Chapter 51: Why we Die, the ‘Death Gene’ and Measurement
Abstract: A simple explanation of why evolution requires a programmed death of the older members, and with our modern control of our reality we can possibly greatly increase our active lifetime.
The ‘death gene’ is a simple, but apt name for a subtle (organizationally necessary) process that is part of our evolution. ‘Tinkering’ with evolution has already brought our world to its present sorry state where there are mass extinctions brought about by our lack of control over our population. However, this book is about how we can control this problem, and I believe that we now have the means to bring it about through the Mathematics of the Mind, and greatly increasing the active lifespan of the ‘best’ people is a step in the right direction.
The ‘death gene’ is a state of mind that uses a lack of willpower (and knowledge) together with Survival of the Fittest to ensure, for long-lived species with offspring that require extensive training, such as humans, the greatest chance of survival. This is done by making the older females slower, so that they are caught by predators in preference to the younger female breeders. Remember that the herd excludes most males, and males use a means of selecting the better sperm, whereas females have to use the egg that is released and older eggs increasingly have genetic damage over time. This effect can be seen in human females as they become infertile at about 40 years of age, whereas males are always fertile.
Why have I used the phrase ‘a lack of willpower (and knowledge)’? This can be appreciated by thinking of old people as slow moving, adults as intermediate and children as active. This is the normal state of affairs with humans, dogs, cats, horses etc., that is, they grow old when circumstances permit them to grow old. The question becomes, must we grow old, or has evolution ‘forced’ us to become slower with age so that older people and animals can be caught and killed more easily?
Life only exists because we can use a logic-machine that I call componentization that allows states to exist and this ‘allows’ muscles to get stronger when we use them and weaker when we don’t use them (this latter is a medical condition called sarcopenia). So, the simplest method of slowing an ageing animal is to weaken the muscles and this can be done by state of mind where it is natural to become lazy if you can get away with it. This ’laziness’ is actually part of componentization and necessary for survival because every part of the body (component) has to have the optimum size and weight with output to compete in any environmental niche. (See chapter 50)
In the wild this situation is normal where the muscles and nerves strengthen enough so that the animal can compete but not by so much that it can’t be caught eventually. In a modern situation, with no competition, the body becomes weaker and it is natural to exercise less and so on as sarcopenia develops. So, laziness is selected naturally, so it is small wonder that we dislike hard work and exercise, look forward to retirement, become ‘couch potatoes’ and just plain sedentary.
So, why is ageing considered important to the individual? Presumably because the individual likes to live a long time! I know that I do! We have used technology to decrease the death rate and now we have overpopulation. In the wild, predation and food supply kept the numbers in check, but since technology has taken over, populations have exploded. I believe that the mathematics of concepts in this book can be used to ‘manage’ social problems to give solutions that can be mutually acceptable and effected more easily.
The aging population that we have today is very expensive to maintain and it would be ideal if older people could work and not need care till the very end. Can this be done? This is going against the basis of evolution, but we have changed reality and can use a ‘higher’ means of selection by using the mind/brain and the mathematics of concepts. Is it possible to increase the length of life for the individual? The components of the body, such as bone, blood, skin etc renew themselves by replacement, but the brain cells just keep going because, if they died, they would destroy memories, and memories of food, predators etc is crucial to survival. So, the mind/brain is immortal!
To be more exact, the mind/brain would be immortal, if Alzheimer’s disease and Vascular dementia were not becoming much more prevalent, but as described in chapter 50, these rank with cancer, heart disease etc. that I class as modern diseases. So, there is the possibility of living a long time, and if we could prevent the modern diseases, we could live a very long time. However, theories of ageing suggest that ‘anything that is happening in your body that you wish were not happening, from the beginnings of disease to the breakdown of systems to the loss of functionality, is being driven by the engine of these four processes… 1. Oxidative damage. 2. Inflammation. 3. Glycation. 4. Stress.’ (The Most Effective Ways To Live Longer, Jonny Bowden, p 15) It has been mentioned previously that these factors are contained in state of mind, nutrition and exercise and I believe that the modern diseases occur when the components of the body are pushed out of the range that they can handle.
The components of the body need fuel to operate and chemicals to maintain and repair themselves. These components of the body evolved in basic principle, hundreds of millions of years ago and do not breakdown unless the required fuel or chemicals are not available. Our lack of variety and type of food consumed in modern time cannot keep the body functioning properly, and adequate exercise is disliked (the ‘death gene), hence modern diseases are widespread. ‘Most of us are eating ourselves to death: only 10 percent of Americans eat the foods that would enable them to be free of chronic disease and premature death.’ (Super Foods Rx, Steven Pratt and Kathy Matthews, p 12)
By following this book (and many others), modern diseases and dementia will not occur and we can live extended lives. How long, I don’t know, but the people that do embrace these changes are people with the positive qualities of determination, learning, don’t gamble, don’t do drugs etc. and become part of the ‘best’ and deserve their long lives. They will be the people that make social decisions to limit the population and stop this world-wide extinction event. The ‘deserving should inherit the earth’, and there are ways of accomplishing this, see earlier.
How did we lose our way and let evolution manipulate us? Because it was necessary for the success of evolution! Now that we have a mind/brain that is a huge ‘step up’ from Survival of the Fittest (iteration), we can use Survival of the Best (mind/brain). Our reality requires measurement and evolution stopped measurement and we ‘lost our way’, so we have to take ‘control’ and use our mind/brain to do it. Existence, reality and measurement are discussed in earlier chapters and are kept to a minimum here.
So, how do we extend our lives? I’m going to repeat a method from the previous chapter because it is so simple and far-reaching. The first step is to regain reality by measurement. People gradually slow down because they don’t measure, and the first step is to set-up an easy way to measure. The mind uses concepts (see the Mathematics of the Mind in earlier chapters) and gives answers in daily life that we call ‘proverbs’ that are solutions in a general sense, so I’m going to use proverbs to make it easier. To measure, we have to ‘draw a line in the sand and not cross it’ because ‘something that we do every day, we can do forever’. Problem solved! Because we have to exercise the same every day, then we can do it forever! In other words, every day we measure and keep our level of fitness. If we decide to decrease it, we again measure and that equates to the length of our remaining life. The second step is what type of exercise, and for a description of exercise as well as everything else, I suggest the Dinky Di Lifestyle Planner Diet (chapter 43).
In conclusion, the key is exercise, nutrition, and from above, state of mind and I can imagine the reader saying ‘is measurement that important’? I would reply that you must measure and record because measurement produces reality. Everything that you see/sense/measure becomes real to you and that that you don’t see/sense/measure is not part of your reality. Technology is only possible with measurement! That’s how powerful is measurement!
Further, I believe that ‘we evolved reality out of the possibility of existence’ and probability space contains space-time and a fifth dimension of measurement/entanglement, and that is the relationship between reality and measurement and they don’t get more related and fundamental than that!
darrylpenney 