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Quote by: The Bacon Guy  If it weren't for natural expiry, the human race wouldn't last very long. Assuming that the average couple has two children, and no one ever dies of old age, the world's population would double every thirty years. Resources would be depleted rapidly and the species would die out. So there is an evolutionary benefit to death. |
I would seem, perhaps, that time-space controls or influences the processes of aging and death.
Time seems to regulate the growth and aging processes due to what people call the biological clock. Not sure if science favors that idea because it is not a real clock ticking away inside of us but rather a predictable pattern of events that are triggered (harmones -etc.) as we move from womb to grave. Science can estimate the average life span of humans based on time measurments, other factors concerning health can effect living longer after we pass the prime time for reproduction.
You pointed out that death is controlled in part by space, we only got so much space on earth and so population control by death, normally induced by illnesses that break out in overpopulations, and by how much the environment can yeild to maintain the health of that population.
Time and space as a controlling influence upon nature is something that we can study and observe, if one was so motivated, and if not already done, one could come up with a wide-reaching theory about the effects of time-space on nature and it could be testable.
To put off death the living things then must conform to the dictates of space and time. But not totally. Certain adaptations can aid a living thing to combat those influences.
Take a tomato plant. I live in a location where we can have 100 degree weather for a few months. If I water the tomato plant everyday it will grow at a normal rate of speed to ripen the fruit. But if I stop watering the plant for a couple of days it will start to die but the tomatos will ripen faster to insure that seeds will be produced in time to pass tomato life on for another chance at speices survival. Interesting.
Humans have evolutionary options. We can create medical resources to extend life. We can import needed foods into overpopulated areas from areas not compacted with population. We can even notice that other planets have unused space and can use our space program to make other planets user friendly for expanding our space options. And likewise we can control population growth with contraceptives. Through genetic research we might even be able to master and control the whole evolutionary processes of our evolutionary potentials.
But we must comprehend the limitations set by time-space when taking advantage of those scientific options so that our activities are conducted with wisdom and logical perception.