In the photo: Computer model. Blue - aging, Red - immortals
The long-standing dream of mankind - immortality - if realized, can turn into a nightmare and put a person as a biological species at an extremely disadvantageous position. This conclusion was made by scientists from the University of São Paulo (Brazil) using computer modeling
The immortality promised to mankind by the authors of science fiction films, futurist Ray Kurzweil and nanotechnology enthusiasts, in fact, would not be an advantage, but a genetic flaw, a factor that ensures defeat in interspecies competition.
In the course of the experiment, biologists led by Andre Martins modeled the competition between two populations - the usual one, whose members age and die, and the immortal, whose representatives die exclusively under the influence of external factors, i.e. as a result of murders, accidents and man-made mutations.
Computer models behaved very differently depending on the tiny parameters of the program. At the initial stage, the “immortal” species had an advantage, but as additional external factors were added, the advantage of the “aging” population became more and more obvious.
As a result, as the modeling proved, the "immortals" will inevitably face complete extinction - and this despite the fact that the real world of external factors is much more than can be foreseen in a computer program.
Immortals may not be bad. But only if you are alone …
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Thus, scientists argue, the aging of the organism, which occurs when cells cannot "conscientiously" perform the functions imposed on them, can even be considered the result of evolution, which ensured the survival of mankind as a biological species - as, indeed, all other biological species on Earth.
In the course of evolution, changes and mutations helped each subsequent generation adapt slightly better to new external conditions, which generally compensated for the negative impact of death. Not to mention, immortal people would most likely just go crazy with boredom.
