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Human longevity: Difference between revisions
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It should be noted that there is nothing known about the human body which would fundamentally prevent humans from having lived that long in the past, or to one day live that long again.[http://www.personalmd.com/news/a1998071403.shtml] Scientists do not know why humans age and ultimately die, although some have speculated{{fact}} that it might be due to the shortening of [[telomere]]s, which could theoretically have been much longer prior to the flood. | It should be noted that there is nothing known about the human body which would fundamentally prevent humans from having lived that long in the past, or to one day live that long again.[http://www.personalmd.com/news/a1998071403.shtml] Scientists do not know why humans age and ultimately die, although some have speculated{{fact}} that it might be due to the shortening of [[telomere]]s, which could theoretically have been much longer prior to the flood. | ||
John Sanford, PhD references a study performed by Halliday and Watts in 2001 that clearly shows an exponential decay curve which can only be described as "biological". The calculated "line of best fit" is exponential with a correlation curve of 0.94, a very close fit. | In (''Genetic Entropy'') John Sanford, PhD references a study performed by Halliday and Watts in 2001 that clearly shows an exponential decay curve which can only be described as "biological". The calculated "line of best fit" is exponential with a correlation curve of 0.94, a very close fit. Sanford observes: | ||
{{cquote|We are forced to conclude that the writer of Genesis either faithfully recorded an exponential decay of human lifespan, or the author fabricated the data using sophisticated mathematical modeling. To fabricate the data would have required an advanced knowledge of mathematics, as well as a strong desire to show exponential decay. But without knowledge of genetics (discovered in the 19th century) or mutation (discovered in the 20th century), why would the author of Genesis have wanted to show a biological decay curve? It does not seem reasonable to attribute this data to some elaborate "stone-age fraud". The most rational conclusion is that the data are real, and that human life expectancy was once hundreds of years - but has progressively declined to current values. The most obvious explanation...would be genetic degeneration due to mutation. (''Genetic Entropy & The Mystery of the Genome'',Elim Publishing, 2005, pp. 148-149) }} | |||
{{cquote|We are forced to conclude that the writer of Genesis either faithfully recorded an exponential decay of human lifespan, or the author fabricated the data using sophisticated mathematical modeling. To fabricate the data would have required an advanced knowledge of mathematics, as well as a strong desire to show exponential decay. But without knowledge of genetics (discovered in the 19th century) or mutation (discovered in the 20th century), why would the author of Genesis have wanted to show a biological decay curve? It does not seem reasonable to attribute this data to some elaborate "stone-age fraud". The most rational conclusion is that the data are real, and that human life expectancy was once hundreds of years - but has progressively declined to current values. The most obvious explanation...would be genetic degeneration due to mutation. (''Genetic Entropy & The Mystery of the Genome'', JC Sanford PhD, Elim Publishing, 2005, pp. 148-149) }} | |||
=== Josephus on early human longevity === | === Josephus on early human longevity === | ||
