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Argues that death is not unchanging, but rather has evolved over time.
In The Evolution of Death, the follow-up to Becoming Immortal: Combining Cloning and Stem-Cell Therapy, also published by SUNY Press, Stanley Shostak argues that death, like life, can evolve. Observing that literature, philosophy, religion, genetics, physics, and gerontology still struggle to explain why we die, Shostak explores the mystery of death from a biological perspective.
Death, Shostak claims, is not the end of a linear journey, static and indifferent to change. Instead, he suggests, the current efforts to live longer have profoundly affected our ecological niche, and we are evolving into a long-lived species. Pointing to the artificial means currently used to prolong life, he argues that as we become increasingly juvenilized in our adult life, death will become significantly and evolutionarily delayed. As bodies evolve, the embryos of succeeding generations may be accumulating the stem cells that preserve and restore, providing the resources necessary to live longer and longer. If trends like this continue, Shostak contends, future human beings may join the ranks of other animals with indefinite life spans.
"The author has an innovative, if eccentric, notion about why human longevity has increased so dramatically over the past few centuries." — Quarterly Review of Biology
"Who isn't fascinated by the topic of death, and who wouldn't want to know what scientists can tell us about it? I see Shostak's book as laying the foundation for an intriguing discussion of the relationship between death and morality, social justice and longevity, and aging and the good life." — Robert M. Johnson, author of A Logic Book: Fundamentals of Reasoning, Fifth Edition
List of Illustrations
Preface
Introduction: Death the Mystery
Part I. How Biology Makes Sense of Death
1. Evolution: Death’s Unifying Principle
Death Evolves!
False Clues: Where Science Got It Wrong
In Sum
2. Charting Death’s Evolution and Life’s Extension
Measuring Death’s Evolution: Empirical Evidence
Modeling the Evolution of Lifetimes
Accommodating Increased Longevity
In Sum
3. Rethinking Lifecycles and Arrows
Life as a Cycle: Lifecycles Connect Life to Life
Adaptations to Lifecycles
The Linear View of Life: Life’s Arrow
What Is Wrong with the Weismann/Haeckel Doctrine
In Sum
4. Keeping Life Afloat
Why Is Life So Profligate?
Gambling on Life: Death against the Odds
Improving Profit Margins
In Sum
Part II. How Death Evolves and Where It Is Heading
5. Putting Cells in the Picture
Cellular Theories of Life and Death
The Cell’s Role in Growth and Development
The Cell’s Role in Maintenance and Regeneration of Adult Tissues
The Cell’s Role in Death
The Cell’s Potential Role in Regeneration Therapy
In Sum
6. Neoteny and Longevity
The Time Is Out of Joint
Juvenile Life Expectancy Spreads Upward
Neoteny and the Germ Line
Fecundity Is Decreasing
In Sum
Afterword
How Death’s Evolution Escaped the Gerontologist’s Notice
Where Will Death’s Evolution Take Us?
Appendix: Different Forms of Life and Death
Notes
Glossary
Bibliography
Index