THE AGING PROCESS Part 1

AGING AND THE YEARNING FOR IMMORTALITY

      WHAT IS AGING? HOW MANY TYPES OF AGE EXIST? WHY DO WE HAVE TO GET OLD AND DIE?

                                   “Don’t regret growing old; it is a privilege denied to many.”

Aging is an unavoidable biological phenomenon and a natural part of life. We are all going to get old and eventually die either because of old age itself or because of diseases, natural disasters, accidents, or wars.

As I see it, nature or the Creator preprograms aging. According to one of nature's basic laws, every living creature is born to grow, mature, evolve, reproduce, grow old, and die. Only this way can renewal, the evolution of the species, living space, and food resources be preserved, and harmony in Nature can be maintained.

But every living species in nature, including human beings, ages differently. For this reason, every person possesses two different ages:

1 – Chronological (birth certificate) age

2 – Functional (biological) age

These two ages are not necessarily compatible. Chronological age is just a figure, easy to determine, and not very meaningful. Biological age is more meaningful; it reflects a person's overall mental and physical abilities. But it is not so easy to determine. It requires full physical and mental examinations by expert doctors, imaging studies, blood work, and blood-based biological age markers. It isn't practical; I don't think that is the only reason it has never been used. The official retirement age of 65 is a simple chronological figure, chosen in 1845 by the famed German political figure Bismarck for political reasons. Ironically, politicians in any country today never use this age limit because they don't want to lose easy access to a profession that brings instant fame and fortune.

Aging is a known precursor to death, but nobody wants to die. The desire to live forever is as old as human history. The Epic of Gilgamesh, dating to 2000 BC, describes a lifelong search for a plant that makes an older man young again. Ancient Chinese emperors and medieval alchemists have tried in vain to attain immortality. In 500 BC, the ancient Greek philosopher Herodotus wrote about a legendary spring that halts aging forever. The Spaniards searched the New World for this fountain of youth for years.

Despite these past failures, the allure of immortality persists. With advances in science and technology, quantum computers, generative AI, and unlimited funds from high-tech billionaires concerned about their own aging, the dream of immortality remains more alive than ever.