Immortality revisited

[Ian Thomas]

Got an idea there's an immortality thread buried deep on this board?
Whatever.
This paper is significant, imho. If lifespan can be acted on Natural Selection then it can likewise be genetically manipulated in the lab.

Programed Death is Favored by Natural Selection in Spatial Systems
Justin Werfel, Donald E. Ingber, and Yaneer Bar-Yam
Phys. Rev. Lett. 114, 238103 – Published 12 June 2015
journals.aps.org/prl/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevLett.114.238103
dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.114.238103
Standard evolutionary theories of aging and mortality, implicitly based on mean-field assumptions, hold that programed mortality is untenable, as it opposes direct individual benefit. We show that in spatial models with local reproduction, programed deaths instead robustly result in long-term benefit to a lineage, by reducing local environmental resource depletion via spatiotemporal patterns causing feedback over many generations. Results are robust to model variations, implying that direct selection for shorter life span may be quite widespread in nature.

[youcantry]

The more I meander through myriad topics on existentialism, the more I wonder what consciousness truly is - for it is consciousness, and ego, if anything, that will push against the cultural norms of, well, in this case, it seems to be, natural selection. If we are going to mess with death in the lab, it is only because our consciousness desires it, so what is consciousness?

[dennisw]

Neppe and Close published some interesting work in this field, a psychiatrist and mathematician working together to produce a formula that describes consciousness in a form suitable for physicists. The calculus is pretty deep but great for anyone with a mathematical bent, one conclusion from presenting consciousness as a formula shows that inanimate objects cannot become conscious. Consciousness therefore has to precede creation, a mathematical conclusion that supports the concept of intelligent design; the universe is conscious?

[Freddo]

Consciousness is simply a by-product of a highly developed brain.

Self-awareness and all of the emotions are all sub-sets of consciousness.

[Ian Thomas]

Om mani padme hum, bro'