timtyler comments on Does evolution select for mortality? - Less Wrong Discussion
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A fairly complete explanation of most aging:
Disposable soma theory
Antagonistic pleiotropy
Damage accumulation
Reliability theory
And none of these argues that evolution selects for mortality or aging.
That's true. However the antagonistic pleiotropy and disposable soma theories have senescence as the product of selection. Basically, all the theories are bad news for anyone hoping that aging and death will somehow go away. Fighting aging is fighting against the natural tendencies of systems to age and die.