From: Phil Osborn (philosborn2001@yahoo.com)
Date: Tue Aug 27 2002 - 21:36:14 MDT
In reply to Robert J. Bradbury (bradbury@aeiveos.com):
Your take that I may be overcomplicating the issue is
likely the case, or at least the larger part of it.
However, we do know that the enteric brain appears to
learn complex modes of behavior and that these modes
may at least appear to become divorced from natural
feedback, resulting in symptoms lumped together as
spastic colon or Crone's syndrome, for which there are
few effective treatments other than sedatives or
tranquilizers formulated to target that area, acting
on the gut brain just as they do on the cranial one.
Our conscious conceptual brains can use the power of
logic and analysis to uncover internal contradictions
in our thinking and resolve them. Neither the "2nd
brain," nor the immune system, which also seems quite
capable of running amok when it gets caught in an
invalid logic loop - often tricked into false
identifications by bacteria using mimicry to hide,
seems to have much capability for such resolution.
Another systemic cause of aging - altho related to the
genome corruption you wrote of - is likely simply an
evolutionary strategy. We are born typically with a
diverse population of mitochondria of varying degrees
of capability and durability, mainly based on their
genomes.
The ones that run really hot burn themselves and the
cells they power out first, when we are young and
stupid and need every edge to survive. Then the
majority population hums along through our normal
breeding years. A few real slowpokes concentrate in a
smaller population of cells that can last a long time,
due to lessor free radical damage, altho they also
have lessor general capability of doing anything
useful, which is what we end up with when age starts
really catching up.
Or, here's one that I thought up back in the early
'70's, I believe - or derived, borrowed or synthesized
from Arthur Koestler's writings. The immune system
bases its success on differentiating me from not-me.
Each person has unique identifiers - probably more
than just the proteins on the cell surface, possibly
including junk DNA, or possibly the surface proteins
somehow reflect the mix of junk
DNA - anyway, this unique fingerprint makes it hard
for enemies to invade without being spotted at the
border. (You know all this. I'm including it for
possible less erudite readers.)
As we age, however, three things happen to reduce the
effectiveness of this system.
1. The information in the immune system degrades.
2. The cells lose their identities over time with
genome degradation and unmasking of traits unsuitable
for their organic/tissue roles.
3. The bacteria, etc., evolve naturally to a closer
and closer mimicry of that unique but degrading
fingerprint, until the immune system gets more often
confused and attacks us.
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