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Oni2:Slaves of War/Polylectiloquy: Difference between revisions
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:Then you have the infamous [[wikipedia:HeLa|HeLa]] cell line, taken from the cancerous tissue of a woman who died 60 years ago. HeLa cells are immortal (and frighteningly adaptable). Just to drive the point home, these are <u>human</u> cells, dividing without end, because they fully restore their telomeres with every division. However, this is because they are a cancer, not a viable life form. It could be that complex life forms just aren't able to live forever because of some trade-offs we're not familiar with. But scientists generally agree that there is no known reason why our bodies cannot keep going indefinitely, on a mechanical level. | :Then you have the infamous [[wikipedia:HeLa|HeLa]] cell line, taken from the cancerous tissue of a woman who died 60 years ago. HeLa cells are immortal (and frighteningly adaptable). Just to drive the point home, these are <u>human</u> cells, dividing without end, because they fully restore their telomeres with every division. However, this is because they are a cancer, not a viable life form. It could be that complex life forms just aren't able to live forever because of some trade-offs we're not familiar with. But scientists generally agree that there is no known reason why our bodies cannot keep going indefinitely, on a mechanical level. | ||
:Perhaps more importantly, aging may be a much more holistic problem than a simple matter of stopping telomeres from getting shorter. Scientists have not even demonstrated that aging is <u>caused</u> by shortening of telomeres. It's also hard to tell whether longer telomeres | :Perhaps more importantly, aging may be a much more holistic problem than a simple matter of stopping telomeres from getting shorter. Scientists have not even demonstrated that aging is <u>caused</u> by shortening of telomeres. It's also hard to tell whether longer telomeres lead to less incidences of cancer, or <u>more</u> incidences! However, for our purposes, we can simply say that the Daodan is like cancer that only keeps on improving you. It's just magic that way, or [[wikipedia:Clarke%27s_three_laws|sufficiently advanced technology]], anyway. The open question is still whether the Daodan can, or was designed to, stop aging. | ||
:Finally, an intriguing counterpoint is that of neurons. Our brain cells are actually immortal, and not in the sense of HeLa being immortal because it never stops dividing. Neurons <u>don't divide at all</u>. You still have the same cells in your brain that you did when you were young. To be exact, neurons stop being produced in adulthood, so after that point, what you got is what you got. Except there's an exception there too -- the hippocampus and olfactory bulbs continue to generate new neurons. So, even though our bodies tend to give out after 80 or so years, our brains might in fact be immortal. Can the Daodan extend this special property of the brain to our entire bodies? I suppose the answer is whatever we think leads to the most interesting story. | :Finally, an intriguing counterpoint is that of neurons. Our brain cells are actually immortal, and not in the sense of HeLa being immortal because it never stops dividing. Neurons <u>don't divide at all</u>. You still have the same cells in your brain that you did when you were young. To be exact, neurons stop being produced in adulthood, so after that point, what you got is what you got. Except there's an exception there too -- the hippocampus and olfactory bulbs continue to generate new neurons. So, even though our bodies tend to give out after 80 or so years, our brains might in fact be immortal. Can the Daodan extend this special property of the brain to our entire bodies? I suppose the answer is whatever we think leads to the most interesting story. | ||