From the publisher of The Evolution of Aging by Theodore C. Goldsmith, ISBN 0978870905.
Aging appears to be a radically different phenomenon depending on one’s point of view. For physicians, medical researchers, and others very familiar with human aging, the overwhelming impression is that aging results from a fundamental deteriorative process. Members of this group tend to believe in aging theories that involve entropy, accumulation of molecular damage, or other processes similar to those that cause aging in mechanical or chemical systems. They also consequently tend to believe that aging, per se, is unalterable. We can devise treatments for individual manifestations of aging but there is no possible generic “anti-aging” treatment because of the fundamental nature of aging.
For a much smaller group consisting of zoologists and other science-adept people highly familiar with life-cycle characteristics of many non-human species, the overwhelming impression is that organisms are designed to have a limited and species-specific life span. Believers in aging-by-design tend to be much more optimistic regarding the possibility of anti-aging medicine. After all, most pharmaceuticals are intended to alter or compensate for some aspect of human design. However, there is a major problem that appeared in 1859: The mechanics aspect of Darwin’s evolution theory (survival of the fittest) is incompatible with evolution of a design feature that limits life span. Efforts spanning nearly 150 years have been unsuccessful in developing a theory of aging that successfully explains the multi-species observations within Darwin’s mechanics.
Goldsmith, trained as a digital systems engineer and therefore an outsider to both theory groups, chronicles the development of the competing theories and presents extensive evidence suggesting that aging-by-design is the most credible. The book also catalogs other observed discrepancies with Darwinian mechanics as well as various evolution concepts that have been developed to adjust Darwinism to accommodate them (including aging-by-design).
Goldsmith’s scientific interest is in using modern digital data theory to analyze the evolutionary implications of the digital nature of inheritance. (Genetic codes and the duplication and transfer of digital genetic data during inheritance must follow the general rules pertaining to any digital system.) This work has exposed some additional discrepancies with traditional evolution theory and therefore indirectly strengthened the case for aging-by-design.
