But Still...
....I was intrigued looking at certain aspects from my previous post labeled , table talk.
First, most of the top 25 nations in the world were never colonized. The other interesting aspect of those nations were their life expectancy. People seem to live atleast 10 - 12 years longer in colder regions than those close to the equator. Hmmm....
Driving to one of my favorite mediterranean restaurants for dinner, we got talking in the car! I pose a challenge: think if you may, of the most efficient machine known to man! Can you guarantee that it would run non-stop for 75 odd years? I am amazed at how nature constantly chiseled us to this state we are in today! Nature made sure that the mouth, stomach and intestines were designed to work in tandem, yet they are entities that could go wrong. Vision, ears, nose all designed with a sense to control and navigate. The way species have been engineered by nature is amazing...
"but, nature hasn't optimized us to live for 75 odd years", is the rebuttal I got! He continued, " I believe that if nature persisted, humans would only live long enough to propagate species".... Could that be true? Are we most efficient till the time we produce an offspring? There is no doubt that physically we grow weaker as time progresses, but has nature designed us to lose our capacity to exist efficiently after reproducing?
I believe the following should make for a good read:
W.J. MacLennan and W. I. Sellers, aging through the ages, "Proceedings of the Royal College of Physicians, Edinburgh",1999 . It is true though that before the 1900's, life expectancy revolved around the 40's mark.
Another report in wikipedia states the following:
Humans by Era, Average Lifespan (in years)
Neanderthal, 20
Neolithic, 20
Bronze Age, 18
Classical Greece, 28
Classical Rome, 28
Medieval England, 33
End of 19th Century, 37
Early 20th Century, 50
Circa 1940, 65
Current (in the Western world), 77-81
Credits: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_expectancy#_note-1
Life expectancy, seems to have improved due to human intervention, modernization, development in drugs, etc. We are able to create vaccines and eradicate diseases. We are able to probe into the body to completly understand and try to replicate or engineer its function. In years to come, we will be able to re-engineer the various parts of the body with great success.
First, most of the top 25 nations in the world were never colonized. The other interesting aspect of those nations were their life expectancy. People seem to live atleast 10 - 12 years longer in colder regions than those close to the equator. Hmmm....
Driving to one of my favorite mediterranean restaurants for dinner, we got talking in the car! I pose a challenge: think if you may, of the most efficient machine known to man! Can you guarantee that it would run non-stop for 75 odd years? I am amazed at how nature constantly chiseled us to this state we are in today! Nature made sure that the mouth, stomach and intestines were designed to work in tandem, yet they are entities that could go wrong. Vision, ears, nose all designed with a sense to control and navigate. The way species have been engineered by nature is amazing...
"but, nature hasn't optimized us to live for 75 odd years", is the rebuttal I got! He continued, " I believe that if nature persisted, humans would only live long enough to propagate species".... Could that be true? Are we most efficient till the time we produce an offspring? There is no doubt that physically we grow weaker as time progresses, but has nature designed us to lose our capacity to exist efficiently after reproducing?
I believe the following should make for a good read:
W.J. MacLennan and W. I. Sellers, aging through the ages, "Proceedings of the Royal College of Physicians, Edinburgh",1999 . It is true though that before the 1900's, life expectancy revolved around the 40's mark.
Another report in wikipedia states the following:
Humans by Era, Average Lifespan (in years)
Neanderthal, 20
Neolithic, 20
Bronze Age, 18
Classical Greece, 28
Classical Rome, 28
Medieval England, 33
End of 19th Century, 37
Early 20th Century, 50
Circa 1940, 65
Current (in the Western world), 77-81
Credits: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_expectancy#_note-1
Life expectancy, seems to have improved due to human intervention, modernization, development in drugs, etc. We are able to create vaccines and eradicate diseases. We are able to probe into the body to completly understand and try to replicate or engineer its function. In years to come, we will be able to re-engineer the various parts of the body with great success.
Can nature give us an answer as to why are we the most advanced species inhabiting the world today? Why are we able to control the forces that were designed to restrict our life expectancy? Is our only purpose as a species, progeny? How has nature allowed itself to be let engineered? Hmmm...but still, I wonder
posted by Ashwin at 2:00 AM
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