Why would death be in the "evolutionary" order of things?

Question

Why don't we just continue to "mutate"?

dream,
"
Posting a science question in the religion and spirituality section often means the asker does not really want an answer."
Oh, NOW I see where you guys are coming from! You post questions here not really WANTING answers!

Robert, You just don't LIKE the question. I see.

meg, Not a clue, right? I get it.

4Him,
I sense a spirtual nature in your answer. Thanks!

words, Stumped. I get it. Don't worry about it.

Answer 1

Great question. Death is caused by sin. If there was no sin, everything would continue to live. There would be no death.

All God created natural systems are now subject to change over a period of time. It's a continuous process because when man first sinned he brought death and distruction into our world.

Answer 2

There are a limited amount of raw materials to work with and it requires a recycling of the life forms to build the replacements. That means that dieing is required if you want to have evolution. Mutation on the other hand would not require the death of the mutating species but it would require a cycle of life that produced new food for it in other species. Some kind of process that would regenerate the food that the mutating, immortal needed to regenerate and mutate. To give it the energy to move if it was like an animal that is. I think you put your question here because you are questioning evolution. Did we come from apes? Did we start as a one celled animal? Is evolution a fact? Is it a theory? Where we created by a spiritual being? If we were created, were we created like this or did we evolve since then?

Answer 3

Posting a science question in the religion and spirituality section often means the asker does not really want an answer. His goal is to ask a question that he believes proves some scientific knowledge to be wrong, or that science does not yet answer, and make the implicit claim that the only other explanation is a god, and specifically, the same god he happens to believe in.

It's the "god of the gaps" - intellectually bankrupt, since it favors ignorance instead of knowledge, and because of the contained logical fallacy.

However, on the off chance that you really want to know the answer:

* complex life forms can't last forever; nothing does.

* without death, there can be no new life. And a species with too long a life span cannot adapt as quickly.

Answer 4

reproduction ensures that life continues despite death. death does not impede evolution, so there is no evolutionary reason why death must be absolutely eliminated. a chicken is just an egg's way of forming another egg. having said that, some organisms do live for quite a while. turtles can live a couple of hundred years. some trees are especially long-lived, although they cheat a bit - none of their individual cells live more than a few years, so from the outside it looks like they are not dying but it's really just reproduction again, although at a cellular level rather than organism level. accidents can happen to even the most hardy and long-lived organisms. death is inevitable, asking why it occurs seems rather backwards. it is immortality that is unnatural.

Answer 5

It really isn't.....but it makes sense it is.

Lot of "living things" don't die. Comes down to the ends of our chromosomes......they get chopped off during every replication...eventually you get to a point where the thing in our DNA thats "essential for life" gets cut out and thats why we die.

Cancer cells do'nt have the cut off problems........and so when they should die, they just keep replicating.

Anyways, being a multi cellular organism......we have a lot of potential for bad stuff and we want that to die out. I mean we ended evolution a while ago. People used to get sick and only the "strong" ones survived....now its just anyone with a wallet lives. But we alreayd pretty much know how to make us live for another 100-200 years longer......implementing it is a bit tough...expensive....but we can do it.

I just think you have a really bad question.

Answer 6

You do know that Evolution is not possible without death, right?

All natural systems are subject to change over a period of time. It's a continuous process.



Uneducated guesswork only shows that you're ignorant of every aspect of life as well as evolution.

Answer 7

because it is based on the idea that those best suited to their environment being healthy enough and living long enough to procreate and pass on the successful traits to the next generation. those that do not do well, or seem suitable for mating die off. thus, over a long period of time the descendants are different than their ancestors. that is the basis of the theory of evolution.

Answer 8

I don't really understand your question, but I'm assuming you mean why would evolved life still die. That is the natural order of things.

Without death there would be no room for further generations.

Answer 9

Organisms cannot 'continue to mutate'. Evolution refers only to changes between generations, not changes to a single organism. Once something is too old to reproduce, its survival is of no evolutionary advantage.

Answer 10

Because our death is just a step in the evolution of the human race, the Earth, the universe, etc...

Answer 11

because you don't know how to ask clear concise questions. but by interpreting what I think you're asking. because nothing can sustain life forever. entropy increases. mistakes are made then repeated. things get old and worn out and break down. just like everything else in the universe.