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To: betty boop
For there is no logical sense whatever in claiming that a being incapable of death was ever actually alive in the first place.

Single celled organisms are not immune from being killed. But your discussion of entropy seems to imply that living things die from some sort of wearing out. Feel free to clarify this.

Cells do not, for the most part, die from entropy or wearing out. Single celled organisms -- those that are living -- have never died.

367 posted on 01/29/2009 5:42:05 AM PST by js1138
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To: js1138

[[Cells do not, for the most part, die from entropy or wearing out.]]

When the cell no longer has the necessary energy to recieve and act upon information/fuel/instrucitons, it dies. As well, outside forces that interupt the ability to receive and utilize information/fuel/instrucitons will kill the cell. The effects of Entropy works to disrupt this information/fuel/instructions process- not in a ‘conscious effort’ to disrupt, but rather as a purely natural process of degredation. Healthy cells can prolong their fitness, but eventually the process of prolonging takes it’s toll wearing hte cell structures out to hte poiont they can no longer fight the effects of entropy, as their parts and ystems become worn an tired out.

Repair mechanism systems that help prolong cell life, but these repair systems also undergoe stress during hte course of their ‘lives’, and these eventually break down too.

Every beat a heart takes is one beat closer to death. Anytime a system converts- fuel to energy for instance, this process contributes to wearing out. Like the car engine, every move of the piston creates wear and tear- This wear and tear can be ‘reduced’ by making sure you have good clean oil to help maintain the cylinder in good working order, but there is still a process of heat and friction going on that contribute to wearing out. Every workign system is bound to this principle. Nothign is eternal but God, Time, and my horrible spelling


373 posted on 01/29/2009 9:49:25 AM PST by CottShop (Scientific belief does not constitute scientific evidence, nor does it convey scientific knowledge)
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To: js1138; doc30; Alamo-Girl
But your discussion of entropy seems to imply that living things die from some sort of wearing out.

I think that, for a multicellular organism, this is generally the case, and is especially noticeable at the level of the most complex biological organism that we know of, the human. Senescence seems unavoidable; and seems to entail a degradation of the organism's ability to "successfully communicate" in the meaning of Shannon's theory. When "the center will not hold" — that is, when the meta-information or biological information at increasing rates fails to be successfully communicated to the organism — eventually things "fall apart."

382 posted on 01/29/2009 10:36:39 AM PST by betty boop
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