Why are humans not immortal?

Answer 1

unfortunately there seems to be some limit to the number of times our cells can replace themselves by dividing. This is one of the causes of parts weakening and losing their function, including the immune system. Another is possibly stress and another is toxins such as free radicals & others. Finally something major goes wrong such as the heart not working efficiently or cancer cells not being destroyed or a leak in the aorta, or we get a virus or bacteria that we can't get rid of and we are gone. sometimes it starts little by little. The cholesterol starts going up; the blood pressure starts going up; the organs and joints don't work so well, etc. this finally leads to some major event, like a stroke or heart attack. Everything is interdependent and when one thing starts going wrong, it effects everything else. also every treatment effects other parts of the body. The treatment my fix the thing that is presently wrong but causes something else to go out of whack. This can get to a point that is unmanagble or can lead to failure of something. If we could remove the limit to cells dividing; remove our genetic instructions for things to go wrong; find preventive measures to things going wrong and fix things without effecting the other systems of the body, then barring massive injury, we could be immortal. You got a lot of answers about going to heaven and over-crowding on earth. What about the over-crowding in heaven? Think of all the human beings that ever lived. If they went to heaven and hell, both places but be totally over-crowded. What about proto-humans? what about Apes? What about animals? Do they have "souls"? Where did they go? In the 17th century there were thinkers who were called "vitalists" who believed in a "life-field" or "life-Force". In the 19th Century some of the "galvanists" (those who connected chemo-electricity with life) took up this cause again. The story of Frankenstein was based on this. In the 20th century RussianScientists also began investigating this idea of a unifying "life-field" that organizes the cells of the developing body and continues to have an organizing influence. They used Kirilian photography as evidence of this life-field. They also did experiements in bringing dead animals back to life.

Answer 2

I've never seen so much slag proffered as an answer to your question. By immortal I hope you don't mean some transcendent supernatural thing. That would deserve the answers your got. I'm hopeing your asking "Aside from accidents, why do humans die?"

The answer is... becuase our lifespan is set to its evolutionary optimum. If we lived longer would we really be contributing to the successful reproduction of the species. Some theories recognize an important role for grandparents for rearing the young but once that job is over it's better for them to die and stop consuming limited resources

Answer 3

Every individual living thing from a cell to a giant plant or animal has to die. If it were not true, and they still reproduced, there would be no life as we know it. Whether you believe in God or evolution this fact has to be taken into account.

If you believe in God and that He designed living things then He had to design them from the start with an inborn necessity to die. If you believe in evolution and that all living things came from a primordial cell then the process of evolution had to anticipate the need for death or else life would have ceased before it even got a good start.

I hope this helps; if you want to know the actual cause look up "telomeres" in Yahoo! search. Good luck, good question, peace and love!

Answer 4

Nothing in the known universe is immortal. Stars, galaxies, planets, possibly even the universe itself, has a finite existence. There is no life form on this planet known to exist forever. Everything eventually dies. What happens after that? Many theories, no proof to any of them.

Answer 5

cells age, and our somatic cells ( all of our cells other than germ line cells) do not have the ability to divide immortally. After each replication, some of the sequences at the end of our chromosomes are lost and cannot be replaced because our somatic cells do not have the enzyme telomerase that is responsible for replication of chromosome ends. So when aged cells cannot divide, they die, and as a result we get older and die.

Answer 6

#1: We all make mistakes that can be fatal.

#2: Diseases and viruses can either directly kill us or decline our general health.

#3: Our cell nuceli eventually wear down and die at a faster rate than they do during a person's growth.

#4: It has been said that a person would become suicidal after living for more than a few centuries but where this came from I don't know.

Answer 7

If humans were immortal, it destroys the God's purpose of life in heaven, which Christians believe is the true "life."

Answer 8

Because this human body is just a shell for our spirits (or souls) which are immortal.

Answer 9

i think if theres a higher force out their that gives us life, than mortality is just a way to make us appreciate this reality. at the same time its probably likely the gift we're given doesnt just dissapear with our bodys, we either live in another life or the essence of us gets moved onto something else

Answer 10

Not sure , but at the same time
Why are pigs not immortal ?