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As an adolescent around 1990, I burst my spleen in the final minutes of a school ski trip. Nearly bled to death as the school staff transported me home and left me in my living room to be found later by my parents nearly unconscious. Anyway, I got to the emergency room that evening and there was much debate whether to remove my spleen. They decided not to and instead kept me hospitalized for 10 days and then out of s…
I think it is obvious at this point that the human body is designed to self-destruct, causing death at old age, once a certain biological threshold is reached. Resistance to this idea comes not from a rational perspective, but a semi-religious belief that your own body would not betray you.
With that said, it's possible that long life might have negative effect on resource availability which might affect procreation and child rearing, and might find shorter life-span more advantageous to survival of species.
Is there a good introductory book on understanding inflammation and autoimmune diseases?
Immune: A Journey into the Mysterious System That Keeps You Alive
by Philipp Dettmer
As an adolescent around 1990, I burst my spleen in the final minutes of a school ski trip. Nearly bled to death as the school staff transported me home and left me in my living room to be found later by my parents nearly unconscious. Anyway, I got to the emergency room that evening and there was much debate whether to remove my spleen. They decided not to and instead kept me hospitalized for 10 days and then out of s…
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I think it is obvious at this point that the human body is designed to self-destruct, causing death at old age, once a certain biological threshold is reached. Resistance to this idea comes not from a rational perspective, but a semi-religious belief that your own body would not betray you.
I think it is obvious at this point that the human body is designed to self-destruct, causing death at old age, once a certain biological threshold is reached. Resistance to this idea comes not from a rational perspective, but a semi-religious belief that your own body would not betray you.
Why is that “obvious” and why is the “other” side the religious one and not your “design” assertion? I’m not an expert on such subjects but it seems more closely related to the concepts of evolution to say natural selection does not show preference for abnormally long lived individuals because it is unknown or unimportant at time of procreation which traits lead towards lifetime longevity beyond short term hunter gat…
I think it is obvious at this point that the human body is designed to self-destruct, causing death at old age, once a certain biological threshold is reached. Resistance to this idea comes not from a rational perspective, but a semi-religious belief that your own body would not betray you.
I wouldn’t say self destruct, your body and your child’s body and your grandchild’s body are all a continuation of the same organism. Selection favors clearing out the old dead mutated cells and that is just extending to bodies as well. If we conceptualize ourselves as separate from our descendents, we think we’re dying, but if we procreate our cell line lives on, which is the only outcome which matters to evolution.
As an individual it honestly doesn’t matter that much to me if my cell line continues on. I will still be dead.
There’s another interesting spleen fact that I remember reading: people who survive flight ejections and hitting water at high speed tend to have had their spleens removed. Probably because otherwise the impact causes a rupture and you bleed out too quickly to survive.
This does come up in the story of Cliff Judkins, a Marine Corps pilot who, in 1963, survived a fall of 15,000 feet into the Pacific Ocean. He had had his spleen removed a few years earlier, and a doctor told him that was probably a factor in his not being killed by the impact. Judkins' account is worth a read: https://uss-la-ca135.org/60/1960Judkins-Knott.html
Earlier quoted context omitted.
What do you mean by “flight ejections”? Are we talking about ejection seat activations in military aircraft? This factoid sounds very suspect. Doesn’t most people who need to activate an ejection seat survive spleen or no spleen? Deaths may occur of course, an ejection is not without risks, but if everyone or nearly everyone with a spleen dies then my understanding of the risk associated with an ejection is seriously…
The risk of injury in ejection is quite a bit higher than most people expect (typically over 25% towards 50% for older tech ejection seats). It’s still a way better scenario than riding it in. It is not uncommon for an ejection to end a pilot’s tactical jet flying days for medical reasons.
This exact thing happened to a friend of mine. Combat-rated Harrier pilot in the RAF. Had to punch out after a bird strike. Came out of the infirmary 4 months later, 1/2 inch shorter, flying career over.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why is that “obvious” and why is the “other” side the religious one and not your “design” assertion? I’m not an expert on such subjects but it seems more closely related to the concepts of evolution to say natural selection does not show preference for abnormally long lived individuals because it is unknown or unimportant at time of procreation which traits lead towards lifetime longevity beyond short term hunter gat…
Under the traditional view, the most evolutionarily advantageous individual is one that lives forever and continues to spread their genes indefinitely, producing hundreds of offspring. Why is this not what we see in practice?