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Questions:

• Why death?
• How death?
• Death by evolution?
• Might organisms just as easily evolved to live indefinitely?

Short Answer:

Our life comes to realizing death is a "natural consequence" to being alive. Psychologically, humans desire to live forever—that is a feeling inherent in our being (and possibly with good reason, but a consideration beyond this article). Clearly, questions from a theological perspective bring other dimensions to the 'why and how' death. Yet, ironically, from a biological perspective, the 'why and how' shed light on death in relation to design—this brings intent into view, not merely consequence.

Consider what happens when we reset the questions for a one-dimensional thinker who simply sees life along a timeline. The starting point is birth. The endpoint is old age and death. You are born, you live, you die, that's it! Only accident, disease, or other catastrophic event terminates a life ‘early.’ But one-dimensional thinking skips over where death plays a role during a being's lifetime. Further, death of individual members of a species supports a greater network of diverse species over the entire earth. The issue of death is actually multi-dimensional!

We might ask: “Why does death even exist?” Ridiculous question? No, because if evolution is an unguided and a thoughtless process, then systems and processes that develop over billions of years should 'pay no heed' to an organism in terms of death. At least longer life spans might be expected. Simply put, Darwinian (macro) evolution might logically result in life that is in no way destined to die (i.e., simply by age). The opposite case is more in evidence, there are signs of process or features that time (limit) an organism's longevity—not merely random!

Life seems to come in a package that naturally includes death. Some of this has to do with the structure and components of cell chromosomes (e.g. telomeres, see below). Yet, there are remarkable repair systems, for genetic code and even even the ability to regenerate lost parts (e.g. limbs) in some organisms. The Bible speaks of human generations of up to 900 years, yet that span has diminished to some 100 years. If the former case is true, what accounts for the change? Did telomeres change? And all generations lose members by various means, such as by predation, fatal injuries, and certainly aging. But do you ever ask why? Is there a higher order to the logic for death? Does death play a designed role for life?

Think a moment 'outside the box.' The suggestion that death is normal or natural is not so obvious when Darwinian evolution assumes a system arises with no guidance or intention. Next ask: "Why would death be programmed into life forms as a result of trial and error or chance events (i.e. macroevolution)? Why not evolution of organisms that keep on living without repair or generating new cells to replace older cells? Or perhaps with continual repair mechanisms to simply sustain a cell, tissue, and organism. Then again, isn't repair part of a higher order of logic, function, and design?

Within the ecological realm, there is a food chain, a web of life, and old age afflicts those who make it past all other fatal events. And yet, the web of life is ordered and layered with niches, trophic levels, and an overall energy flow that sustains life itself over the face of the globe. Is that merely a product of evolution? Potentially yes, but the web is complex and extensive to the point of even having an impact on the environment in terms of life's own sustainability. If nothing else, the view from here is of an awesome integration of life forms, energy flow, and planet systems (think about this in terms of plate tectonics, salinity and pH of surface and oceanic waters, nutrient cycles, temperatures, solar radiation, and a matrix of numerous other factors). In the ecological sense, life is a network of beings conveying energy to other species over time. Death mediates the conveyance of that energy. The web of life itself seems a bit more by design than by chance.

The informational need for biological systems to fill all niches is like computer programmers being asked to write computer code for every program that will ever be written. Does that happen by chance process? By analogy, do programmers write computer code by trying all combinations of keystrokes [one letter at a time] in an attempt to write all the required code for an intelligible program? Now multiply that by the number of species of life and all their niches! Perhaps you grasp the concept. Computer code is very specific and so is the genetic code for the diversity of species. That is a lot of specified and functional biological information—itself easily superior to computer codes.

To focus a bit now, the amazing thing is a life is full of death, even on a daily basis. Examples can be cited depending on the type of being—be that human, animal, or plant. Death of cells in an advanced life form sustains the overall being, shape, function, and existence throughout a lifetime. There is a functional aspect to certain cells being terminated in a coordinated fashion along the timeline.

"The biological process of aging my seem to be a simple case of wear and tear, a kind of inevitable internal erosion that weakens cells, organs, and organ systems from head to toe, limiting their functioning as we age. Yet, scientifically we know this is not universally true. We know that not all living things age alike."

Dr. Gene D Cohen, The Creative Age, Page 42

The role of telomeres and apoptosis are two examples that effectively get us thinking of death as more than a random event—more on this in the next section. In the biological realm, death of cells is functional during early development. Words from a scientific journal express this in succinct terms:

"There are many ways to measure apoptosis and other forms of programmed cell death in development. Once nonmammalian embryos have passed the midblastula transition, or much earlier in mammalian embryos, apoptosis is similar to that seen in adult organisms, and is used to sculpt the animal, fuse bilateral tissues, and establish the structure of the nervous system and the immune system. Embryos present unique problems in that, in naturally occurring cell deaths, few cells are involved and they are frequently in very restricted regions."

Journal of Immunological Methods, Vol 265, Issues 1–2, 1 July 2002, Abstract.

Cells die and are lost during the life span of a mature organism. The human brain, for example, loses some amount of overall size, but as some cells are lost, brain function can continue with high function retained. This remakes the brain in one sense and is perhaps a challenge to simple evolution—there seems an ongoing redesign of the physical brain to sustain high mental functions we associate with the mind. The brain is a physical and physiological structure ... the mind is another matter ... with cell life and death impacting the physical dimensions of the brain.

At the end of a lifetime, by old age or any other cause, death to older individuals in a population carries additional characteristics of design for population dynamics and energy flow through an ecosystem. Just thinking about death as a functional characteristic to life opens the door to a new level of consideration, well past the concepts entertained by a one-dimensional thinker!

As elsewhere within the window, evidence for design leaves the material naturalist with the uneasy question of: "Who is the designer?" We see this as a question that opens the window ALL the way ... to consider why there is life in the first place ... by chance or by purpose. If by purpose, then it is time to "Step Up To Life!"

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Consider This:

There is an apparent 'programmed functionality' to death in cells of higher life forms. Scientific evidence supporting this function is amazing and subject to ongoing research. The whole strategy to birth, growth, survival, repair, regeneration (partial in tissues or full parts in certain organisms), and aging is associated with death sustaining a life before an organism's end of life.

The following quotation focuses apoptosis, the term that relates to a programmed aspect of development or timed loss of cells.

Definition of Apoptosis: a genetically directed process of cell self-destruction that is marked by the fragmentation of nuclear DNA, is activated either by the presence of a stimulus or removal of a suppressing agent or stimulus, and is a normal physiological process eliminating DNA-damaged, superfluous, or unwanted cells—called also programmed cell death.

(source: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/apoptosis)

There are many more aspects to considering "how and why" death than will be addressed here. If the examples illustrated here get you to thinking further bout death in less than a material sense, then you can explore further on you own. The point here is simply that death is not simply a material aspect to living, but that systems in life depend on death in a high ordered function that cannot simply be ascribed to an evolutionary origin.

The cells of a multicellular organism are members of a highly organized community. The number of cells in this community is tightly regulated—not simply by controlling the rate of cell division, but also by controlling the rate of cell death. If cells are no longer needed, they commit suicide by activating an intracellular death program. This process is therefore called programmed cell death, although it is more commonly called apoptosis (from a Greek word meaning “falling off,” as leaves from a tree).

(source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK26873/)

There are two ways that a cell can die: necrosis and apoptosis. Necrosis occurs when a cell is damaged by an external force, such as poison, a bodily injury, an infection or getting cut off from the blood supply (which might occur during a heart attack or stroke). When cells die from necrosis, it's a rather messy affair. The death causes inflammation that can cause further distress or injury within the body.

Apoptosis, on the other hand, is relatively civil, even though it may not sound so at first -- it's when a cell commits suicide. How is that better than necrosis? For one thing, the cleanup is much easier. It's sometimes referred to as programmed cell death, and indeed, the process of apoptosis follows a controlled, predictable routine.

(source: https://science.howstuffworks.com/life/cellular-microscopic/apoptosis.htm)

Information, logic, and a programmed aspects lead more to a conclusion of design over chance events being responsible for lifeforms. This leaves us to consider the development and growth of a single life, the network of all beings on earth, and the role death plays in specified systems in cells that sustains our physical being throughout our time on earth.

The programming of life also appears in terms of a set limit to the number of cell divisions that can occur. A number of source we have come across cite a 50 cell division limit for humans. Again expect differences in other species, but the concept is remarkable and leads to the question of 'why' and the notion of a built in design factor.

"When the telomere becomes too short, essential parts of the DNA can be damaged in the replication process. Scientists have noticed that cells stop replicating when telomeres are shorter. In humans, a cell replicates about 50 times before the telomeres become too short. This limit is called the Hayflick limit (after the scientist who discovered it)."

(source: https://longevity.about.com/od/researchandmedicine/p/telomeres.htm)

If there was exhibited vast ranges of ages when death occurred within a species, then that might suggest evolution produced organisms that could live indefinitely. Yet we are faced with the prospect that evolution resulted in a trait that is death within a life that sustains a life.

Researchers can use the length of a cell's telomeres to determine the cell's age and how many more times is will replicate. This is important in anti-aging research. When a cell stops replicating, it enters into a period of decline known as "cell senescence," which is the cellular equivalent of aging.

(source: https://longevity.about.com/od/researchandmedicine/p/telomeres.htm)

And senescence is what one observes in the fall of the year when leaves on deciduous trees respond to a change in season. Cold weather in the fall of the year is a stimulus for the changes in leaf color ... with hardwood tress displaying red, yellow, orange and bright red. As the leaves turn from green to all other colors, a process of rapid aging and cell death is concurrent with movement of nutrients and sugars from leaves to the roots. This is not as much related to cell division and length of telomeres as it is a seasonal programming that sustains the tree through winter and then a new flush of leaves when the spring comes. All programmed with cycles of death a d replacement of leaves from one growing season to the next. You may think nothing of this, but without the high ordered functions coordinating changes in the plant habit (appearance) through out, there would be no survival. All systems respond in a coordinated designed fashion.

There may be a number of theories out there on why organisms age and die. A ready example is plants that seasonally exhibit death of leaves before over wintering ... this fits climatic cycles and environmental variability. But this is the very point exhibited in yet another high ordered fashion.

 

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Time spent looking ... through a window on life and choice ... brings the opportunity to see in a new light. The offer for you to Step Up To Life is presented on many of the web pages at WindowView. Without further explanation we offer you the steps here ... knowing that depending on what you have seen or may yet explore in the window ... these steps will be the most important of your life ...

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