One of the deepest questions I know: why don't species designs rot, and require eventual replacement from scratch, remotely as much as do individual organisms, or as do human-made software systems and complex product designs?
Not really an answer but I recently read an interesting argument for why individual organisms senesce: 1. Even w/o senescence, organisms have a finite expected lifespan from predation, disease, famine, etc.
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2. There’s little selection pressure to stay healthy/whole long past expected lifespan. 3. In contrast, there is selection pressure to “live fast/die young,” and trade off the future for present reproductive success.
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Interesting that this argument doesn’t apply to species. I guess maybe it applies to human-engineered systems, kinda?
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