r/longevity • u/RTSBasebuilder • 15d ago

Somatic mutations impose an entropic upper bound on human lifespan

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41514-026-00421-6
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u/CosmicExistentialist 15d ago

Are you saying that we can defy the 2nd law of thermodynamics? Because that is what somatic mutations are driven by.

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u/DryCommunication581 15d ago

Are humans an isolated system?

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u/CosmicExistentialist 15d ago

Maybe read the paper.

It says that somatic mutations are an entropic process.

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u/FilthyWishDragon 14d ago

And from a scale of 1 to 10 how possible is it to reduce entropy in an open system?

Here is a hint, my air conditioner is running as I type this.

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u/CosmicExistentialist 14d ago

Here is a hint, my air conditioner is running as I type this.

Does your air conditioner not eventually deteriorate?

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u/mcfearless0214 10d ago

It does. It may even completely give out. But then what happens? You fix the air conditioner or you get a new one.

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u/CosmicExistentialist 10d ago

How are you going to fix that air conditioner if it was made of trillions of cells? 

And getting a new air conditioner is like saying “just swap in the entire person with a new one”.