Re: Why are we allowed to age?

Eric Watt Forste (arkuat@pobox.com)
Fri, 13 Jun 1997 16:25:03 -0700


Mark Grant said my argument about the genetic basis of senescence
sounds circular, but then presents "Dawkins' explanation", which
Dawkins himself credits to Sir Peter Medawar, G. C. Williams, and
W. D. Hamilton. This is exactly the explanation that I was trying
to present, but I guess I did a poor job of it.

Rather than repeat my mistakes, I'll give a bibliographic cite to
a widely available book (by Dawkins), written at a popular level:
RIVER OUT OF EDEN, ISBN 0-465-01606-5, pp 128-133. Interestingly
enough, Dawkins chooses to present this explanation at the end of
the last chapter of the book.

--
Eric Watt Forste ++ arkuat@pobox.com ++ expectation foils perception -pcd