Why We Are Living Longer

261 Pages·2016·2.6 MB·English

by  Shostak Stanley

the evolution of death
why we are living longer
stanley shostak
THE EVOLUTION OF DEATH
SUNY Series in Philosophy and Biology
David Edward Shaner, editor
the evolution of death
why we are living longer
stanley shostak
STATE UN IVERS I TY OF NEW YORK PRESS
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State University of New York Press, Albany
© 2006 State University of New York
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Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Shostak, Stanley.
The evolution of death : why we are living longer / Stanley Shostak.
p. ; cm. — (SUNY series in philosophy and biology)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13: 978-0-7914-6945-3 (hardcover : alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 0-7914-6945-X (hardcover : alk. paper)
ISBN-13: 978-0-7914-6946-0 (pbk. : alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 0-7914-6946-8 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Death. 2. Aging. 3.
Life expectancy.
[DNLM: 1. Death. 2. Aging. 3. Evolution. 4. Life
Expectancy—trends. WT 116 S559e 2006] I. Title. II. Series.
QP87.S43 2006
613.2—dc22
2005037275
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
To A. B. and G. P.
Contents
List of Illustrations ix
Preface xi
Introduction: Death the Mystery 1
Part I. How Biology Makes Sense of Death 5
1. Evolution: Death’s Unifying Principle 7
Death Evolves! 7
False Clues: Where Science Got It Wrong 9
In Sum 39
2. Charting Death’s Evolution and Life’s Extension 41
Measuring Death’s Evolution: Empirical Evidence 42
Modeling the Evolution of Lifetimes 48
Accommodating Increased Longevity 51
In Sum 55
3. Rethinking Lifecycles and Arrows 57
Life as a Cycle: Lifecycles Connect Life to Life 58
Adaptations to Lifecycles 71
The Linear View of Life: Life’s Arrow 75
What Is Wrong with the Weismann/Haeckel Doctrine 79
In Sum 85
4. Keeping Life Afloat 89
Why Is Life So Profligate? 90
Gambling on Life: Death against the Odds 95
vii
viii CONTENTS
Improving Profit Margins 100
In Sum 104
Part II. How Death Evolves and Where It Is Heading 105
5. Putting Cells in the Picture 107
Cellular Theories of Life and Death 107
The Cell’s Role in Growth and Development 109
The Cell’s Role in Maintenance and Regeneration of Adult Tissues 112
The Cell’s Role in Death 117
The Cell’s Potential Role in Regeneration Therapy 121
In Sum 130
6. Neoteny and Longevity 133
The Time Is Out of Joint 134
Juvenile Life Expectancy Spreads Upward 136
Neoteny and the Germ Line 142
Fecundity Is Decreasing 144
In Sum 148
Afterword 151
How Death’s Evolution Escaped the Gerontologist’s Notice 152
Where Will Death’s Evolution Take Us? 156
Appendix: Different Forms of Life and Death 161
Notes 173
Glossary 197
Bibliography 205
Index 235
Illustrations
Figure 1.1 Survivorship distributions for comparable life spans 13
Figure 1.2 Partial disease profile for the seven stages of a lifetime 39
Figure 2.1 Death rates by age and sex in the United States, 1955–1999 44
Figure 2.2 Percentage change in death rates and age-adjusted death rates
between 1998 and 1999 by age, race, and sex, in the
United States 45
Figure 2.3 Life expectancy by sex in the United States, 1970–1999 47
Figure 2.4 Life span model 50
Figure 2.5 Life span model in action 50
Figure 2.6 The accordion model 52
Figure 2.7 The bagpipe model 53
Figure 3.1 A lifecycle, as proposed by Thomas Huxley 58
Figure 3.2 Death’s role in a lifecycle 62
Figure 3.3 The Eukaryotic lifecycle as waves 64
Figure 3.4 Stages of a life span 67
Figure 3.5 Weismann’s divide 76
Figure 3.6 Numbers of precursors, oocytes, and spermatozoa in
Homo sapiens 85
Figure 4.1 Total deaths in Singapore, 1991–2000 96
Figure 4.2 Infant mortality rates in Singapore, 1991–2000 97
Figure 4.3 Life expectancy as a function of age 98
ix