolve a mechanism to survive longer and longer till it completely dominates? Then it dawned on me that the surviva…
The longer you live, the less adaptable your species is. The more generations you can have in a shorter amount of time, the faster you can have beneficial mutations that help your species survive changing conditions.